Sra. Colmenero's Spanish class

En el restaurante

2011-05-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Fabulous Fifth graders worked hard on these skits, check them out!

Summer opportunity

2011-05-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Click here for information about a Spanish immersion camp during the summer.

Mi perro

2011-05-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

Mi perro es grande y amarillo. Mi perro es bueno. Mi perro se llama Luke y come mucho. Me gusta jugar con Luke. Luke duerme, come y duerme más. Pero... ¡Luke no baila el merengue!

Las frutas

2011-04-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is a favorite song that helps the children remember the fruits. Once I heard someone singing it while I was grocery shopping, there it was, a Beye student singing loud and clear in the middle of the fruit section!

Los planetas hablan-The planets talk

2011-03-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Some third grades gave life to the planets in our Solar System, check it out!:

Fashion Show!!

2011-02-16T12:17:00.001-08:00

Fifth graders loved learning about agreement noun-adjective (in gender and number) by describing first what they were wearing and then what a partner was wearing. We had our annual Fashion Show on the same day as "Crazy Hat and Hair Day". It was veeeeeery interesting, as you can see in the slideshow on your right....

Países

2011-01-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

We are learning about different countries in 4th and 5th grades classes. The content is read and processed in Spanish. I have also showed short videos to accompany and to make it easier to visualize what it would be to visit that country. One 5th grade class chose Paraguay. Click here to watch a very inspiring video about how a group is transforming Paraguay's society through education.

El Sistema Solar

2010-12-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by two things: the sky and rocks. I collect minerals, fossils and rocks for a hobby. When I go to new places I always come loaded with rocks, they are everywhere: my bags, my pockets, my shelves, my drawers... I also love astronomy and I especially love teaching it in Spanish to our third graders: I challenge you to this pre-assessment I created!
el_sistema_solar

More science on acquiring new language

2010-11-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

I am still a language learner, whether it is keeping my French and German, learning new things in English or my latest adventure (Mandarin!) I am always learning language. Spanish is my native language, I started French at the age of 5 and German and English at 22. I am at a disadvantage in Mandarin... Or may be learning French at such an early age gave me an advantage for life and made me a "mental juggler"... Read this article.

Day of the Dead

2010-10-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

We are currently learning about the Mexican celebration of the Day of Dead. If you want to know more about it click and watch the videos on your right. The National Museum of Mexican Art has an exhibit on the Day of the Dead that runs till December 13th. For more information click here.
Also: the Chicago Children's Museum is currently presenting a special exhibit through March 13, 2011: "Mexico: festival of toys". For information click here.

Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15-October 15

2010-10-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

During this Month we celebrate the accomplishments of Hispanics in the United States. A Hispanic or Latino is a person who came, or whose family came, from a Spanish speaking country. Lynn Allen, Director of the Multicultural Center located at Julian Middle School came to Beye School to talk to the students about the cultures of several Spanish speaking countries. On your right you can see some pictures of her visit. The students listened very attentively and had a lot of questions!

The importance of learning a second language!!

2010-10-01T12:24:00.001-07:00

Happy Mexican Independence Day!!

2010-09-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

İViva Mexico!
We commemorated the 200 anniversary of the Mexican declaration of Independence. Here is a brief history lesson:

Welcome back! Why are we here?

2010-08-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

I hope you had a restful summer. My family and I traveled to Spain and Portugal to visit friends and family and to see new places. In case you have not checked it out our District's mission statement defines the compromise of District 97 with our students and community:

"The mission of Oak Park Elementary School District 97, the educational prism through which students realize meaning and purpose in their lives, is to guarantee that each student achieves optimal intellectual growth while developing socially, emotionally, and physically through a system distinguished by

* Exemplary instruction focused on each student
* Commitment to the needs of a diverse population
* Meaningful partnerships with families and the community
* Celebrations of the power of art, music, and language
* Confident students challenged to be educational risk-takers"

As the school year begins I reflect on this and the place that foreign language in elementary school (FLES) holds is our community. What are the benefits of learning a second language at an early age? Let's make of this a discussion, leave me a sticky note:

Verano

2010-07-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer. Let me know what is you favorite activity during these months by leaving me a sticky note:

Spain won the World Cup!!!!

2010-07-13T08:12:00.000-07:00

Soccer, anyone?

2010-07-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

Spain will play the World Cup final!!!!!!!!

June 19, Día del Español in Chicago

2010-06-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

The Instituto Cervantes (Cultural Center of Spain) is organizing a fiesta for "El día del español". For more information click here.

Video

2010-06-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

The 4th and 5th graders LOVED this video made by Sr. Wooly about a student who is asking permission to go to the bathroom... to see what happens click here.

