Friday, December 18, 2009

Un descanso

Everybody is ready for Winter Break. We've worked hard so far this year and everybody deserves a rest. Remember-there will be a Spanish quiz on Thursday, January 7 when we get back. 7th graders will have a quiz on their vocab pics from the new chapter. 8th graders will have their speaking test to practice giving directions and giving affirmative commands. I hope everybody has a restful and safe break!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Pajama Day!


It was nice to have a Spirit Day at the end of this cold week. Lots of students (and teachers!) participated in today's Pajama Day. Everybody looked warm and cozy today!
Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

¡A organizarnos!

We have jumped into the 2nd trimester of the year, but it's business as usual en la clase de español. To help yourself be successful during this trimester take a look at the organization of your Spanish binder and make sure that everything is in order. Remember-there should be four different sections in your binder:
1. Para empezar (starter activities)
2. Apuntes (notes)
3. Tarea/hojas (homework and handouts)
4. Repaso (study guides, test prep)

There might be a binder check before Winter Break...will you be prepared for it??

Have a good, safe weekend!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

los números de 11 a 100

The 7th graders have just learned numbers 11-100. Here are some of the numbers, but they can tell you more!
  • 11-once
  • 15-quince
  • 20-veinte
  • 23-veintitrés
  • 30-treinta
  • 35-treinta y cinco
  • 57-cincuenta y siete
  • 84-ochenta y cuatro
  • 99-noventa y nueve
  • 100-cien

Don't forget to study for the quiz on Tuesday, December 1. Remember that there is speaking and writing on the quiz.

¡Feliz día de acción de gracias!

8th grade vocabulario

We just started a new chapter on Oaxaca, México. We have a vocabulary quiz next Wednesday, December 2 on our places words. There are clues in some of the words to help you remember what you buy at those places. Use those clues to help you study!
  • la carnicería-where you buy carne (butcher shop)
  • la papelería-where you buy papel
  • la pastelería-where you buy pastel
  • la zapatería-where you buy zapatos
  • la panadería-where you buy pan

Make sure you're ready for the quiz on Wednesday.

¡Feliz día de acción de gracias!

Friday, November 20, 2009

8th grade weather assignment

Unos detalles for your weather.com assignment.
Remember that you need to write the forecast for TWO days in your city. You need to write what the weather will be like and give the high temperature (la temperatura alta) and the low temperature (la temperatura baja) for both days. If your city won't come up then use one of the following cities:
  • Madrid, Spain
  • Seville, Spain
  • Havana, Cuba
  • Caracas, Venezuela
Did you know the answers to last week's trivia questions?

In what century did the Moors invade southern Spain?
The 8th century
At which Mexican port did Cortés arrive to conquer the Aztecs?
Veracruz
During which centuries were the Reyes Católicos in power?
The 15th and 16th centuries

Friday, November 13, 2009

Trivia

Every Friday our starter activity is a cultural or geographical trivia question. Here are some of the questions from today. Do you know any of the answers?
  • In what century did the Moors invade southern Spain?
  • At which Mexican port did Cortés arrive to conquer the Aztecs?
  • During which centuries were the Reyes Católicos in power?

Check back next week for the answers. Have a great weekend!

Monday, November 9, 2009

7th grade clothing store projects

This week the 7th grade students are working on a clothing store project. It is listed as being due on Tuesday November 10 on the test schedule. Because there are a couple of projects due in other classes this week the new due date for the clothing store project will be Monday, November 16th.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Los esqueletos

This week for el día de los muertos, los estudiantes del 8o assembled and decorated colorful skeletons as is tradition in Mexico for those who celebrate el día de los muertos. Here are the finished projects. Felicidades to the skeletons from each class that won after all the Spanish students voted!!

3rd hour skeletons

*************************

5th hour skeletons

***************************6th hour skeletons

Thursday, October 29, 2009

El día de los muertos

This weekend while many Americans celebrate Halloween, many Mexicans and their families will celebrate a holiday known as el día de los muertos. El día de los muertos is a holiday in which families take time to remember their loved ones who have died. Rather than being a solemn occasion, it is like a celebration of that person's life and memory. This holiday began with the Aztecs of Mexico and their belief that death was not an end, but merely a step in the ongoing life of a person.
People who celebrate el día de los muertos spend lots of time preparing for this holiday. They build altares, altars for the deceased family member. The altares contain items that remind the family of their loved one like his/her favorite foood, magazines, movies candy, or toys if the person was a child. The altares also contain velas, candles. The family decorates their home and the grave site with cempazuchitl which are marigolds. These bright flowers are known as the flower of the dead.
The families go to the grave sites of their loved ones. They clean and decorate them and then they spend time at the cemetary reminiscing about their loved ones. This is a way for them to honor and remember their relatives.

