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En la cocina

Class Activities: 

Students arrived in the kitchen with their recipes and started making their medialunas or dulce de leche in previously assigned groups.

They learned new vocabulary around food and measurements:
* cucharada (tablespoon)
* cucharadita (teaspoon)
* taza (cup)
* harina
* huevos
* levadura
* leche
* mantequilla

Tarea: to talk in group about the results and come up with strategy to perfect their recipe for next week.

Class topics: 
Fluency level: 

Latin American/Spanish musicians: Shakira

Class Activities: 

Students answered the following questions about Latin American music:

Nombre:
Fecha:

¿Cuál es la música principal de América Latina?
¿Quienes son unos artistas modernos?

We went over some vocabulary typically used in a biography and are the conjugation for the third person (he/she):
Nació
se crió
encontró
empezó
entró
conoció
le gustaba
se mudó
creó
ganó
tuvo
The first artist we will be learning about is Shakira, who received a nomination for the 2011 Latin Grammys. Students have to “fill in” the biography with information about Shakira on the attached sheet. Students respond to prompts and write sentences using the above verbs. Ej. Shakira nació el 2 de febrero de 1977 en Colombia. We went to the computer lab and students had time to investigate Shakira and answer questions about her. Anything they didn't finish in class is homework.

Fluency level: 

Introducción a la cocina

Class Activities: 

Students answered some questions about Latin American food:
* ¿Cuáles son tus comidas favoritas?
* ¿Qué piensas de comida latinoamericana?
* ¿Qué platillo cocinas bien?

Individually, students completed the attached evaluation to see what vocabulary they know about the kitchen. We went through all of the vocabulary and students are expected to learn all of this vocabulary throughout our unit.

Starting next week and for the next several weeks, we will be spending a lot of time in the kitchen. We came up with a list of rules for the kitchen, the most important being speaking Spanish while in the kitchen and cleaning up.

We talked about typical Argentine food based on research students had done. A typical breakfast includes medialunas (crescent rolls) and dulce de leche which we are going to be cooking over the next few classes.

Tarea: students are to find a recipe for medialunas and dulce de leche. In pairs, they will cook medialunas on Tuesday. I will have basic ingredients: eggs, sweetened condensed milk, flour, baking powder, sugar but students should bring anything extra that their recipe calls for.

Fluency level: 

3rd Period Matrix: 9/28

Class Activities: 

-Everyday in class, students practice conversational skills by responding to these questions: "¿Cómo estás?", "¿Cuántos años tienes?", and "¿Cómo te llamas?". Students should expect to have an oral quiz on these soon. I will properly inform them before the day of the quiz.
-Students reviewed school subject vocabulary and took a group survey of who has what classes, and at what times. Students should be reviewing and studying this vocabulary at home (see attachment).
-Students were shown a useful website to use for English-Spanish translation. The website is "wordreference.com". Any word you look up is broken down by it's various definitions and ways of use. Colloquial phrases and compound word uses are also included. The "m" or "f" following the translation signifies whether the Spanish word is masculine or feminine. Masculine words would have an article "el", while feminine would have an article "la" before the word.
-For homework, students should use this website to look up the following words in Spanish: 'high school', 'excuse' (as in, "I have an excuse for missing class"), 'bedtime', and 'program' (as in a TV program).
-Students were asked to bring in materials from home to use as drums. These items will not be destroyed, but may be decorated with removable material. Some possible items we thought of include empty trash bins, coffee bins, Lysol wipes containers, plastic jars, or plastic soda bottles. Students could also make shakers from empty plastic bottles filled with seeds, beads, beans, rice, or any small object. We will be working on these in class on Friday in preparation for a festival we will celebrate next Wednesday (10/4).