We'll be celebrating Cinco de Mayo!!

2010-04-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

Next week the children will be learning about the Cinco de Mayo. It is a festivity that is celebrated more in the US than in Mexico (except in Puebla...). Click here for information about the Cinco de Mayo parade in Chicago. Click here for a short video about the history behind Cinco de Mayo. Then, take the "quiz" on your right...

Ethnic Festival-May 1st

2010-04-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

District 97 will be celebrating the Ethnic Festival next Saturday, May 1st. Students from Kindergarten and first grade will be singing La Canción del Sapo. Click here for a video of the song.

Había un sapo, sapo, sapo
que nadaba en el río, río, río,
con su traje verde, verde, verde
se moría de frío, frío, frío.
La señora sapa, sapa, sapa
me contó
que tenía un amigo
que eras tu.

Libros en español

2010-04-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

This website provides access to books in Spanish. The catalog is divided by age group, fiction, non fiction, etc It has books in many different languages, including Spanish.

Spring is here!!

2010-04-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

La oruga muy hambrienta has visited our class and eaten a lot of our frutas y comidas. Once it turned into a butterfly we followed up with El Autobús Mágico. The children already had the skills to understand the story and answer questions about it.

Libros de David

2010-03-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

These books are easy to read and understand. All children, big and small loved them:

More dinosaurios!

2010-03-05T12:40:00.001-08:00

Listening is a very important skill when learning a foreign language. 400 million people have Spanish as their native language and I want the children to be familiar not only with my very Spanish-Castillian accent, but with a variety of them. Watching people do things improves comprehension. That is why it is much easier to talk to someone in a foreign language than carry a phone conversation. You need to SEE the other person's actions and gestures and read the situation. That is why I sometimes use DVDs. I do stop the movie a lot to check for comprehension, connect to vocabulary, predict what will happen next and summarize. These are the traits of a good reader (and a good DVD watcher too!).

We have been invaded by dinosaurios!!!!!!

2010-02-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

Our classroom has been completely taken over by prehistoric creatures! All sorts of dinosaurs are camping happily while second graders learn about them in Spanish. Some comen carne while others comen plantas. These are usually grandes and silenciosos and tienen cuatro patas. For a preview click on the slide show on your right!

America's Next Top Model from our class!

2010-02-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

We have been learning about clothes in our class and the 5th graders have their own ideas about who America's next top model should be! It will come right out of our Spanish class! Look at the link on your right!

La Clase

2009-12-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

The classroom is a space for learning. Learning happens in many ways and a teacher is constantly trying to get to every child: How does this boy/girl learn best? What activities should we do? How do I make sure that they learn to speak/to write/to read in Spanish? How do I make connections with the curriculum in their other classrooms? How do I teach culture in the target language? These are all the questions that are behind the configuration of the Spanish classroom as a physical space. Take a look at the slideshow to your right. Do you like the new rug? The children LOVE it and so do I!

¡¡Más y más libros!!

2009-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

It is not often that when I read books (and students them act out) the children give a standing ovation, literally! These books got that "exclusive" treatment, check them out:

El Día de los Muertos

2009-10-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

One more year we have been learning about the Mexican celebration of The Day of the Dead. Many children were already familiar with it and those who didn't know anything were fascinated to learn that it is not a scary, but a happy celebration. Families and friends get together and honor the relatives who passed away by building altars and visiting and decorating their graves. From November 1 to 4 you can go to Navy Pier and experience this celebration first hand, well the next closest thing after traveling to Mexico and seeing for yourself... For more information click on the link under "events".

More books!!

2009-09-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

This week we read these books in class (k and 1st). They are great books for Spanish class because many children are already familiar with them and they are repetitive, they follow a pattern so that by the 3rd page or so they are participating in the story. Oso Pardo stresses animals and colors. Buenas noches, luna stresses greeting and familiar objects. The "problem" is...many wanted to go to sleep afterward...

Hispanic Heritage Month

2009-09-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

From September 15 till October 15 we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We have talked about the movements of independence in class: how the conquistadors conquered the New World and how the Spanish King ruled over the colonies. Mexico is the first country to declare its independence from Spain. The fifth graders are completing a scavenger hunt due on the first day of class after October 18th. Please, assist your child with this project if he/she needs help. For a description of the project, click here.

¡¡Bienvenidos!!

2009-08-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome back!!
We had a great first day of school today and we are ready to have another great year!! I hope you all had a relaxing summer. I visited my family in Spain and it was wonderful to spend time with my parents, brother, uncles, aunts, and my cousin's new baby, Paula.
Here is picture of my hometown's Plaza.

