¡Adelante! ~ Forward!

This week in class we have been working on how to tell people about ourselves and our friends! ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?); ¿Cómo te llamas? (What is your name?); and ¿Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you?) are just a few of the phrases we've learned how to ask and answer. It's been a long, busy week! The kids are also almost all the way through their second set of "Oral Proficiency Terms", which are a series of speaking quizzes that they complete every couple weeks to assess their proficiency of speaking terms. So far so good!


We've also been working and discussing very thoroughly some of the cultural practices of Hispanic people, including the infamous 'kiss on the cheek' (always an interesting conversation!), Spanish slang terms, and how Hispanics write their names. Speaking of this... if you child comes home writing their full name and THEN some... consider it perfectly normal. I have asked my kiddos to practice the way that Hispanics write their names (First Name, Middle Name, Father's Last Name, Mother's Maiden Name) with their own names. We also discussed how and WHY many Hispanic people have Jewish or Muslim names or are named after religious figures. Ask your kid about this! 


Lastly, we enter into the vast realm of Spanish grammar, focusing in this chapter on the subject pronouns 'yo' (meaning "I" in Spanish) and 'tú' (meaning "you" in Spanish). We will work more with how Spanish subject pronouns are different from and similar to English subject pronouns, but that's another blog!! 


I hope your kids are teaching you as much as they can about what they learn in class! I love hearing stories the kids bring from home about 'trying' to teach their impossible parents what they have learned in my class. The laughs my students and I get out of this definitely makes my job worthwhile! Have a wonderful week. ¡Adiós! ¡Hasta pronto!

The First "Examen"

Here is a quick run-down of the last week or so. We finished up with 'Capítulo Preliminar' (Preliminary Chapter) with some fun review games and activities. I hope that so far, the kids are having as much fun as Mrs. Rounds!


On Thursday morning, several students came into class with heavy hearts and nervous insides about the test, but (much to their surprise, but certainly not mine!) most of them passed with flying colors. As I told the students today, if they didn't do as well as they had hoped, the best way to bring up those grades is to turn in all work ON TIME, study for vocabulary quizzes and study harder for the next test (as I also told them - I know it stinks, but it's the truth!).


The next month will be dedicated to 'Capítulo Uno' (Chapter )1 - greetings and goodbyes, exchanging personal information, subject pronouns (tú and yo) and telling likes and dislikes. We also continue forward with the ever-daunting 'Oral Proficiency Terms', which we will start the next quizzing session of this Thursday, Sept. 23. We jumped right into Capítulo Uno with vocabulary today, so their first vocabulary quiz will be this Thursday also, and we'll have about one every week for the next month. So study up!! As I tell the kids (on average, 12 times a day...) if you don't know the vocabulary, it's hard to learn a language!!


As always, please let me know if there is anything I can do for you! 


¡Adiós!

Parent Night

After the long weekend, we started focusing on learning how to write dates in Spanish, and over the next couple of days, we will be learning how to tell time! Both of these things can be pretty tricky, but I've tried to make it fun and explain it in a way my students can understand. I am always willing to spend extra time and help answer any questions for my students. I encourage any student who is just not getting it to please come ask me and I'd love to help you!


I am very excited to meet some of you parents tonight @ Parent Night! It's always fun for me to see who raised these wonderful kids that I get to teach! If you are unable to make it to parent night, I encourage you to contact me so we can meet in person! It should be a great time for parents and teachers to connect! 


¡Nos veré este noche!

La Primera Semana!

We made it through 'la primera semana' - the first week (and a half)! We have already taken one vocabulary quiz, over colors and days of the week and most of you did amazingly well on it. Next up: tomorrow is the vocab quiz over the months and seasons, so study up!


We've also had some fun with the Oral Proficiency terms, which is a speaking test. We have learned five terms so far and I know you are all practicing them like crazy. Remember, we're going to start quizzing them soon, so make sure you know the terms!


If you have any free time, get started on the extra credit worksheet. It's optional, but it's worth 15 points! Hopefully you won't need the extra points, but it's always better to be safe, right??


I hope you've had fun this first week (and a half!) because I'm having a blast with you guys! Keep up the good work. You are AWESOME!!