I had a most bizarre conversation at the Primary Language Show a fortnight ago. There I was with Jo Rhys-Jones eyeing up the new puppets on the Little Linguist stand when one of the staff exclaimed - 'Oh, Lisa! Did you win the calendar in Birmingham?' I replied that I did indeed - as part of the Birmingham Primary Language Conference in November! I'd almost forgotten as I had never received said calendar.
Catherine (I believe it was!) responded that she was very sorry I hadn't received it yet - they (Little Linguist) knew that there were two winners but had no idea who had won. Apparently, they found out from my blogpost about the conference - how cool!
So, as I have now received said calendar,(see above) I wanted to say thank you to Catherine and all at Little Linguist for their detective skills, for recognising me in Liverpool and for reading my blog.
And 3CT thank you too as they have now got a calendar just like 3DS to help them with their current unit of wrk which is all about....dates!
Having congratulated José 'Así se hace' Picardo on the 1st birthday of Box of Tricks yesterday, it dawned on me that it must be ¡Vámonos!'s birthday soon - and then I realised I'd missed it in all the fun and excitement of the IoW conference!
So belatedly, Happy Birthday to my lovely pink blingy blog ;o)
As I explained in my first post on 23rd October last year, I procrastinated and vacilated for a long time before finally taking the plunge and starting a blog. Having said that, I have loved blogging - it suits the chatty, enthusiastic, got to share the news part of me, and also satisfies the part of me that is frustrated by day to day stuff. And it means that I can write which appeals to the part of me that hasn't seen much action since my Uni of Sheffield days.
Of course, I don't just blog for my own satisfaction - I hope people find my blog interesting and useful - but I really think I'd carry on even if I didn't get read. At times this year, I have hidden from reality by blogging and it has kept me going through the hardest and saddest time of my life.
And it has also restored my feeling that I do have something to say that's worth hearing - sometimes it's hard when everyone at school tells you that you're so good but you know that they actually don't really know if you are or not as they have no idea of how Primary languages or new technologies work. So it's important to me that my peers - like Jo and Joe and José (and others whose names don't start with Jo!)- tell me what's what.
Added to which, without this blog I probably wouldn't have met and made friends with so many people across the country and world who have enriched my life so much with their advice, thoughts and funny comments.
So to all those who have read ¡Vámonos! over the last year, keep reading and .... xxx
Only a few days left now until the Isle of Wight Conference this weekend.
I'll be heading down on Friday for two days (Saturday and Sunday) of PD and social networking at its best - there are so many sessions on offer that we're spoilt for choice - and I've got to fit in delivering one of them with the lovely Jo Rhys-Jones with whom I am also hosting a 'Round Table' - I hope this refers to a discussion not a piece of furniture ;o) I'm really looking forward to hearing some inspiring presenters like Mark Pentleton, Drew Buddie, Chris Fuller, Adam Sutcliffe - I could go on and on - and meet up with friends, old new and virtual!
To see what's on offer - and it is a very impressive lineup - check out Integrating ICT in the MFL classroom, the blog of the mastermind behind the conference, Mr Joe Dale.
I acknowledge that it is a long way, but it is well worth the trip, and is a bargain at £100. And it's not too late to book! Download the booking form from here - you know it makes sense :o)
This weekend really is turning into 'catch-up' time as I blog things that I really should have mentioned over the last few weeks when they were 'hot off the press' but didn't due to time etc etc!
Talkabout Primary MFL, as I've told you before, is a Ning network started by Jo Rhys-Jones as 'an interactive network for those teaching (or considering teaching) foreign languages in Primary school; a place to share your worries/successes with supportive colleagues.' When I joined in June last year, there were 10 members - now there are 203 and counting! I'm so pleased that word is out that it's the place to be for ideas, support and discussion. I certainly make sure that I tell everyone about it when I speak - in fact, joining Talkabout is one of my Top Tips!
Well, now Talkabout has gained a Wikispace!A wikispace is like a word processing document to which lots of people can contribute and share. There are so many people contributing great ideas, writing blog posts, sharing resources and experience, offering advice and support, that things could easily be missed. As Jo explains in her post that announces the arrival of the wikispace,
I'm hoping it will help organise the blog posts as this network grows bigger, and although documents can be uploaded directly, just adding a hyperlink saves space. I am also hoping that any members, particularly those who are members of groups, might like to add/edit their own group pages, simply by 'joining' the space. You do NOT have to join the wiki to view it - so to see what I'm trying to describe, click the link below. I've only just started adding things - so the more people who volunteer to 'join' and add things themselves, the jollier! This space is for YOU to use.
