I decided to translate the ever-popular “Skidamarink” into French for Valentine’s Day.  I just taught it to my four year-old today.  We do a little dance to “Skidamarink” and big TPR hand gestures to go with the verses.  Click here for a FREE printable song sheet. Listen & enjoy . . . c’est amusant!

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Skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink

Skidamarink-a-doo

Je t’aime beaucoup!

Skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink

Skidamarink-a-doo

Je t’aime beaucoup!

Je t’aime le matin et l’après-midi

Je t’aime le soir et toute la nuit.

Skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink

Skidamarink-a-doo

Je t’aime beaucoup

Je t’aime beaucoup-coup-coup-coup-coup-coup!

This Valentine’s Day, teach kids colors in French, Spanish, and English by fishing for hearts.  This is a favorite pre-k activity, but it can be adapted for older kids, too.  First, you’ll need some colored paper hearts.  Click hearts for a free pdf. Make a few copies, cut, and laminate.  Place a paper clip on each heart and put the hearts on the floor.  Prepare a fishing pole by attaching a string to a stick, and tying a magnet to the string.  You’re ready!  Let’s fish!

For young children, call out colors in the target language of your choice and let the children take turns dangling the fishing pole over the hearts until they catch the right one.

Older kids can enjoy a little competition.  Give fishing poles to two players and see who can be the first to capture the correct heart for a point.  You can also hold up a sign and require students to read the color.  Variations are endless:  make multiple sets of hearts for group play, place one letter on each heart that will spell out a word, or blindfold students and have them follow oral directions to find the right heart.  One special heart can even have a sticker hidden on the back that earns the recipient a reward such as a piece of candy.

Here are the vocabulary words you’ll need for the colors in English, French, and Spanish:

red – rouge – rojo

pink – rose – rosado

blue – bleu – azul

purple – violet – violeta

yellow – jaune – amarillo

green – vert – verde

white – blanc – blanco

orange – orange – anaranjado

heart – coeur -corazón

To continue the Valentine’s Day fun, check out our holiday downloads of games, activities, and worksheets:

FRENCH:

Graphing Conversation Hearts in French

French Valentine Math

French Valentine Hearts:  coloring and sizes

French Valentine Bingo

French Valentine Tic Tac Toe

French Valentine Activities and Worksheets BUNDLE! Buy the bundle & save!

French Valentine Gouin Series

SPANISH:

Graphing Conversation Hearts in Spanish

Spanish Valentine Math

Spanish Valentine Hearts

Spanish Valentine Bingo

Spanish Valentine Tic Tac Toe

Bundle of Spanish Valentine Games Buy the bundle & save!

Spanish Valentine Gouin Series

ENGLISH:

Valentine Vocabulary Bingo for ESL/EFL

Valentine Vocabulary Tic Tac Toe Games for ESL/EFL

ESL/EFL Valentine Activities and Worksheets BUNDLE The above 2 activities plus MUCH more!  Buy the bundle & save!

ESL Valentine Gouin Series

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Check this out:  Necco Conversation Sweethearts in Spanish (36-1oz boxes dulce beso para la cariña en Español)

Image credit:  http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1170044

Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday.” How can a day be fat? And why all the French? Let’s look at a little history to learn about Louisiana’s French Connection:

• A French King, Louis XIV, sent explorers to the Mississippi River. In 1682, one of these explorers reached the river’s mouth, claimed it for France, and named the area Louisiane or Louis’ land.
• A subsequent expedition was led by Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville in 1699. The day before Mardi Gras, he established a camp about 60 miles from present-day New Orleans. In honor of the holiday, this spot was named Point du Mardi Gras.
• In 1718, another French explorer founded New Orleans as a permanent settlement. This colony was named in honor of the Duc l’Orleans.
• In 1803, France’s Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte sold Louisiana to the United States in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase.
• Other settlers to Louisiana were the Acadiens, or Cajuns. The Cajuns were also French, but they had originally settled in Nova Scotia, Canada. They were forced to leave as a result of the French-Indian War in 1755, and eventually settled in the rural areas of Louisiana, such as the bayou or marshes.
• French is the second most spoken language in Louisiana and traditions such as Mardi Gras have taken on a life all their own. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The forty days of Lent is a serious time of fasting and prayer in preparation for Easter. Mardi Gras is the last night of eating rich, fatty foods. Get it? FAT Tuesday!
• Actually, Mardi Gras is more than just mardi, or Tuesday. It is a carnival or festival that takes place for a few weeks between Epiphany (January 6) and Ash Wednesday. In New Orleans, the festivities include parades, costumes, and balls. The events are staged by Carnival Organizations called krewes.  The official Mardi Gras colors are purple, green, and gold.

