¡Feliz Primavera!

¡Hola! ¡Feliz primavera! Ya llegaron los días de béisbol y fútbol, de flores y pájaros, del sol y del aire calientito. Nos queda un poco más de un mes del año escolar. ¡Va volando el tiempo! Espero que su familia disfrute de esta época tan bonita. Es el momento perfecto para aprovechar de todas las experiencias del idioma y de la cultura que ofrece la área metropolitana de Chicago -- y muchas son gratis.

Hello! Happy Spring! The days of baseball and soccer, of flowers and birds, and of sun and warm air have arrived. We have a little more than one month left in the school year. The time is really flying. I hope that your family is enjoying this lovely time of year. It's a perfect time to explore all the language and cultural options in the Chicago area -- many of them free!

Check out the poll this month and vote for your favorite video podcast. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) held a contest for the best video podcast about all the good reasons for learning another language. There were categories at various grade levels and here are the winners. Be sure to watch them all and vote for your favorite. Everyone in the family gets to vote!

More fun links: We love the music of José Luis Orozco (Juanito cuando baila, El barquito, ...) and Charlotte Diamond (Soy una pizza, Somos como las flores...). I've included links to their websites. For language games, videos and other materials - French, Spanish, German and others-- check out Carlex and Teacher's Discovery. A great catalogue for Asian language and cultural materials is Asia For Kids.

6th & 7th graders summer enrichment: Ms. Susan Walsh, Brooks Spanish teacher, is offering a Summer Daze class for 6th & & 7th graders. Accelerated Spanish I is for current 6th and 7th graders who would like to advance their language learning. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be recommended to take Spanish II for the 2009-10 school year. Questions about the class? Please contact Sra. Walsh at swalsh@op97.org. Questions about registering? Check your School Daze catalogue or contact Ms. Stephanie Avila @D97 Central Office. ¡Muchas gracias!

Other local language resources and more: A multitude of languages is offered through the Language and Music School, right in Downtown Oak Park. See Fun links for more info. Interested in Mandarin Chinese? Mr. Hai-Tao Huang, who has taught in our WISE program, offers lessons for individuals or groups, adults, children and families. Contact him at (708) 445-7387. Check out the Concordia Language Villages link for information on summer International Days. If you're trying to figure out a fun destination for a family trip, you might consider heading north to Minnesota to coincide with one of these. They are fabulous, fun, and moving experiences. CLV also has a variety of language learning opportunities for the whole family.



Here's a taste of our learning:


MAP K-1: Spring themes: plants, seeds, animals, weather. We are talking about what plants need to grow and the stages they go through. We've added some new songs: "Somos como las flores" and "Que Buena Suerte." Here are some of the words we're working on: sol (sun), luna (moon), lluvia (rain), tierra (earth/land), semilla (seed), brote (sprout), planta (planta), flor (flower), fruta (fruit.) We continue to learn and review basic words and phrases and revisit some of earlier themes and vocabulary.


MAP K-2: Our spring sing was fabuloso! Thanks for joining us! Now we've started spring songs and themes. Next week we're hopping into insectos. We will learn names, characteristics, and action verbs (the way insectos move.) We continue to review and add basic words and phrases. And of course there will be games, movement, and music along the way.


2, 2/3, 3: Gracias for joining us in spring sing -- it was magnífico. You wouldn't know that some of those songs were pretty new to us. Students worked very hard getting ready and we had such fun with "La Vuelta" and "Rock del reloj". Now we are working on telling time and heading outside on good days to practice by playing "What time is it Mr. Fox?" en español. We will also be working on spring themes and continued review of earlier themes and vocabulary.


4/5: Gearing up for Spring Sing on May 5. Please join us for a great evening of music with canciones en inglés y español by the classes and chorus and instrumental performances as well. It promises to be wonderful and emotional. En español, we are working very hard on two new songs-- one from España and one from a chicana songwriter from San Antonio. We continue to work on our Inca, Aztec, and Maya projects. We will finish our English research in early May. We will then write and present in Spanish. We will wind down the year with review of basic words and phrases -- of course with games and music mixed in.


¡Gracias! Thank you for your support of language learning for your children. I feel so fortunate to be able to share this love of language and culture with them -- to help them grow in so many ways. Please continue to encourage them in their learning in any language of their choosing. It's great for the brain! (Adults out there -- you're never to old to start!)


A special thanks to Rocío Muñoz and Gabriel Dunbar who have donated Spanish learning toys to our library and to Paul Johnson and family for the book from the Field Museum Aztec exhibit.


Summer is coming. Viene el verano. Keep watching Deaton Noticias. I will update the blog throughout the rest of the school year and in the summer. Be sure to check for fun things going on around town, interesting facts, and useful links and resources.


As always do not hesitate to contact me at any time. Watch for más noticias. Gracias por todo, Sra. Deaton