So why not pop along and check it out! And contribute! The more the merrier!
Having been told not to say anything for a bit, when I was given the all clear to blog about the IoW Conference, I've been a bit slow off the mark! But...más vale tarde que nunca as dear Nando would say!
October 25th and 26th 2008 will see many teachers from across the UK (and beyond?) gathering at Nodehill Middle School in Newport, Isle of Wight for Joe Dale's annual IOW Conference. As usual, the focus is on creative language teaching using ICT, and it promises to be a great weekend. This year, there's so much going on that it has been extended to two days with a Show and Tell event on the Saturday night so that everyone can share, not just those who are presenting.
And speaking of presenters - look at the line up!
Sharon Tonner - ICT specialist, ex- High School of Dundee, now working for a Scottish Uni!
Jo Rhys-Jones - AST in MFL, Kingswear Primary School
Lisa Stevens - Spanish Teacher and eTwinning ambassador, Whitehouse Common Primary School,
Julie Adoch, HoD in MFL, Heathfield Foundation Technology College and her students
They will be tackling topics including-
Mobile Phones
Wikis
Primary Languages
Ning networking
Songs
Virtual Learning Environments
Digital Storytelling
Games based learning
Gender differences
Videoconferencing
eTwinning
Digital Voice Recorders
One Stop Animation
PowerPoint
Interactive Whiteboards and Voting Systems
Blogging and Podcasting
Assessment for Learning
New KS3 curriculum
Web 2.0 tools
vodcasting
eCreativity
Having had the privilege of speaking last year on Primary Languages and eTwinning, I've been asked again - must have done something right ;o) - and this year I'll be co-presenting with Jo Rhys-Jones. It promises to be a highly entertaining session as we always end up in fits of giggles when we meet up, and I'm sure plenty of that fun will be manifest in the session.
So, watch out for the delegates pack that Joe will soon be launching, and take the opportunity as term nears a close (in England - I know Scotland has already broken up) to put in your PD request whilst there's still money in the budget, and while everyone else is just hanging out for the holidays!!
Here comes part three of my reflections on the units I'm currently using in KS2 Spanish. If you've read the other parts on Units 5 and 11, you'll recall that I've taught the units to half of the school and am now teaching the parallel classes until the summer break. So the current groups are probably getting a better deal as I refine and adapt from the first run, but may not finish the unit in its entirety as the end of term leads to much lesson disruption!
As with Units 5 and 11, Unit 14 has an opening stimulus from which the unit stems. In this case, a song. Based on the well known children's song, I am the Music Man, Yo soy músico has proved popular with Year 5. The QCA Unit which can be downloaded from here in PDF and RTF, gives the lyrics - you just have to sing it! Helen Myers has recorded a music only version - clever lady!- which can be found here, and if you want to hear how it sounds with a class in full voice, check out the WCPS Spanish podcast in the right hand column - although I'm sure you've all subscribed to it in iTunes ;o)
At the top of the post is the Powerpoint I made to go with the song. Note that it has two parts. The first half is in the first person singular - Yo soy músico, which is the version used in the first instance when the teacher (or volunteer class member!) is the Music Man. The second part is in the first person plural - Somos músicos - as the class join in with the whole song and we all become Music Men. I used animations having listened to Nick Mair talking in Oxford about boys learning best when there is action and movement in the graphics. There is an initial disadvantage as the class comment on the guitar playing pig etc mid-song, but after the first view, this stops and it really helps memorisation.
Looking at the medium term plan above, you can see that the objectives for the first lesson are to express simple opinions about music. This proved popular as we listened to some different types of music and decided if we liked them or not. In a previous unit on free time we had learned the phrase la música pop / rock / clásica and most recalled the phrase - and the accompanying action -
la música - hands on ears like you're listening to music then ..
...pop - makes your hands pop from fists to spread fingers whilst making your eyes wide
...rock - rock from side to side
...clásica - conduct an orchestra
...heavy - mosh!! (a clear favourite I must say!)
