Archive for August, 2008
Teach Olympic Sports in French, Spanish, Chinese, and More!
We’ve been celebrating the Olympics for the past couple of weeks in preschool French class. Whatever your language, teaching sports vocabulary is fun and active. Get your little ones on their feet with the Total Physical Response (TPR) method of language learning. Dr. James J. Asher developed this effective approach calling for physical movement [...]
Learn French and Spanish Colors with Crayola Crayons
As I check items off of my son’s first official school supply list, I’m most excited to purchase the big 64-count box of Crayola crayons. I’ll always remember opening my very first box of 64 Crayolas. Oooh, all those colors and a built-in sharpener, too! Can you believe that the biggest box of Crayolas nowadays has 150 [...]
Spanish Back-to-School Vocabulary: Classroom Supplies
This is my first official “Back-to-School” shopping season as a Mom. I’m trying hard not to tear up as my oldest heads off to kindergarten in a few weeks. For the moment, I’m distracted by the flurry of choosing the perfect backpack and all of the school supplies to go in it. Before you [...]
Big Bird in China: Learning Mandarin for the Olympics
I’m still trying to learn a little Mandarin Chinese in honor of the Beijing Olympics. I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t made it too far past Hello and Goodbye: Ni hao - Hello Zai jian - Goodbye But now, thanks to Big Bird, I can add one more expression to my repertoire: Wo ai ni – I [...]
National Holidays Around the World: August
August might not seem like a busy holiday time, but several countries will be celebrating national holidays this month. Learn a little something new about these countries and their languages. It’s always humbling for me to discover languages I’ve never even heard of before. Hokkein? Quechua? Kyrgyz? In fact, I’ll just go ahead and admit that [...]
French Back-to-School Vocabulary: Classroom Supplies
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year . . .” Remember that Back-to-School commercial for Staples, the office supply store? Dad is skipping along to the holiday tune, happily shopping for school supplies. Meanwhile the kids follow with long, morose faces. Hilarious! Just to prove you can find anything on the internet, here is [...]
The Wiggles in Taiwan
Watch out! It’s global domination, Wiggle style. Preschoolers across the English-speaking world have long danced and learned with The Wiggles, the enormously popular Australian kiddie band. In 2003, the first international version of the group wiggled onto the touring and Playhouse Disney TV scene in Taiwan. Let me introduce you: The Yellow Wiggle is Arthur. [...]
Colors of the Olympic Rings: Learn ESL, French, Spanish, German, and Chinese
We’re going to be seeing a lot of the Olympic Rings in the next few weeks. Let me tell you a little about this official Olympic symbol and flag. Then you can have some foreign language fun learning to say the colors of the rings in English (ESL), French, Spanish, German, and Chinese. Help your [...]
