¡Hola Familias!

We can't believe we are already at the end of October! The first couple of weeks of school have flown by! We have wrapped up our celebrations unit with a final assessment on making plans. Students practiced the skills necessary for inviting friends to do something and accepting and declining invitations. For any assessment we take, students are welcome to revisit the skills with me or by doing individual practice at home and retaking it if they are looking to improve their score.

This week we have started our unit on The Day of the Dead, a Mexican celebration that honors the lives of deceased family and friends. On Friday students will receive a project assignment where they will need to research an influential(deceased) Hispanic person and create a replica of an authentic Mexican ofrenda for this person. For this project students will need a shoe box and other craft supplies - most times very little items, if any, need to be purchased. Students may use print-outs and things found around the house!  Please ask your child to show you the examples on google classroom as well as the rubric. This project is due  Friday November 3rd for Orange, Blue and Black class and Thursday November 2nd (Día de los Muertos) for Purple Class. 

We are offering an extra credit opportunity for those who are able to attend the Dead of the Dead festival that is taking place this Saturday October 28th at Taza Chocolate in Somerville and document their experience with pictures and/or video.  There will be tacos, tamales, face painting and more!  Here is the link for more info: https://www.tazachocolate.com/blogs/news/7th-annual-dia-de-los-muertos-block-party-at-the-taza-factory. Leigh went last year and it is a fun, family-friendly celebration! 

In addition to this extra credit option we've attached our goals sheet which has other options for those who can't attend this event :) 

As always, please let us know if you have any questions.

Best,

Katherine and Leigh 

Link to Goals sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cuShmPfHXWaWrT-j_dgCwIoJZIv1xKi2dGMyeVBXr1E/edit?usp=sharing

¡Bienvenidos a la clase de español 2017-2018!

¡Hola familias!

Welcome to our 8th Grade Spanish Blog. We do our best to keep this updated throughout the year to provide you with information about what is happening in our Spanish classes!

We are wrapping-up our first unit, “Celebrando Cumpleaños where the students have reviewed concepts from last year through learning and talking about different types of parties including day, date, time as well as decorations and gifts included at these parties. Students will be describing their perfect party in an assessment at the end of the week. Students will also be learning how to extend, accept and decline invitations before the unit ends.Please do not hesitate to ask them to share their new knowledge with you!

We also had special visitors from Guatemala in some classes on Friday the 29th. These visitors were university students from Guatemala who were staying with families in Wayland while on a music tour of New England. They will be performing in 8 schools across New England in the next three weeks. Students interacted with the visitors in class through playing games, having short conversations and working on a reading assignment. It was an incredible experience and students did an amazing job interacting with native Spanish speakers who spoke little to no English.

We will soon be beginning a unit where students will learn about the cultural celebration of the Day of the Dead. Students will learn the history and practices of this celebration, watch the movie The Book of Life and research and create an altar for an important deceased Hispanic person. The project will not be assigned for another few weeks and we encourage you and your student to email us if you have any questions about the project.
We have gotten the year off to a great start and are looking forward to continuing a great year with your students. We look forward to seeing many of you at Back to School Night on Thursday!

Un saludo cordial,

Kathy DeLima and Leigh Netcoh 

8th Grade Spanish Teachers

¡Hola familias!

Welcome to our 8th Grade Spanish Blog! We do our best to keep this updated throughout the year to provide you with information about what is happening in our Spanish classes!

¡Qué increíble que ya sean las vacaciones del Día de Acción de Gracias! We can't believe that it is already Thanksgiving Break! We have had a busy year with students learning how to talk about the sports they play, which body parts hurt them, what they are going to do and how to invite someone to do something!

In perfect timing with the spirit of the holidays, we have just begun our family unit. Students have begun to learn the Spanish names for the members in their family. They will also be learning how winter holidays are celebrated in Spain and Colombia and will be making comparisons between these celebrations and their own.

In order to bring a little bit of español to your Thanksgiving tables this year, we are offering students extra credit on their next quiz if they make place cards in Spanish for the people who are at the Thanksgiving table. For example, a card with the word "abuela" written on it to be placed where his/her grandmother will be sitting. A family friend can be referred to as "un amigo/una amiga de la familia". The students must take a picture of the labels on the table and show the picture to us, via email or printed out, on Monday, November 31st.  Students may also receive extra credit for labeling at least five dishes in Spanish and showing us a picture of this as well. 

We look forward to the coming unit and to seeing a little bit of Spanish in the outside world of our students! We hope you all have a restful and wonderful break.

Un saludo cordial,
Kathy Delima and Leigh Netcoh
8th Grade Spanish Teachers

¡Hola familias!

We cannot believe that the year is over and your students are off to the high school in the fall! We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for all of your support.  It has been a pleasure teaching your children Spanish and sharing our passion for language learning and culture with them.  

We finished the year strong with students learning how to give commands and talk about the chores they do around the house (feel free to give them summer chores in Spanish!). Students also learned additional clothing vocabulary (they learned the basics during our travel unit) as well as patterns and how to describe how clothes fit. Students demonstrated their knowledge from the year in a very successful final fashion show. It was great to see the students’ creativity!

We also had several National Spanish Exam medal winners.

As a reminder:

Premio de Oro - students scoring at or above the 95th percentile.

Premio de Plata - students scoring from the 85th through the 94th percentiles.