We added jazz (jazz hands) and folclórica (play a guitar) which took some explaining as few knew what it was! Several pupils commented on the use of cognates - and when one asked what tecno music would be, another piped up that 'it'd be la música tecno, silly'
I expressed an opinion in Spanish about the music using facial expression then encouraged the class to offer their own opinion in Spanish. Again, the phrase was not unfamiliar but, for some, had to be dragged from memory banks!
We then sang the song which soon involved the whole class. The first couple of times, everyone sang all the instruments to learn and fix the words - and of course we did actions for those who are kinaesthetic learners (and to keep everyone awake!). Having looked at pronunciation of the words we had a quick look at accents - why do música / saxofón / batería have accents - I explained it using people's names - when we see a name in English we know (usually!) how to say it as there are stress patterns - it's AlexANder not AlEXander and accents help show us how to say words. Pupils completed a simple sheet to finish the lesson - labelling and also trying to use their LLS to work out what six instruments were in English. Some of the words were obvious and others needed a bit of thought - but a few did work out los platillos are cymbals by thinking of plates!
Next lesson began with a recap of vocabulary and game of Simóm dice. Then we sang the song, firstly using Soy músico but with each table alloted the flashcard of a musical instrument to represent. This led to hilarity as the 'piano' table worked out that they had to stand up and sit down every verse - as you can guess I chose this table carefully!! We looked at the words of the opening to the song and used Sé tocar... and then Toco ..... to say which instruments we could and couldn't play - an 'on the ball' pupil suggested 'toco regular el piano' and 'no toco la guitarra muy bien' as answers - not bad eh? It's really encouraging when pupils 'play around' with language because they're trying to express themselves more accurately. We then looked at the second half - Somos músicos, venimos de Madrid etc' and discussed how this might differ in meaning from the first half.
We went on to recap our opinions about music genres and this time tried to add some simple reasons for the opinion - because it's slow, because it's boring, because it has rhythm etc. Pupils made up sentences in groups adding all the bits from the two lessons to see how long a sentence they could make using connectives such as 'y' and 'porque'.
At the start of the next lesson we recapped our opinions and started to present them in written form on graffiti wall posters - the word 'graffiti' made eyes sparkle although it was somewhat controlled graffiti! Whilst the class worked on this, I worked in the corner with my laptop and and microphone to record members of the class expressing their opinions about music - this was the start of WCPS Spanish podcast. The look of wonder on pupils' faces when they heard their voice comin gout of my laptop and then the IWB was great - one lad, Zach, commented 'But I sound really Spanish!'. (Pictures of posters to follow!)
Next we listened to some Spanish music and Latin American music, comparing and contrasting the instruments heard. I borrowed a CD from the library that had a vast array of South American music types on it, and I took in some of my own music - Tomatito, Heroes del Silencio, Joan Manuel Serrat, Los Nikis,Gloria Estefan,Alejandro Sanz,Operación Triunfo. We listened and decided which instruments we heard, and gave opinions on the singers / groups. Then I role played buying a CD - using a ActivPrimary flipchart (in Box of Goodies as can't upload to .DocStoc). In pairs with one as customer and one as assistant, the customer had to
say they wanted to buy a CD
express their opinion about a type of music and say which type they prefer
agree to buy an item., and we recorded some examples (see podcast!)
The roles were swapped so that everyone got to play each character. We recorded some examples for the WCPS Spanish podcast as well. This time I'm going to add discussing buying an MP3 file to this bit ;o) Having looked at accents and stress patterns as well as considering types of music, looking at the rhythm, especially the rhythm of words made perfect sense and we spent a good while clapping out phrases and trying to copy rhythms in the next session. At times it was rather haphazard, freestyle clapping but there were signs of promise from some who managed to copy accurately and understood the use of dynamics to mark stress. 'Guess the phrase from the rhythm' was a popular game - it's amazing how much concentration it takes to clap a simple phrase!
The last few sessions were given over to Year 5 producing their own rap/song in Spanish. I allowed them free rein over this with the proviso that it had to be in Spanish (obvious to me but you'd be surprised!) As a whole class we discussed how the task might be tackled and we came up with a start for those who couldn't think of a way in, then it was up to the groups to do their bit! There were several things to note from these lessons for next time.
