Nahuatl

Recently the 8th graders did a little research on the Aztec calendar system. It's an intricate system to track the passage of time. The students figured out what the equivalent of their birthdays would be on the Aztec calendar and they illustrated the images. They did a great job! You can find the equivalent to your own birthday at this site: http://www.azteccalendar.com/
We also learned a couple of English words that were derived from Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs). Words like chocolate came from xocolatl; tomato from tomatl; and avocado from avocatl. I studied the origins of the Spanish language as part of my master's degree and I think it's interesting to see how words adapt and change from one language to another. Hopefully the students find it interesting too!

Pack the Place 2011

The boys' Pack the Place game was rescheduled due to our snow days and I participated in the Pie-a-teacher activity again. See the video below! Unfortunately the boys lost, but it was great to see so many students at the game. Thanks to Mrs. Mesker and the Leadership Team for organizing all of the pre-game activities!!

Interrogativas

This week the 7th graders learned interrogative words in Spanish. We also learned a song to help us remember what the words mean! Here are the lyrics to the song. It is sung to the tune of "Jingle Bells".

La canción de interrogativas

A dónde is to where

de dónde is from where

cuánto is how much

a qué hora asks what time

(repite)

Por qué-why

cuándo-when

qué-what

dónde-where

cómo-how

quién means who

cuál is which or what
(repite)

Snow, snow, snow!

What a short week! I hope that everybody stayed safe and warm during the two snow days that we had. Now we need to catch up!

On Monday February 7, the 7th graders will have a quiz on Spanish time.

On Tuesday February 8 the 8th graders will have a quiz on Indirect Object Pronouns.

¡A regatear!

This week the 8th graders talked about some of the unspoken rules for bargaining in markets in Spanish speaking countries. We also looked at a couple of items that I have acquired with my expert bargaining skills! The five rules that we talked about are:
1. Speak in Spanish as much as you can.
2. Don't act like a rich tourist-a poor student is more likely to get a better deal.
3. When the vendor tells you how much something costs, tell him/her, "That's too much!"
4. Look around at other stores to compare prices.
5. Smile! It doesn't cost you anything and being nice might get you a discount.

Los Osos de Chicago

This weekend will be an exciting one for Bears fans! Lots of students and teachers today showed their support of the Bears by wearing Bears gear. What does this have to do with Spanish? Visit univision to read predictions in Spanish about Sunday's game. http://nfl.univision.com

Have a great weekend!

Go Bears!!

New vocabulary

All Spanish classes got new vocabulary this week after our chapter tests.
The 8th graders learned words like: el anillo, los aretes, el cinturón, la jarra and el plato because they are learning about items that you can buy in open air markets, specifically in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The 7th graders learned words like: el semestre, la cita, el almuerzo and el descanso because we are doing a chapter on the school day.
We'll dive into and start using this vocabulary next week!

Have a safe and restful holiday weekend!