Class topics: 
Fluency level: 

2nd Period Matrix: 9/28

Class Activities: 

-Everyday in class, students practice conversational skills by responding to these questions: "¿Cómo estás?", "¿Cuántos años tienes?", and "¿Cómo te llamas?". Students should expect to have an oral quiz on these soon. I will properly inform them before the day of the quiz.
-Students practiced telling the time in Spanish. They should be practicing at home in preparation for a quiz coming soon.
-Students practiced with vocabulary on the days of the week, months of the year, and seasons. Each were asked to categorize the words as one of these three. For practice with this vocabulary, see the attachment below.
-We went around the circle saying the day and month of our birthday. Students were reminded that in Spanish, the day comes before the month (ie: Mi cumpleaños es el 18 de julio).
-Students were asked to bring in materials from home to use as drums. These items will not be destroyed, but may be decorated with removable material. Some possible items we thought of include empty trash bins, coffee bins, Lysol wipes containers, plastic jars, or plastic soda bottles. Students could also make shakers from empty plastic bottles filled with seeds, beads, beans, rice, or any small object. We will be working on these in class on Friday in preparation for a festival we will celebrate next Wednesday (10/4).

Fluency level: 

Before School: La Ropa 3 (9/28)

Class Goals: 

-Students practiced with sentences choosing either "tiene" or "tengo" for the correct verb. Remember that "tengo" is used for "I have" and "tiene" is used for "He/she/it has."
-Everyday in class, students practice conversational skills by responding to these questions: "¿Cómo estás?", "¿Cuántos años tienes?", and "¿Cómo te llamas?". Students should expect to have an oral quiz on these soon. I will properly inform them before the day of the quiz.
-Students were given instructions on using this website to check lesson plans and homework assignments. The sheet must be signed by parents and students (see attachment).
-We reviewed clothing vocabulary and practiced writing the words on the board.
-Students should be studying clothing vocabulary at home (see attachment on first lesson of "La Ropa").

Class topics: 
Fluency level: 

Before School: La Ropa 2 (9/23)

Class Activities: 

-Reviewed homework assignment on article concordance and corrected mistakes.
-Discussed how to use "tiene" vs. "tengo"; "Tengo" is used when referring to yourself. You say, "Yo TENGO suficiente". As in the homework assignment last week, if you are referring to one other person, you use "tiene". If you want to say that Luis has enough, use "Luis TIENE suficiente."
-Students practiced more with clothing vocab and were given homework to label clothing items (see attachment). Homework is due next class period, Wednesday 9/28

Class topics: 
Fluency level: 

Before School: La Ropa 1 (9/21)

Class Goals: 

-Students wrote out numbers 1-20 in Spanish, then we went over them together to correct spelling mistakes.
-We discussed article concordance, making sure the article gender and number matches the noun (see attachment).
-Students were taught two important phrases to use when they need assistance, or to be excused: "Perdóname" and "Disculpa".
-Students were presented with different articles of clothing to practice with the vocabulary (see attachment).
-Homework was given to practice with article concordance (see attachment). It is due next period, Friday 9/23.

Class topics: 
Fluency level: 

Números

Class Activities: 

Ways to teach and practice numbers in Spanish

  • Present and go over numbers 1-1000 (see document attached).
  • Play number bingo (document attached). Explain that the comma and period are switched in Spanish-speaking country, so 4.000 is four thousand and $3,76 is three dollars and seventy six cents. Call out the number and students says the word associated with it. Students call out numbers when they are ready.
  • In pairs, give students two dice that they roll and call out the number while partner confirms. Alternate. When they are ready add more and more dice so the number gets bigger and more tricky.
Class topics: 
Fluency level: 

Technique: student presentations/sharing projects

Class Activities: 

When students present their work (or when students read each others projects) and other students are expected to listen but not given any goals, they often don't get much out of the presentation. Give students a sheet with all students names and space to take notes on what they heard. After students present, go over (or collect) what students got out of the presentations. They know they need to get something out of each others presentations and are therefore more focused and interested. Give listeners time to ask questions after each presentation.

Class topics: 

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