Some groups needed more support than they were given - perhaps more time working together as a whole class before setting groups off on their own.
Groupings are key, and all the 'musical' kids ended up in two groups - they would've been better perhaps split up to help those whose rhythm was a bit off!
When recording pupils' final productions, don't put your iRiver anywhere near the drums! Sadly, a couple of good outcomes are drowned out by the percussion.
I'll upload those that will not damage eardrums to the podcast and/or Box of Goodies as soon as this post is finished ;o) There were a couple of groups that tried to sing their performances to tunes from The Sound of Music - good idea, I thought. Some stuck to opinions on music, others tried to work in vocabulary from other units such as Personal introduction vocabulary and sporting likes and dislikes.
The other Year 5 class are very different to the first group and I expect this half term to pan out differently to the previous one. I think this time we'll look at the pre-performance interview suggested in the QCA Unit and perhaps try to adapt a song rather than write rap. I'll keep you informed!
NOTE - if you'd like ideas on this Unit in french, check out Talkabout Primary MFL where Jo Rhys Jones has spookily just blogged about the same unit!
As Oscar explains in the site's blurb, he aims for it to be - A place to share ideas, thoughts and examples of work. With the aim to help you develop confidence in using animation in the classroom. So, why not do as Isabelle Jones and SpookingDorf did after reading my tweet about it and join? You've got nothing to lose and lots to gain :o)
This morning I went to a workshop by Oscar Stringer on animation - the theory being that it will become ingrained in my brain if I do the workshop enough time ;o)
Here's the video I made with Jo Rhys-Jones and a lovely lady called Sue based on minibeasts. Hope you enjoy it - we're very proud.
As you know if you read a previous post, I am strangely fascinated by the Eurovision Song Contest. It's mainly to do with Terry Wogan's irreverent commentary and the hilarious subtitle bloopers that occur on Ceefax when they instant-translate the hosts speaking rather than the singing which is often dire.
This year, I'll be away in Spain and will probably let the whole thing pass me by as the two reasons I watch are inaccessible and, more importantly, I'll have better things to do ;o)
'Have just created a new ning - The Alternative Eurovision Song Contest for Schools - it will incorporate many of the ideas above (Geography, citizenship, ICT, Literacy as well as language links), with set tasks for your class to complete beginning with labelling their chosen country on a Frappr map like the one on this main page and building to our own contest so we can vote on each other's contributions. I hope it will be in the style of Sharon Tonner's VOTW with lots of support and help on the ICT side and plenty of flexibility on which tasks you choose to complete and how/when you do them. Then classes should be able to view/listen to each other's work as the project gradually builds.'
Whitehouse Common have chosen to represent ... you've guessed it ... Spain! We've completed the first task - placing our flag on the Frappr map and are now working on task 2 - a promotional video showing the best of Spain. Plenty of images from which to choose there!
Jo has made a Slideshare full of ideas to help you use the event in your classroom, but why not join the fun on the NING? And it is meant to be fun, I keep reminding myself as I wind up Chris Fuller who has also chosen to represent Spain- may the best entry win... as long as it's ours ;o)
Inspired by Jo Rhys-Jones post on Minibeasts, and her suggestion of some suitable Frenchvideos on Youtube to support it, I went in search of some Spanish equivalents - then got sidetracked!
Having followed Jo's links to Papillons, (complete with operatic French version of Anything I do, I do it for you), I decided to search for Spanish butterflies - mariposas. I came across a clip of 'Mariposas de Asturias' which is very similar (the music is more relaxing!)
Then my search took me off in a different direction when I came across a video clip called Mariposas Silenciosas. Not about butterflies, but a game that can be played in small groups to improve concentration, coordination, and also provide a bit of calm!
Then I investigated Luis Pescetti further and found more videos that I thought might be interesting. Keeping to the minibeasts theme, how about Cienpies about a centipede-
This is followed by an action rhyme with nonsense words - a bit like Gingangoolie (not sure if that's how you spell it as I've never tried writing it down!) - with simple actions that get faster and faster. Amazing how muddling it can be to do simple actions fast!And here's another -Aiepo - this time, the rhyme is said in different voices depending on the speed, starting as an elephant, very low, and finishes higher!