Learn some French in honor of the rich French heritage surrounding Louisiana’s Mardi Gras.

Here are some basic terms you should know:

Bonjour – Hello

Au revoir – Goodbye

Merci - Thank you

S’il vous plaît - Please

Oh là là! – Oh my!

Vert – Green

Violet – Purple

Or – Gold

Laissez-les bons temps rouler! – Let the good times roll!

You can teach your elementary students these new French words while introducing them to the customs of a traditional New Orleans. Purchase the original Readers Theater “Beauregard’s Mardi Gras” at this link.

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Image credit:  http://morguefile.com/archive/display/214130

I wrote the following stories/activities for French classes.  Click for ordering information:

Mardi Gras Storytelling and Thematic Unit

Mardi Gras Gouin Series (included in thematic unit)

Mardi Gras Readers Theater (included in thematic unit)

The third Monday in January is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  This national holiday honors the life and work of our nation’s greatest civil rights leader.

Foreign language students are already broadening their horizons of cultural awareness–what better place than French or Spanish class to celebrate Dr. King’s ideals of justice, harmony, diversity and equality?  Furthermore, one of the goals of a standards-based foreign language course is to connect to other disciplines whenever possible.  This January, make a connection to Social Studies for the MLK holiday.

Foreign Language House has been busy preparing some relevant French and Spanish activities that are perfect for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Spanish Martin Luther King Jr. Vocabulary and Writing Projects

Spanish Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline Activities

Spanish Gouin Series About Martin Luther King Jr.

Spanish Bundle of Beginner Activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

French Martin Luther King Jr. Vocabulary and Writing Projects

French Martin Luther King Jr. Timeline and Listening/Geography Activities (past tense)

French Novice-Level Activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (bundle of activities for beginners–present tense)

French Gouin Series About Martin Luther King Jr.

For a free Martin Luther King download in French and Spanish, sign up for our newsletter (right sidebar.)  If you’re already a subscriber, be sure to check your inbox soon!

Be sure to check out these copies of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech in both Spanish and French from www.english-zone.com

Amazon.com has a good selection of related children’s books in Spanish, as well:

Photo of Martin Luther King Jr. shown above is in the public domain.

With the arrival of Thanksgiving, the holidays will officially be in full-swing!  I’ve already been admiring the Christmas lights and contemplating the Black Friday sales.  But it’s also a time to think of others.  Consider some service projects in your French and Spanish classes over the holidays.  Your students can help others while improving language skills and expanding their world view at the same time.  Click the following link and watch the video for some ideas.  Happy holidays!

FREE “GIVE THANKS” DOWNLOAD

Happy Thanksgiving from Foreign Language House on Vimeo.

November is the ideal time to teach French and Spanish learners about food.  Tukey, stuffing, and pumpking pie . . . mmmmm!  Get your K-6 language learners using the target language for authentic communication this Thanksgiving holiday. Find out what foods they like and what foods they don’t like through highly structured pair work/interviews.

Younger children need manipulatives for hands-on learning. Use realia that they can both see and touch: plastic toy foods, cans of food from your pantry, empty food cartons, etc. Use a lot of TPR (Total Physical Response) to get your students physically moving the food items: pass, roll, toss, smell, put, etc. Picture visuals are effective, too.

Make the concept of expressing preferences as concrete as the food (noun) vocabulary. Use gestures, facial expressions, and pictures to denote various opinions.   For younger children, begin with just 2 choices: 

I like . . ./I don’t like . . .

J’aime. . . /Je n’aime pas . . .

Me gusta . . . /No me gusta . . .

From there, you can expand and enrich vocabulary as the children grow and advance.  (I love, I don’t really like, etc.)  We’ve got some new conversational downloads that make partner activities clear and concrete for kids.

