¡El Primer Día!

Today was the first day of Spanish for the 2008-09 school year at Lord of Life Montessori on Saint Simons Island. And it is great to be back! Here is a summary of what we did today.

PRIMARY
Today we learned "Waking Up Song," a simple canción from Puerto Rico that recounts the all-to-familiar struggle parents go through to wake up their kids. Don't worry, though, I didn't give them the complete translation (it ends with "Just leave us alone. Can't you hear us snore?"). I did bring my guitar, of course, and everyone had a great time. If you'd like to follow up with them one of these mornings, just flip on the light and say in a loud voice "¡Levántensen soldados!" (lay-vahn-ten-sen sol-dah-dos). Translation: "Up and at 'em soldiers!"

LOWER ELEMENTARY
Everyone received their new Spanish name and we quickly reviewed ¿Cómo te llamas? (What is your name?) with several of the students in class. I also asked for a few volunteers to temporarily be citizens of other countries while I asked the rest of the students questions as to their nationalities. For example, I would say in Spanish, "María is from the United States and Enrique is from Argentina. Which one is Argentinian?" There's nothing like watching the wheels of thought turn inside the heads of a group of kids. After a somewhat tentative start, everyone caught on and did very well.

UPPER ELEMENTARY
After new names were given out in Spanish, we had our first quiz! Similar to last year, I will be testing these students in each class for their ability to sound out Spanish words and spell them. We do five words per class but the point is not necessarily to get them all right but to simply listen to the sounds that Spanish words make and to try and identify the letters that make them. Today's words were apellido, alumnos, y, estudian, and mucho. Believe it or not, the trickiest word in this list is y (pronounced like the English alphabet letter "e"), which means "and." The double "ll" in apellido is also a challenge because it makes a sound similar to the English "y." After our quiz, we dove right into our textbook. That's right. Upper elementary students will read in each class from "Easy Spanish Reader," the first section of which follows the story of two High School students (one American and one Spanish). Today's text was only two paragraphs and a handful of completely new words but it is preparing them to learn to not only read in Spanish but to follow a story that lasts more than just a few pages.