Another rhyme along a similar vein, but this time with 'proper' Spanish words - in this case a traditional Spanish rhyme - Palmas, higos y castañas.
Also on a minibeast theme, scroll down to the seventh song on this page forLa canción de la pulgaabout a flea that jumps on a dog, bites it and then has a full tummy!
In fact, having found lots of his videos on Youtube, I then went to his website http://www.luispescetti.com/ and discovered lots more too see and do. Words and (very usefully) mp3 files for songs as well as videos and jokes. Well worth investigating. From a quick look, I can see a Spanish version of London Bridge is falling down, as well as Un kilómetro a pie (referred to in a previous post on Active learning) and a lovely song called Mocos about bogies!!
And on that note, I'll leave you to explore for yourself!
As I'm coming to the end of my reports, I thought I'd point you to some other places where you can find out about the Primary Language Show.
In his usual efficient way, Joe Dale has published the show notes and audio of his sessions in Manchester on his blog - Integrating ICT into the MFL classroom. Si if you want to find out about ICT...so what (free tools that you can use to enhance all four skills in the MFL classroom) or Podcasting from Idea to iTunes, pop along to Joe's blog. In fact, if you wnat the answer to just about any ICT related question, you'll probably find it there! Also worth checking out are Joe's pictures from Manchester - see if you can spot me!
Another colleague with whom I met up in Manchester was Jo Rhys-Jones of Talkabout Primary MFL fame. We spent the two days swapping notes on sessions so I was glad to see that Jo had followed up her promise to tell us more about one of the sessions that had intrigued me most, all about Minibeasts. As the mother of two small boys, minibeasts are something about which I have learned much in the last few years, and Jo reports back on Linda Owen's session at PLS in which Linda described a spiralling scheme of work covering Reception to Year6. Jo has added has added some of her own ideas too - well worth a read.
The CILT website declared the show 'absolutely outstanding' , quoting Lorna HarveyCounty Advisor for Primary MFL in one of our neighbouring LAs, Staffordshire. 'I got such a lot out of it, as usual. I really appreciate the opportunity to hear from so many people with so much expertise, and this has a real impact on my work.'
I'd agree with Lorna. Anyone else got anything to share from PLS that I've missed? Perhaps an idea that you've had, a short report on a session or a comment on the event overall? Feel free to leave comment below.
This session was resented by the very entertaining Nigel Pearson, one of the Primary Language Advisor at CILT and Katja Neubauer, Junior Director of the European Initiative at the KingsSchool in Rochester.
Beginning by acknowledging that unfortunately England aren’t in Euro08, Nigel and Katya suggested ways in which the event could be exploited and celebrated.Here are some of their suggestions –
Use it as an exercise in ICU:
Look at the logo – colour, shapes used, design
There are 16 countries taking part from across Europe – what language(s) is /are spoken by each on?Where are they in Europe? (compass points)
Flags – kids could make them, wave them and chant the names of the countries whilst you bang rhythm on a tambourine.
Mark countries on am map
Have a table of progress to be filled in throughut the tournament.
Trix und Flix are the mascots (descriptions / design your own) – it takes place in Austria and Switzerland from 7th June -29th June (dates – how long is it?What day of the week does it start on? Etc)Cities are Innsbruck, Salzburg, Wien, Kalgenfurt, Geneve, Zurich, Bern Basel (country and location)
Web searches for information about host towns
Nigel and Katya then introduced us to some vocabulary to do with fitness and football such as run, jog, head (the ball), jump etc with actions and a range of games to practice and reinforce -
What’s missing?¿Qué falta?
Hot or cold ¿Frío o caliente?
Corners -like NSEW
Flashreading – flash the card very fast - ¿qué es?
Echo the word – using different voices
Throwing words – using a ball, throw it at a word – class read word it hits or teacher says the word and pupils throw it at the correct word.(headers whilst counting in TL)
What’s on the card? ¿Qué hay en la tarjeta?Using sí and no, can also be done with drawing part of a gallows to add to the competition, and could also be developed fromsingle word responses into sentences e.g. Un estadio;Es un estadio;pienso que es un estadio.
Memory game – numbers on front of card, guess the word behind it – practices number and vocabulary too.Kids (and us adults playing today!) are fiercely competitive!!