Friday, October 16, 2009

¡Por fin llega el viernes!

What a week! A group of the 8th graders went to Washington D.C. last weekend and we got back late Monday night. The week has been a blur since then!
The 8th graders took their Explore test yesterday and a test in Spanish today on saying what has just happened, regular -er/-ir verbs and emotions. We worked on sports vocabulary today and next week we will work on vocabulary and the verb jugar (to play a sport/game).
The 7th graders started a new chapter on San Antonio, Texas this week. We saw some pictures and video clips of the Paseo del río and the Alamo in San Antonio. Today we took a quiz on our physical appearance vocabulary words and we learned clothing words.
Everybody deserves a break this weekend. Make sure you get lots of rest and keep drinking agua!!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Airlines merge



Two major airlines in Latin America, Avianca from Colombia and Taca from El Salvador are merging to form one airline that will service the Americas and Europe. This will create a major airline from two prominent airlines that are currently operating. Visit this link to read an article about the merger. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8296256.stm


Have a great weekend!!

Friday, September 25, 2009

Homebase poster

This year our Homebase theme for our poster was the JALAPAYNE-OS. The poster looks great-nice job everybody!

¡Hay que estudiar!

We have quizzes next week!
  • 7th grade has a quiz on Tuesday. The quiz is on the vocab flash cards that we made this week, subject pronouns and the verb ser.
  • 8th grade has a quiz on Wednesday on interrogatives, the verb estar and saying what people are going to do using ir + a + infinitive.
Make sure you start studying this weekend!

Friday, September 18, 2009

On miércoles, México celebrated its día de la independencia. Visit these links for some history on Mexico's fight for independence from Spain.
¡Viva México!

Friday, September 11, 2009

El alfabeto

A B C
The 7th graders have learned the alphabet, numbers 0-10 and the days of the week. "Ana" from 7th period found an awesome sitio de web that has the pronunciation of all the letters of the Spanish alphabet. Visit this link and try it out! http://www.spanishspanish.com/alfabeto_ipower.html ¡Gracias, Ana!
Have a great weekend!!

Friday, September 4, 2009

¡La geografía!


The 7th graders took their first prueba today and they looked like they were prepared! We learned the locations of the Spanish speaking countries of the Caribbean, Central and South America. We've been practicing since last Friday so I think they probably did a great job on the quizzes.

Have a great and safe long weekend!

Friday, August 28, 2009

Welcome back!

¡Bienvenidos a los estudiantes del español! We had a great first week in our Spanish classes here at Lakeview. The 8th graders have started reviewing things that we learned last year. Some of them are a little rusty after not practicing all summer, but they are remembering quickly! Some of the 7th graders have picked Spanish names for themselves to use in class and we started looking at Spanish-speaking countries and their capitals for our first quiz next Friday.
After talking with the students this week it sounds like many of them had busy summers-lots of people traveled to some interesting places! I spent the summer in Santa Barbara, California. However, I wasn't on vacation. I was going to school at the University of California at Santa Barbara to finish my master's degree in Hispanic Language and Culture. This was my third summer out in California taking classes and reading lots of books in Spanish. I graduated on August 1 and it feels great to be done! I'm really looking forward to getting this school year started.
Here is a picture of me at my graduation. When you get your master's degree you get something called a Hood that goes around your neck and hangs on the back of your graduation gown. You can see what it looks like in the next picture.

Here are some pictures from after my graduation.



Have a great weekend!!

Friday, June 5, 2009

¡Adiós!

We made it through the year. Congratulations to the 8th graders who graduated on Wednesday night. Good luck next year! I'll be going to California in a couple of weeks to take graduate classes and to finish my master's degree at the University of California at Santa Barbara. I'll be working hard this summer, but I know I'll be excited to come back to school in the fall.
I hope that everybody has a great summer!!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Selena

For their last few days of Spanish class the 8th graders are watching the movie Selena. The movie is based on the life of singer, Selena Quintanilla Perez. Selena is known as the Queen of Tejano music. She broke gender and cultural barriers during her career and was a rising star in her early twenties. We'll see what happens in the rest of the movie...
Have a great weekend!

Friday, May 22, 2009

¿Qué tiempo hace?




