The Basics in Spanish

The Roo's have been learning some greetings in Spanish such as hola or buenos días, along with cultural norms expected when greetings occur such as hugging, high fives, or kissing in the cheek. Each time we travel to a Spanish-speaking country, they are shown in Google Maps so they can see where the USA is located too and how far they are "traveling", it's a good geographical point of reference. Then, I introduced them to one of our puppets, Alejandro (the dog, which seems to be their favorite), Luis or Sofía. The puppets help me introduce them to greetings and to practice them.

Through these activities they also learn means of transportation. So far we have traveled in a avión (airplane) and a barco chiquito (small boat). The last one was a way to introduce them to a song called "El Barco Chiquito". They also seem to love images in Power Point or Prezi presentations along with the songs we sing or dance to. Our last activity was to draw a small boat like the one in the song. I am hoping that next class we will look at what they draw and identify other potential vocabulary such as el mar (the sea), el sol (the sun), las nubes (the clouds).

Ocassionally, I would suggest attending certain events in the city that are related to Hispanic culture and Spanish language. See below for upcoming events:

- Buena Vista Social Club at the Kimmel Center. If you cannot go, I would recommend watching the trailer and documentary.

- Venezuelan Expressions, an annual musical and dance event.