Number football – headers that you count – can always mime!Or a penalty shootout.And why not some Klinsmann dives!
Further football linked activities included –
Describe a player -uses personal identification questions and answers
Footballers are heroes for many of our pupils so why not let the kids research and use ICT for presentation of their favourite (foreign) player?.
Design shorts / strip for football – can add other equipment for football.Add extra information to reuse vocabulary in different contexts eg colours used for school uniform, favourite colours, eyes etc
Blow football – shout appropriate cheers like animo, venga, gol etc
Songs - Katya and Nigel presented a song in German about football to the tune of Frere Jacques– I’ve quickly translated into Spanish:
Juego al fútbol, juego al fútbol
Es genial, es genial
Muchos muchos goles
Muchos muchos goles
Uno a cero.
Uno a cero.
You can modify the lastline to add more scores, add countries etc
España cuatro,Francia tres or
España gana, Alemania pierde - I think you might be able to guess who I'm supporting :o)
Nigel also shared a French song from the World Cup. I quickly opened Audacity on my laptop and recorded it -it's in My Box of Goodies on the right! :o) (Thanks to Nigel who kindly said that was OK!)
Football sans frontières
Ça c’est super.
Brésil et Bulgarie
Pays Bas et Italie
Belgique et Tunisie
Allez! Bonne chance!
(Nigel kindly told us when to go up and down using his hand 'stepping' - that's the 'hand thing' referred to for those who wondered!)
The session concluded with a couple of websites that might be helpful - there will no doubt be more nearer the time, and I'll post any that I find.
As I've blogged before, Euro 08 is already in focus at my school through Chris Fuller's Euro08 project which joins schools across the country as we find out about our allocated participating country prior to meeting up in June for a tournament of our own. Already in training - Jo Rhys-Jones looks rather nippy and Chris Fuller climbs - and that's just the teachers :-o There's room for more schools to be involved - let Chris know if you're interested!
Tomorrow I'm off to the Primary Language Show in Manchester. It's the first time I've been able to go for both days and, although I'll miss the conference dinner (booked out by the time school decided I could go) and am not staying over but travelling in both days from home (don't fancy hotel rooms at the moment), I am really looking forward to it. As CILT proclaimed today -
The 12th annual CILT Primary Languages Conference takes place this Friday 29 February and Saturday 1 March at the Manchester Conference Centre, and is the biggest event of the year for all those involved in or interested in primary languages.
With language learning due to be in all English primary schools by 2010, and 70% of primary schools already providing some form of language teaching, interest in the show is growing each year and both days of the conference are now fully booked.
With sessions on a wide variety of topics related to PLL including the use of ICT and story, football and dance, there's something for all interests, and it will be hard to choose which sessions to attend.
I'm hoping to meet up with Jo Rhys Jones and other members of Talkabout Primary MFL for coffee and cake - we might even let Joe Dale (who is speaking on podcasting) join us as the token male if he behaves :o) So there will no doubt be plenty of blogging going on after the weekend - keep your eyes and ears peeled!
Although the conference is fully booked ( I applied four weeks ago and the plenary sessions on Friday and also the dinner were fully booked then) you can still attend the resources exhibition for FREE! So if you're coming, why not leave a comment or contact me via Twitter. Hope to see you there!
My current fascination with Youtube continues! There will be no doubt be more posts later in the week with more of my discoveries, but here is the first 'joya'.
The ideal for Primary Language Learning (PLL) is that the learning is embedded in the curriculum.
During my browsing, I discovered some lovely little videos of tables in Spanish. Some are chants and some are drills, ranging from 47 seconds to 1 minute 55, but all have captured the interest of my 6 year old - 'I don't know my tables' - as well as 9 year old who is a maths whizz.
They cover the 2 to 10 times tables, multiplying by up to 10.
See what you think! My particular favourite is 'tabla del 5' but I've embedded all the videos in a custom player (fancy eh?!)