This week the 7th graders completed their last examen for the year. Yay! They will have one last vocabulary quiz next Thursday. It will be on their weather vocabulary or el tiempo. Here are some of the phrases/words that we learned this week.

la tormenta

la lluvia

el paraguas

And hopefully we'll see lots of this over the weekend...

el sol

Have a great weekend!




Friday, May 15, 2009

¡A surfear el web!

El equipo de los White Sox celebra su diversidad with a web page all en español. Go to http://www.orgullosox.com (sox pride) and you'll see the team's web page all in Spanish with el mundo de Ozzie, contributions from the team's Venezuelan Manager. ¡Visita el sitio!

Friday, May 8, 2009

¡Avalancha!

The 8th graders have been studying the preterit tense of verbs to describe actions that have occurred in the past. They've been doing a great job adjusting their conjugations! Today we played ¡Avalancha!, our favorite verb conjugating game. Some of that knowledge will come in handy on next Wednesday's test!
Have a great weekend!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Mexico shuts down

Parts of Mexico have been shut down for five days to try to combat the spread of Swine Flu. Swine Flu is currently blamed for more than 160 deaths in Mexico. While the virus has spread to 14 other countries, the cases in those countries are not as severe as those in Mexico.
While shutting down schools, movie theaters and restaurants may help prevent more spreading of the virus, some are worried that it may have a negative effect on Mexico's economy. Visit this link to learn more about what Mexico is doing to combat the spread of Swine Flu. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8028169.stm

Here at Lakeview we're doing what we can to prevent the spread of ALL germs. We talked about washing our hands often and covering our mouths and noses when we cough and sneeze. Hopefully everybody will be able to stay healthy for the last few weeks of the school year!

Friday, April 24, 2009

The U.S. and Mexico fighting together

The drug trafficking industry in Mexico is becoming increasingly dangerous. Over the last two years over 8,000 people have been killed in the battles between drug traffickers. The drug trafficking wars are affecting the lives of Americans and Mexicans. Read this article about a meeting between President Obama and Mexico's President Calderón. They met before the Regional Summit to discuss this current issue.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8001733.stm

Friday, April 17, 2009

Hay que estudiar!

Tests, tests, tests! Both 7th and 8th grade Spanish students have tests next week to study for.
  • 7th grade-test on Thursday. Don't forget to study on Wednesday-you might not have Spanish because of your field trip.
  • 8th grade-your test is on Tuesday. Make sure you spend a little time this weekend studying!

Midterms are coming up-make sure you study for your tests!

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

¡Tapas españolas!

This week the 8th graders learned about Spanish Tapas. Tapas are appetizer-size servings of dishes that can be found at tapas bars or restaurants. They are researching some Spanish tapas that they'd like to try online and are looking for the recipes. We'll see what sounds good to them. Here are some pictures of some typical Spanish tapas. The last one is mi tapa favorita! empanadas

patatas bravas

tortilla española

¡Que aprovecha!

Friday, March 27, 2009

March Manners

This week the 7th grade homebases finished up a project called "March Manners". Two weeks ago we talked about some basic manners and read a book about some "thingumajigs" who don't ever mind their manners. Each homebase took a manner to present to the whole 7th grade class and we had some skits, posters and even a song to remind us about some basic manners. The manners that we focused on were:
  1. Wait your turn and don't interrupt other people when they are speaking.
  2. No name calling. Even if it's in "fun", name calling hurts.
  3. Chew with your mouth closed.
  4. Say, "Please" and "Thank you" often.
  5. Clean up after yourself. Whether at home, at school or at a friend's house, always pick up after yourself.
  6. Display good sportsmanship.
  7. Take compliments courteously.
  8. Dress for success. If you don't look like you respect yourself or take yourself seriously, then other people won't respect you or take you seriously either.
  9. Exiting/Entering etiquette.
  10. Respect differences.

All the homebases did a great job presenting their manners and I've heard more "please" and "thank you" over the last couple of weeks. Great job 7th grade!!

Have a wonderful, safe Spring Break!!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Puerto Rico



This week los estudiantes de 7 began a unit on Puerto Rico in their books. We talked about some cultural highlights in Puerto Rico like el morro, el loro puertorriqueño, pasta de guayaba, el Yunque and los Taínos. ¡A ver cuánto más vamos a aprender!
Have a great weekend!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hay que estudiar...

Both 7th and 8th grade Spanish students have tests next week. Make sure you use the Study Guide that you got in class on jueves to get your notes together so you can start studying. See Ms. Payne before school or during Study Hall if you have preguntas! Buena suerte.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Just how smart are you?

