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| Learning to use a tortilla press. |
In Spanish class over the last few weeks, students have been working on vocabulary relating to family and culture. Children are making mini books about their families, which they will be able to share with others. This week the children made tortillas, an activity aiming to bring cultural awareness, highlighting the importance preparing and sharing food plays in a family.
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| Hot from the oven! |
Students have also been learning about cognates and false cognates. (A cognate is when two words sound similar and mean the same thing in two different languages, such as family and familia. False cognates are ones that sound similar and have completely different meanings, such as blanco, which sounds like black but means white.)
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| Abby serves up the tortillas. |
Abby has been teaching the children “brain tricks,” which is a strategy to support memorization of Spanish vocabulary. For example, blanco sounds like black, but means white, so the brain trick is that when you hear blanco you think blank white paper instead of black. Abby has also been teaching Sky children a chant and movement to help remember how to count by tens in Spanish.
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| Taking our tortillas home. (We'll see how many get eaten on the way!) |
Abby has been sharing several Spanish books with the children. These have included Fiesta! by Beatriz McConnie Zapater, Fiesta Fiasco by Ann Whitford Paul,Tortuga in Trouble by Ann Whitford Paul, and La Familia de Clifford by Norman Bridwell.
