jueves, el 30 de septiembre.

Today we took the countries and capitals quiz.

People who did fabulous (above 8/10) and DON'T need to retake the quiz were:  Dasha, Emma, Justin, Prasanna, Chad, Sierra, Maisy, Tyler, Ben, and Madison.

People who aren't listed above should re-study and retake the quiz on Tuesday, 10/5 at 9:15, before class. 

We practiced "De donde es_________." 

Students assigned themselves Spanish names and practiced introductions:
Como te llamas?   Me llamo ___________. Mucho gusto (nice to meet you.)

We practiced the numbers, from 1-10. 

Homework:  pg. 18-19 in the book, exercises 1, 2, and 4. Write them down and make sure you understand them.  Email me if you have trouble! klewis@slvusd.org. 
Also- Practice, study, read through the blog so you see what words should be starting to be familiar. 8) 

martes, el 28 de septiembre

Today in class we:  Practiced "De donde es?


De donde es _________ ? (Where is ______ from?)
Es de __________.  (_______ is from _________.)

De donde eres?   (Where are you from?)

We did some TPR (Total Physical Response)
Our words were:  (see if you remember them! Do the motions!)
camina
corre
baila
salta
come
bebe
canta
da una vuelta

Then we practiced countries and capitals.

Homework:  Quiz on countries and capitals on Thursday!  8) 

jueves, el 23 de septiembre

Today we did a TINY bit of review and then got textbooks! Yay. We're going to learn countries and capitals of Spanish speaking countries, so students filled in a blank map. Study your maps!

Homework:  1. Fill in all countries and capitals.
2. Study countries and capitals for a quiz Thursday, 9.28. 
3. Practice all words and phrases we've gone over so far. 

martes, el 21 de septiembre

Today in class we went over (and over and over) basic questions with various animals that I brought.  The conversations included:

Como estas?                     Bien (Gracias, y tu?)
Como te llamas?                Me llamo........... (Keidi)
De donde eres?                 Soy de ............. (California)
Donde vives?                     Vivo en ............ (una casa)
Cuantos anos tienes?         Tengo ........ anos. (33, 15, etc.)
Cuando es tu cumplianos?  Mi cumplianos es el ..... de .......... (el 26 de octubre).

The animals were:
el perro
el oso
la jirafa
el pajaro

el cerdo
el caterpilar
el pez/pescado
el elefante

I'm hoping you can figure out from the context what each phrase/question means.  If not, please familiarize yourself with googletranslate.com, (which for many of the words will pronounce them correctly in Spanish if your computer has speakers.)

Homework:  1.  Go over the Helpful Phrases page, focusing on the *Days of the Week, * Months, *Alphabet, *numbers.   
2.  Practice the alphabet. Play hangman in Spanish. Spell things to yourself.  8) 

el 16 de septiembre

Today we reviewed Tuesdays lesson, talked a bit more about the days of the week and the months, and the brain.  We reviewed the homework (why learn a language and the alphabet) and introducing ourselves. 

Vocabulario:
Me llamo __________= My name is ______________
Como te llamas?  = What's your name? (talking to a peer)
Como se llama?  = What's his/her name?

Homework: 
1.  Get a Spanish binder, or a Spanish part of the binder.
2.  Visit the Blog (yay, you did it!)
3.  Practice "Me llamo ______". Introduce yourself to 10 people (IN SPANISH!)
 Then introduce 1 member of your family to the rest of your family (Se llama ________).  
Practica practica practica!  8)

El Primer Dia, el 14 de septiembre

The first day:  Many were not able to come because of an accident in Brookdale.  Please read below for what you missed.

We:
1. practiced listening to Spanish being spoken without freaking out or shutting down,
I'm going to have periods where I only speak Spanish and interact with you in Spanish. Hang with me, trust me, listen, watch and follow along as best you can. It's like a mystery and you're the detective, watching and listening for clues.  
2. talked about the brain and how it learns language, see below
3. talked about cognates (words that are similar in Spanish and English),
4. introduced greetings.

Buenos Dias= Good morning (to be said before 12:00)
Buenas Tardes= Good afternoon (to be said from 12 to 6ish)
Buenas Noches= Good evening/night (to be said after 6pm)

5. Assigned homework:  read the first assignment, p. 2-10 handout on Why to learn another language, and get to this blog, bookmark it, etc. 


Info On the Brain and Language Acquisition:
*The brain is a muscle- the more you use it the stronger it gets.
*As you learn your brain changes shape, gets heavier, but if you don't use the information, the connections wither and go away.
*To strengthen brain connections, use and practice what you learn, in as many ways as possible.

*Three kinds of memory;
1. Immediate - 7-9 bits of information, (phone number, new names)


2. Working memory - short term (works for a test), retained for about 2 weeks, after two-weeks brain decides what to keep or not, the brain must see meaning to decide to keep information.
3. Long term memory- its in your brain forever. 8)  Yay!!