More books

2009-06-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

We have read these three books in the past three weeks. They are easy to understand and re-create. If you have a chance to check them out at the library the children would love them!

¡Música!

2009-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like music to learn vocabulary. When we associate new words with rhythms and movement we have the perfect combination. The students LOVE the song La canción de las frutas, from the book/CD "Music that teaches Spanish" by Patti Lozano. For the lyrics, click here

Language Acquisition and other topics...

2009-03-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

I had some very interesting conversations with some interested people about Language Acquisition. For more information you can click here and read an article from NCLRC (National Capital Language Resource Center), a non profit organization located in Washington DC, funded by the Department of Education, and led by Georgetown University, The George Washington University,and the Center for Applied Linguistics.

All we do in class is oriented toward that goal. Check out the new projects on the right side: Dinosaurios (2nd grade), Animales del Océano (3rd grade) and packing for Venezuela (4th grade).

Some books

2009-03-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Here are three books that the children absolutely loved. La Vaca que decía OINK demonstrates to young children the advantages of speaking an additional language!

What we do...

2009-02-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

What we do in the Foreign language Elementary School (FLES) program is oriented towards language acquisition. Specifically, second language acquisition (SLA), since their primary language, for most of the children, is English. The way children acquire a second language is somehow similar to the way they acquire their native language. The process begins, in most cases, with a “silent period”, in which they speak very little. Some children reject hearing/listening to the foreign language because it is “incomprehensible”. That is what happens when some children complain about “I don’t understand a word you are saying” o “Could you say it in English?” However, these “silent learners” are rehearsing important “chunks” of information. The first words or phrases are then used in one or different situations and become “attached”. A handful of words and phrases are used to accomplish basic purposes. The most direct source of information in the classroom is the teacher and other authentic materials we work with. This is the “input”. Classroom management and differentiation is extremely important so that this input can reach everyone. When students process the input in a way that leads to learning we call it “intake”. The amount and quality of input the children receive is the most important factor affecting their learning, but it has to be at a level comprehensible to them. The input should be just beyond what the learner can fully understand; it is comprehensible, but not 100%. And that is OK!! Another factor is the use of the language in interaction, that is how the students generate new contexts for words and new combinations. The more exposure, the earlier… the better.

Feliz Año Nuevo

2009-01-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope everybody had a great winter break. I am happy to have the children back in the classroom, I missed them!! Before the Holidays we talked in class about how people welcome the New Year in Spain: on New Year's Eve friends and families wait for the clock to strike midnight on the streets or at home in front of the TV. Every time the bell strikes we eat one grape, that makes a total of 12 grapes. Then, adults and children toast (with juice, of course) for the New Year and wish each other health, love, money and luck. Even Nico ate the 12 grapes!!

Gracias por...

2008-12-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was an exciting time for the whole school. It was a time to count our blessings, stop and think how fortunate we are to have friends, family, etc. The children were thankful for so many reasons! Familia, amigos, maestros, la vida, la naturaleza and even Nico, our stuffed bull! They wrote on paper leaves what they were thankful for, and each grade formed a beautiful, big, strong tree. All the trees formed a "forest" in our lunch room. Even the teachers wrote in Spanish! Come, check it out!! For pictures (until you get there) look at the slide show on the right side of this blog. Gracias por compartir sus hijos conmigo. Thank you for sharing your children with me and a big thank you to all of you who helped cutting leaves!

Some reflections...