This week was full of ISAT testing and changed schedules. When the students receive their ISAT scores they'll see how they did on the test compared to other students in this area and across the country.
If you'd like a test with more immediate results, take a look at this quiz from Mensa. Mensa is an organization that was founded in 1946 in England. It's sort of like a society or a fraternity. The only requirement for membership is a high IQ. Mensa has members all over the world. The purpose of the society is for members to be able to socialize and network with other very intelligent individuals. There are over 100,000 members of Mensa in 100 countries around the world. There are members that come from every continent except Antarctica.
Try this quiz and see how you stack up next to the most intelligent people in the world. http://www.mensa.org/workout2.php Good luck!

Friday, February 27, 2009

¿Conoces la geografía de Sudamérica?




How much do you know about the countries of South America?
  • How many countries in South America are not Spanish-speaking? Which countries don't have Spanish as their official language?
  • Which is the largest Spanish-speaking country in South America?
  • Does the United States have good relationships with South American countries? With which ones?
  • Do you know the capitals of any of these countries?

Friday, February 20, 2009

El día de los presidentes

We didn't have school on lunes for President's Day, which honors American presidents. How much do you know about the past and present presidents just south of us in Mexico? Here are some notable (not necesaarily good) presidentes mexicanos.
  • Benito Juárez was the first full-blooded indigenous president that Mexico had. He served as president for five terms! He was born in 1806 and died in 1872. He is still considered to be one of Mexico's greatest leaders.
  • Porfirio Díaz was a very influencial and controversial president. In an effort to help Mexico's economy, which was in bad shape, Díaz invited many foreign investors into the country. This caused problems and poor conditions for local businesses and for workers. There was segregation during el Porfiriato (the time when Díaz was president) because he wanted to make Mexico look good to foreign visitors and investors. Indigenous people, very poor people and disabled people were hidden away from society. He was born in 1830 and died in 1915. He served two terms as president.
  • Vicente Fox was born in 1942. He served as president from 2000-2006. His election was important because it was the first election in over 70 years in which the dominant PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Pary) was defeated. Fox is a member of the PAN (National Action Party).
  • Felipe Calderón is the current president of Mexico. He was born in 1962 and attended Harvard University. Like President Fox, Calderón is a member of the PAN.

Que interesante, ¿no? Es importante saber de los líderes de otros países.

¡Que tengan un buen fin de semana!

Friday, February 13, 2009

¡Ponemos la mesa!



The 8th graders recently made place mats to show off their etiqueta. They did a great job putting everything in its place and making creative designs for their place settings.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Pack the Place

This year's second annual Pack the Place was a huge success! Los maestros y los estudiantes did a great job participating in the Spirit Week that lead up to the chicas home game on miércoles and the chicos game on jueves. Jueves was an especially fun Pack the Place day for me because I participated in the Pie your Teacher contest. Watch this video of me getting 'pied'!



Have a great weekend!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Trivia

See if you can answer some of this week's trivia questions.
  • On TV's I Love Lucy, what country did band leader Ricky Ricardo come from?
  • José Martí fought for the independence of which Caribbean nation?
  • Can you name the group of islands off the southern tip of South America?

Check back next week for the correct answers.

Have a good weekend!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Cuba-Estados Unidos

After not making any public communications or appearances for several weeks, former Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, comments on U.S. President, Barack Obama, and the possibility of repaired relations between Cuba and the U.S. Castro doesn't think that the relationship between these two countries will be fixed overnight, but he seems optimistic that President Obama has vowed to improve relations between the two countries.
There are many Cuban refugees living in the United States. Per laws passed in recent years, they can only return to Cuba once a year to see their families. Some can only go every other year. U.S. citizens are not permitted to travel to Cuba without special permission. President Obama hopes to change some of these travel restrictions.
Read this article to learn a little more about Fidel Castro's opinions about President Obama and about his own country. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7846670.stm
Do you think that President Obama will be able to make the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba better?

Friday, January 16, 2009

PJ Day

Brr!!! What a cold and snowy week! Fortunately today was Pajama Day so many of us were nice and cozy at school despite the cold weather. Lots of teachers and students did a great job participating! Have a safe and warm weekend!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Las calificaciones

What a great first week back from break! Did you make any resolutions for the new year? A good academic resolution might be to stay on top of your grades. Do you know what you're getting in your classes? Don't forget to login to Parent Connect (http://sds.ccsd66.org/parentconnect/) to check your grades and to make sure you don't have any missing assignments!
Have a great weekend!