French Conversational Activities About Thanksgiving Foods

Spanish Conversational Activities About Thanksgiving Foods

To receive a free download of French and Spanish Thanksgiving worksheets, sign up for the Foreign Language House e-newsletter (right sidebar.) Absolutely free!

Photo Credit:  http://www.sxc.hu/photo/636352

I wrote a simple little turkey finger play in French for Thanksgiving last year.  Check it out here on video:

Voici la dinde, dinde, dinde =  Here is the turkey (hold up hand)
Elle a une tête, tête, tête =  She has a head (wiggle thumb)
Et quatre plumes, plumes, plumes  =  And 4 feathers (wiggle 4 fingers)
Aussi un bec, bec, bec. =  Also a beak (wiggle thumb)

La dinde a peur, peur, peur  =  The turkey’s scared (shake hand)
Elle dit glou, glou, glou  =  She says glou glou glou/gobble (wiggle thumb)
Ne me mange pas, pas, pas  =  Don’t eat me (shake hand back and forth)
Merci beaucoup, -coup, -coup  =  Thanks a lot (wave)

 Order your printables here!

To receive a free download of French and Spanish Thanksgiving worksheets, sign up for the Foreign Language House e-newsletter (right sidebar.) Absolutely free!

Developing writing skills in novice-level language learners is always a challenge.  Writing tasks must be clear, simple, and highly structured.  I’d like to share a simple Halloween writing project I’ve done with 5th and 6th grade students.  Working in pairs or small groups, students wrote and illustrated a 10-page book.  The writing is a pattern-practice for beginners.  They simply had to choose various elements and recombine them into original sentences.  Here’s one in French from a few years ago.

The directions are available as a ready-to-go student handout in French or Spanish.  Click the links for ordering info:

French Haunted House Writing Project

Spanish Haunted House Writing Project

Driving in my car this morning, I got a great idea for a French Halloween finger play. (All of my best ideas happen in the car!) This one is a variation on the “Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Wall” rhyme. The different versions include Halloween vocabulary, backwards counting, and ways to say goodbye. It would be a wee bit tedious to do all three versions in the same lesson, but doing a different version as part of the warm-up on consecutive days would be a hit! Watch the video to see how it’s done!

VERSION 1: PUMPKINS
Cinq petites citrouilles dans une maison hantée
Une citrouille part
Les autres disent, “Au revoir!”

Quatre petites citrouilles dans une maison hantée
Une citrouille part
Les autres disent, “Au revoir!”

Trois petites citrouilles dans une maison hantée
Une citrouille part
Les autres disent, “Au revoir!”

Deux petites citrouilles dans une maison hantée
Une citrouille part
L’autre dit, “Au revoir!”

Une petite citrouille dans une maison hantée
Une citrouille part
Au revoir!

VERSION 2: GHOSTS
Cinq petits fantômes dans une maison hantée
Un fantôme disparaît
Les autres disent, “Bonne soirée!”

Quatre petits fantômes dans une maison hantée
Un fantôme disparaît
Les autres disent, “Bonne soirée!”

Trois petits fantômes dans une maison hantée
Un fantôme disparaît
Les autres disent, “Bonne soirée!”

Deux petits fantômes dans une maison hantée
Un fantôme disparaît
L’autre dit, “Bonne soirée!”

Un petit fantôme dans une maison hantée
Un fantôme disparaît
Bonne soirée!

VERSION 3: BLACK CATS
Cinq petits chats noirs dans une maison hantée
Un chat noir s’en va,
Les autres disent, “À plus tard!”

Quatre petits chats noirs dans une maison hantée
Un chat noir s’en va,
Les autres disent, “À plus tard!”

Trois petits chats noirs dans une maison hantée
Un chat noir s’en va,
Les autres disent, “À plus tard!”

Deux petits chats noirs dans une maison hantée
Un chat noir s’en va,
L’autre dit, “À plus tard!”

Un petit chat noir dans une maison hantée
Un chat noir s’en va,
À plus tard!

I’ve prepared printable cloze exercises, coloring pages, worksheets, and finger puppets based on these rhymes. Click here for ordering information.