Archive for May, 2009
Learn Spanish Beach Vocabulary at Foreign Language Friends
The Foreign Language Friends Spanish-learning website continues to be a favorite at our house. My 3 (almost 4) year old loves to learn along with the colorful animations. It’s the perfect way for me to spend time with my child playing in Spanish . . . especially since I don’t speak Spanish myself. We [...]
Dinosaur in Foreign Languages: Spanish, French, German and More
If my own two boys are any indication, kids looooooove dinosaurs! Use these fascinating creatures to teach children about languages. Sir Richard Owen, an English biologist, used Greek terms to give dinosaurs their name back in 1841: deinos means terrible or fearfully great, and saurus means lizard. The Latin term for dinosaur is Dinosauria. [...]
Free Spanish PowerPoint Presentations
A fantastic resource for teachers and homeschoolers is TeachersPayTeachers. It’s a sort of eBay for educators, with used teaching resources and original downloads.
I really love TeachersPayTeachers for its unique collection of relevant teaching materials designed by classroom teachers. And some of these gems are absolutely free! (In fact, at the time of this post [...]
Foreign Language Fun Video: Wash Your Hands in French
The kids and I have been playing around with my new Flip video camera. I am proud (?) to present our first official Foreign Language Fun language video! Woo-hoo! Okay, okay . . . I’m no professional film maker. Or singer. But I love to create silly little songs to help teach language, so [...]
Enjoy a French Picnic!
Pique-nique. . . the French invented the word. The very first picnics were actually held indoors during the 17th century. Guests were all expected to “pick” a dish to share, hence the term “pique”. (“Nique” is most likely just a fun rhyming accompaniment.) Before long, the “picnic” term and concept travelled to England. By the [...]
Preschool Ice Cream Cone Counting Lesson in English, French, Spanish, and More
Use a yummy ice cream theme to teach preschoolers how to count from 1-10 in a new language. Prepare a felt ice cream cone and ten variously colored (“flavored”) scoops. During the lesson, continually review and add on new numbers as the ice cream cone gets bigger and bigger and bigger. After the felt board [...]
Hand Washing Song in Spanish
My amiga, Catherine, at speakspanisheveryday.com wrote this Spanish song to encourage kids to wash their hands. It’s a fantastic content-related song related to elementary health curriculum.
Lávase las Manos
**To the tune of Feliz Navidad
Lávase las manos cha. . cha. . cha . . cha . . cha. . . cha.
Lávase las manos cha. . . cha. . [...]
French Tree Parts Song
My content-based kindergarten language learning continues with a little French lesson about trees. The song is to the tune of “Ten Little Indians” and it’s meant to be acted out with gestures/TPR:
Chorus:
Racines, tronc, branches, feuilles
Racines, tronc, branches, feuilles
Racines, tronc, branches, feuilles
Voici un bel arbre!
Roots, trunk, branches, leaves,
Roots, trunk, branches, leaves,
Roots, trunk, branches, leaves,
Here’s a nice [...]
Scholarships Available to Concordia Language Villages
For years, I have recommended Concordia Language Villages to my students. These summer immersion camps are absolutely amazing. A number of years ago, I had the good fortune of participating in Concordia’s Teacher Seminars and earning graduate credit. I spent three weeks in Minnesota learning about immersion techniques and visiting the [...]
Planting and Gardening Lesson in French, Spanish, and Other Foreign Languages
I am getting so many great content ideas for my French lessons by following my son’s kindergarten curriculum. Today, I taught a simple lesson about planting flowers. A grade level expectation is that children understand what plants need to grow: soil, water, and sunlight. I came in with all of my “stuff” . . . [...]
