Spanish Newsletter
Week of March 11-15 2013
What we did this week...
Greetings Parents/Guardians!
Now that we are back into the swing of things students have been busy learning the new vocabulary for our new unit which is focused on daily/weekly activities. Specifically students have learned "technology" vocabulary words and expressions such as: download, password, login, plug in/charge, send/receive, text, tweet, Internet, link, etc. Because many of these words are relatively new to the Spanish/English language they are "cognates" which makes it easier for students to learn. For example: to text (textear), to block (bloquear), applications (applicaciones), receive (recibir), to tweet (tuitear) etc..
This week (Tuesday) students took an assessment on these vocabulary words and expressions . Based on these assessments, I have found that students know the vocabulary words but struggle when using them in sentences. Several students struggled with the word order of their sentences, correct possessive adjectives and correct conjugation of the verb. If your child did not perform well on this assessment, encourage them to practice the words and re-take the assessment during block 1 or after school.
In addition to learning "technology" vocabulary words students have learned their numbers 101-1.000.000. Students participated in several listening and speaking activities in class and they practiced writing their numbers for homework. One of the activities they did this week was "Stand up and be counted." The class was divided in half and it was the green team vs the purple team. Each student on the team was given a sheet with a number (0-9) on it. When I called a number in Spanish the student holding that number had to quickly step forward from their group and arrange themselves in the correct location of the number being read. Of course these numbers got larger and larger as the game progressed which made it more challenging for them to find their correct "place" in the number. Although it was a bit competitive, students had a fun time practicing their numbers and working on a team. (I have included a picture of my block 6 students below.)
Students were assessed on their numbers today (Thursday) and from what I have seen, the grades are high and many students were successful on this assessment.
Coming up Next Week...
The Benefits of being Bilingual
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=2&ref=general&
Angela King
Email: aking@mtsd-vt.org
Website: http://www.mtsd-vt.org/Directory.aspx?n=aking
Location: Milton High School, Milton VT
Phone: 802-893-3230
Twitter: @sra_aking