La familia

Canciones

November began by talking about family.  We learned a little finger play that was quickly memorized by all of the children and now they beg to do it "solito" or "alone." (A couple of them really like to put themselves on the spot).  And then they instigated a second verse which included dogs and horses (I think horses meant to include My Little Ponies as part of the family.

La familia finger play
Mamá, Papá, hermano y hermanita, y la nena aquí está

(Mommy, Daddy, brother and little sister and the baby is right here)

Abuelo, abuela, los perros y caballos en mi familia están
(Grandpa, grandma, dogs and horses are all in my family)

Then we learned this sweet little song...The link below is a recording of a child singing both verses, although we just learned the first verse and then replaced the underlined words with other members of our family including Samantha and Chloe, 2 of our little girls "perros."

Una familia feliz (click here)

Amo a mami, y ella a mí,

y a papá amamos, sí.

Él nos ama a su vez;

oh qué feliz mi casa es.

Amo a mis hermanos,

sí, y su amor me dan a mí.

Todos se aman a su vez;

oh qué feliz mi casa es.

Drama and acting

I've discovered how much the kids love to act and dramatize.  Some of their best language has come out while re-enacting stories.  Our latest story was the well-known Three Billy Goats Gruff (Los Tres Chivitos).  My son and the only boy was the "enano" or troll and the three girls were los tres chivitos.  They incorporated several of the Language Structures from the list below, such as...

1-¿Puedo pasar?                   Can I cross?

2-Quiero comer allí.             I want to eat over there.

3-No, No  Te voy a comer.    I'm going to eat you!!

Language Structures

As promised weeks ago, I've been working on creating a list of basic structures that will help the children become bilingual at a conversational level.  It isn't complete yet but I'm adding to it as I do more research.  Although I speak to them without oversimplifying I always emphasize 2 or 3 of these structures each day and then wait patiently till the day when they unexpectedly use the structure on their own accord!  It is magical when they just spit something out after hearing it for a few weeks.

Basic fluency structures	Spanish structures	Translation
Express wants	Me gustaría...	I would like..
	Quiero...	I want...
Express needs	Necesito...	I need...
Identify objects	Hay...	There are...
	Es una...  Estos son...	It's a...  These are...
	Voy a ...	I'm going to ...(dance, run, go, visit, play, etc)
Explain what you have	Yo tengo...	I have...
Describe nouns	Es...	It is ...(adjectives)
	Está...	It is (location/prepositions)
Express ability	Yo puedo...	I can...
Express possession	Es mío, Es tuya, Es de él/ella	It's mine, It's yours, It's his/hers
	mi, tu, su, nuestro	my, your, his/her, our
Be able to ask questions		Question-who, what, where, why, when, how?