I was off line for the New Year so a belated Feliz Año Nuevoto you all. And whilst my in-laws have no Internet access, they do have SKY so I was able to see in the New Year at 11pm GMT with those in the Puerta de Sol in Madrid on TVEi - and eat my 'uvas de la suerte' just like Gretel (clever pooch!). I discovered that, as well as ensuring you eat all 12 grapes to ensure your good fortune, your underwear has a deciding factor in your luck for the coming year. If you wear red undies, apparently it will bring you good luck and love. In Mexico, if you carry a suitcase onto your balcony, you'll go on lots of trips, and by putting money on you windowsills, you won't be short of money. If only .....
Tomorrow it will be El Día de Reyes in Spain and other Hispanic countries, the day on which presents are traditionally delivered by the Three Kings. Epiphany is a big deal in Spain with parades called cabalgatas in most towns when the Reyes Magos arrive on their camels (or sometimes in a boat in Barcelona or Málaga) on the evening of the 5th before distributing presents overnight into the waiting shoes left out on balconies with some straw for the camels. For photos, check out El País.com where there are a number of good quality pictures from 2007. There are a number of clips of these processions on Youtube - there is a slideshow from Priego, Córdoba with stills and short clips of their parades accompanied by an interesting music (!) and one from Rociana in Huleva features some very generous Reyes who are throwing rather large parcels instead of the usual sweets into the crowd.
I also came across a couple of amusing videos. The first is El rap de los Reyes Magos in which they plot (and execute) the downfall of Santa who is increasingly taking over present giving duties - not recommended for use with young children! And the second below is entitled Los padres son los Reyes Magos.
On the subject of presents, there's a short voxpop clip in Spanish about the cost of buying presents for Reyes - good for more confident learners or for gist. Perhaps listen out for presents, or for the number of children / grandchildren people have, or even for cognates. A good discussion starter.That's a bit tricky for younger learners, but they could write simple letters to los Reyes with their present requests - two sites to do this online are El Boricua from Puerto Rico and espacio.ya.com - in English or Spanish - or even draw and label them.
There are numerous sites with information about Reyes - have a look at my del.icio.us tabs on the right under reyes - including recipes for the traditional 'Rosca de Reyes' and some activities from Tucson Children's Museum(a couple of the links are dead unfortunately).
And what would a festival be without a song - here's one version of 'Aquí vienen los reyes' - the words seem sweet but unfortunately there is no music but the more usual version seems to be this one. As the site points out, it's a bit odd as it suggests that the Reyes Magos can see Holland - either they have very good telescopes or they're very lost ;o) There's a .mp3 file with this one - always helpful if you want to use it and have no idea how it goes - but here's another version by Rayito 'con sabor flamenco y rumba'.
The annual Edublog Awards are nearly upon us, nominations have recently been published and voting has begun - and it seems that I know rather a lot of talented bloggers!
Well - every one of them deserves an award in my opinion so I'll be voting as many times as I'm allowed!
How can I persuade you to vote too? Well, they're all lovely people and .... not sure I can so I'll leave it to their blogs to do the talking! Please check them out and I'm sure you'll be as convinced as me that these people are inspirational, creative and innovative people who deserve a more than a pat on the back for their contribution to education.
A few months I became a member of Talkabout Primary MFL - and what a good decision that has proved to be!
Set up by Jo Rhys-Jones 'This is an interactive network for those teaching (or considering teaching) a foreign language in a Primary school; a place to share your worries/successes with supportive colleagues. Please let us know what works (or doesn't) for you.'
I have contentedly made myself at home on the site, joining in discussions, discovering new resources, making friends and blogging about a number of things including European Day of Languages, the Rugby World Cup and teaching Primary Languages without a voice (my first ever blog post!!) And I will continue to do so.
I'm starting my own blog because I've always wanted to have a blog, and also due to the fact that NING is blocked at school. As one of the intentions of doing this is to support my colleagues as they begin to teach Spanish at WCPS, it's important that they can gain access to the support when they need it.
However, I would thoroughly recommend joining Talkabout Primary MFL as you will discover a supportive network of people with a mixture of experience in relation to PLL , offering and discussing lots of ideas and resources to support and inspire.
So why not click on the badge in the sidebar and find out for yourself!
Educator and consultant, passionate about creative teaching and learning using technology.
Director Lisibo Ltd.
Apple Distinguished Educator and Apple Education Mentor.
eTwinning Ambassador.
t) knew that there were two winners but had no idea who had won. Apparently, they found out from my blogpost about the conference - how cool!
