Upper School Spanish News - May

I can’t believe that the school year is almost over! I’ve enjoyed seeing the growth of the students from the beginning to the end of the year. Those who were shy are now confident and ready for new challenges.

In the Lower School 3 and Upper School 1 classrooms, students have been participating in many cultural activities, which give the students another perspective in learning the Spanish language. International festivals play an important part in learning a second language.

 

We made a piñata, and the students decided what shape or characteristic they wanted the piñata to be. We decide on a Ballena Azul: a Blue Whale. One of the students drew the pattern for the piñata, while others got involved in making the structure, and some helped with the decoration. It was fun to experience the students’ excitement; they often asked about how many more days were left until the Fiesta. One of the best parts of the Fiesta was eating Paletas and hitting the Piñata. It was fun!

We made many crafts to decorate the porch and yard in the US1 Classroom. We made abanicos - fans, papel picado - paper decorations, flores de papel - paper flowers, banderas - flags from Hispanic countries, and many more. Everything looked beautiful!

We practiced food preparation as well. We made original Paletas and we cut tropical fruit to serve to our guests.

Sewing was a large part of handwork this year for all classes. Students learned how to make small stitches, sew buttons, weave, embroider, and knit in the loom. While working on their projects, students asked many questions and all lessons where conducted in Spanish in a very natural way.

In the Upper School 2 classroom, we wrapped up the year by reviewing past lessons. Students used a list of 35 questions to ask two friends. It was a great activity to understand the questions and then ask those questions to others. Some students translated stories from English to Spanish. That was a big challenge! We also wrote many stories in Spanish. I was so impressed to see the vocabulary that students used in their stories. Some students asked to see all the lessons that they accomplished this year. They were very happy to see the progression of their work from August to May.  

We play lots of games, and of course do lots of handwork. Students really enjoy doing crafts!  

Every year I ask students to write a review on what they thought of their Spanish lessons: what they liked, what they accomplished, etc. All were positive answers.

Students enjoyed playing games, cooking, doing handwork, working with their Avancemos grammar book, role-playing, story-writing, and practicing conversations between each other. It’s being a great year!

Students use the English-Spanish dictionary and find words to add to their stories.

Listening to a story another student wrote about her.

 “Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another‘s uniqueness”

-       Ola Jose

Mucho amor y paz,

Maria Asunción