2008-11-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about how I try to address the multiple intelligences that I see in all of the students at Beye. The special area teachers get to know all the children in the school, that is about 400 kids!
The verbal-linguistic intelligence: Spanish has different sounds than English. In addition to that there is a wide variety of dialects of Spanish in the vast territories of Spain and the Americas. Children notice right away when somebody doesn't speak like the teacher; "it sounds funny", they say. I smile because this is proof of this intelligence. The teaching of sounds and the rhythm of words is reinforced in my classes with songs. The verbal ability to speak a languages is key when we tell and act out stories using TPRS.
Mathematical-logical intelligence: I encourage this in different ways: the obvious one is when we learn about numbers. When the children learn to write numbers and count they look for a pattern: how does Spanish construct the numbers? They reflect about "how we do it in English" and how are they different/the same. They use the numbers in authentic situations, I joke with them: "If you can do this I know I can send you on a field trip to Mexico" Another way is when we learn about verb conjugation: it takes a logical mind to search for a pattern and apply it when writing and speaking. I also like to label everything in the classroom: masculine nouns have a blue background, feminine nouns have a pink one. The first week of school a KINDEGARTENER came to me and said, and I quote: "I know what you are doing, the blue words end in -O and the pink end in -A. I don't know what it is yet, but it has a meaning and I will find it". Isn't that something?
Musical intelligence: I remember when I was learning French in elementary school, I looooved singing in French, I pretended I was a French child and tried to imitate the pitch, timber, the accent... We love doing that in class: el baile the los colores, los dias de la semana, arriba-abajo, etc If you listen carefully you won't hear an accent either!
Visual-spatial intelligence: When we act out a story the children draw a cartoon of what takes place where. When the third graders build a school or design a city, or even work with the big model of the city of Chicago that we have upstairs they are using their visual-spatial intelligence to learn a language.
Kinesthetic intelligence: Music come accompanied by body movement. When Kindergarten, first and second graders practice the date they use their bodies to say that "hoy es mier-co-les, 19 de no-viem-bre, dos mil ocho". Ask your child to show you. When we learn the time we use our arms, when we learn seasons and clothes that we need for our trip we'll use our bodies to pretend we are getting dressed, etc. There is something to be said about muscle memory, whether it is writing in a foreign language or speaking. At the beginning it is like driving: you need to focus on every step, then it becomes automatic.
Interpersonal intelligence: Some of the work we do is individual, but a lot of it is interpersonal. Language, by nature, is interpersonal; it is bridge out to people and cultures. There is constant work in collaborative groups within the classroom and collaboration between me and the classroom teachers and other special area teachers. There are dialogs in Spanish, presentations and games where you also have to focus and be fast!
Intrapersonal intelligence: Students also have the option of working on their own. Sometimes they will ask for a place where they can work on their own. I got to see how your children use this intelligence during the celebration of the Day of the Dead. Their self awareness regarding this topic was amazing . I was humbled by how genuinely they shared with me their feelings and values.
Naturalist intelligence: There is a big tree out side our window, and because it is high on the wall, we see the sky. When we learn about the weather it is right in front of our eyes. We learn about farm animals, pets, even take polls on what is their favorite insect... The favorite topic in second grade is dinosaurios. We dedicate 2 weeks to learn about them in Spanish (but they already know everything!!) Third grades are absolutely fascinated about El sistema solar. Even children who do not like to read will do so in Spanish: a package on information on every planet and questions about them. Space is fascinating, I agree, in my next life I want to be an astronaut...

Dia de los Muertos

2008-10-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

For the past week we have been learning about the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. I adapted the content according to age and the result has been amazing. The children understand that for the people who celebrate El Dia de los Muertos, death is not bad, it is a part of life, and that this celebration is not scary: it is like a family reunion, we are happy to be together again with people who have passed away. The upper grades are busy constructing "altares" for famous people who have died (Elvis Presley, anyone?). Third graders got to bring home beautiful sugar-skulls masks. Second, First graders and Kindergarten worked very hard at coloring smaller skulls (practicing colors at the same time) and "altares". Ask your child about the Day of the Dead. For a delicious recipe of Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) click here.

Herencia Hispana Scavenger Hunt

2008-10-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

On October 20 5th graders turned in their Herencia Hispana Scavenger Hunt project. For a description of the project and how are being graded click here. Look on the right side of this blog to see some pictures! During conferences these displays got a lot of compliments from parents and teachers who came to the Spanish room. I am soooo proud of them!!

Good reasons

2008-10-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

There are many good reasons to learn a foreign language and for a family to maintain or encourage speaking more than one language. For more interesting information check out the links I provide on the right side of this blog. For Quino's humorous perspective, click here.

Hispanic Heritage Month

2008-10-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

From September 15 to October 15 we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We celebrate the accomplishments of Hispanics in the United States. Everyday two 5th graders read an announcement about one person of Hispanic origin who has done something relevant in his or her field (sports, science, etc.) At the same time, in class, we learn about which are the countries where Spanish is at least one of the official languages. We also reflect on the words that we use in English that have a Spanish origin: patio, mesa, and even names like Los Angeles, Florida and Puerto Rico. Mrs. Lynn Allen, the Director of the Multicultural Resource Center located at Julian Middle School visited us and brought with her artifacts and books related to many cultures of Spanish speaking countries. The children had A LOT of fun learning and manipulating many of the objects. This week we are reinforcing the concepts learned during that presentation.

¡Bienvenidos! Welcome!

2008-09-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to teach Spanish to my students at Beye. I love the fact that this year I get to teach Kindergarten to 5th grade. We are already having a great time learning by drawing, singing, dancing, playing games, performing plays, reading and writing. I will keep you posted regularly on the work we do.