Week Four

We started this week by putting the finishing touches on our sock puppets. The kids were really excited about this project--they glued buttons and yarn to socks and gave them Spanish names. The idea behind this is that their puppet only speaks Spanish. So whenever we are practicing words and phrases in the target language (Spanish), the kids are less likely to resort to English to communicate. Also, the puppet becomes a vehicle to discover the Latino world: they'll choose a country the puppet is from and do research on the food and clothing and weather of that country. They'll also be able to do simple, every day things like spell the puppet's name in Spanish, say how old it is, etc. We had a quiz on greetings and goodbyes this week as well, and I can't think of one student who didn't pass. The students are doing great acting out the words, saying them, and knowing what they mean without resorting to English. ¡Fantástico! On Fridays we do something called Campfire (La fugata) where I read the kids stories that come from Latin American countries. Today we started a book called "The Jumping Tree" by Rene Saldana, Jr. It's about a boy named Rey who is starting the sixth grade. He lives with his family in a small town names Nuevas Peñitas on the Texas side of the boarder with Mexico. It's about a boy coming of age with family in both countries, his experience with peers, family and society. For more information, check out this link.