Premio de Bronce - students scoring from the 75th through the 84th percentiles.

Mención Honorífica - students scoring from the 50th through the 74th percentiles.

Students in Grades 8, 9 or 10 scoring above the 75th percentile are eligible to apply for the Global Citizen Scholarships.

Our Premio de Oro Winners were:

Matthew Karle

Samantha Morrison

Nicholas Smith

Our Premio de Plata Winners were:

Andrew D'Amico  (just one point from gold!)

Anika Das

Julia de los Reyes

Olivia Harvey

Michael Matta

Uma Paithankar (just one point from gold!)

Our Premio de Bronce Winners were:

Andrew Brogan

Eileen Chau

Dominico Cincotti

Georgia Cummings

Gabriella Fargnoli

Gage Fuller

Madison Lehr

Jacob Levine

Abigail Obar

We also had many students who earned a “mención honorífica”. We are very proud of all students as the National Spanish Exam often features vocabulary and structures they have not yet been exposed to!

As your students prepare for the new challenges at the high school, here are some reminders of how they can keep their Spanish fresh over the summer to smooth their transition in the fall:

1.Students brought home their portfolios on Wednesday last week. They can review vocabulary, grammar and previous assessments from 7th and 8th grade.

2. Review vocabulary from 7th and 8th grade on the site Quizlet.com. There are great interactive games that students can play or flashcard sets they can study...playing games on Quizlet could be an easy and fun solution if your student ever says "I'm bored" over the break!

3. Play games or complete practice activities on the website Conjuguemos.com. This is a great way for students to keep grammar concepts fresh. To play games, they can click on the topic they want to study and click on the "new interactive games" link on the left hand side of the activity.

4. Practice with a friend or family member who speaks Spanish!

5. Watch t.v. or listen to music in Spanish. Any input in Spanish, even if they only understand a few words will help keep their listening skills sharp.

6. If you are going to a Spanish Speaking Country, encourage your child to use their Spanish! An "Hola, ¿Cómo está usted?" can go a long way!

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. We hope everyone has a happy, safe and restful summer vacation!

Un saludo cordial,

Kathy De Lima and Leigh Netcoh

8th grade Spanish Teachers

¡Llego la primavera!

¡Hola familias!

We blinked and we are now headed towards the end of Quarter 3 with Spring upon us!  The year is flying by! We would like to give you a few updates on some of the things we are doing in Spanish as well as some important information for Spanish students.

This past week, we started a unit called "De vacaciones" . In this unit students will learn to describe where they like to go on vacation, their favorite vacation activities and what they need to pack to go on a trip.  They will also learn to describe past events.  In the coming weeks students will be creating an itinerary and video recording about a trip they are planning to a Spanish-speaking country.  This is a really fun project!  Please be sure to ask them to show you their video.  We will wrap up the unit with a DC post card project that will be on display at DC night!

During the first week of April all students in Spanish classes will be taking the National Spanish Exam.  This is a contest and standardized test sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.  The National Spanish Exam is an online, standardized assessment tool for students in Grades 6 -12.  It is given voluntarily by thousands of teachers throughout the United States to measure proficiency and achievement of students who are studying Spanish as a second language.  The purpose of the exam is to recognize achievement in the study of the Spanish language, promote proficiency, assess the national standards as they pertain to learning Spanish and to encourage further interest in the teaching and learning of Spanish.  Students do not need to study for this exam and their grades on the exam do not impact their Spanish grade in any way. The exams will take place during the student's Spanish class time and consist of two separate tests - one proficiency exam (reading and listening) and one achievement exam (vocabulary and grammar).  Please know that if a student is absent, s/he will not be able to take the test at a later time as all students in a class must take it on the same day.  Students will receive their scores some time in May and there are several ways students can be recognized for outstanding achievement on the National Spanish Examinations:

Students with outstanding scores on the National Spanish Examinations are recognized as follows:

Premio de Oro - students scoring at or above the 95th percentile.

Premio de Plata - students scoring from the 85th through the 94th percentiles.

Premio de Bronce - students scoring from the 75th through the 84th percentiles.

Mención Honorífica - students scoring from the 50th through the 74th percentiles.

Students in Grades 8, 9 or 10 scoring above the 75th percentile are eligible to apply for the Global Citizen Scholarships.

Please let your child's teacher know if you have any questions about the exam. They have already taken several practice tests in and out of class and we encourage them to continue to do so, so they get acclimated to the style of the exam.

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Also important for all to know is that this week all 8th grade teachers are doing 9th grade placement and recommendations.  You will be getting this information in the coming weeks.  Please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher if you have any questions about what courses are offered for Spanish students at the high school.

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. 

Un saludo cordial,
Kathy Delima and Leigh Netcoh
8th grade Spanish Teachers

¡Las vacaciones de febrero!

¡Hola familias!

We cannot believe that February Break is already here! Quarter 3 is already flying by! With that said, we felt it appropriate to provide you with an update of what we have covered since the break, what we will be working on after the break and to remind you of ways you can help your student to keep their Spanish fresh over the break. 

January and February have been very busy months in our Spanish classrooms. In January, students worked hard on winter poems and posters for World Languages Week. We were very impressed with the great quality of work we saw from students on these assignments. Between January and February, we also wrapped up our study of winter holidays in Spain and Colombia, as well as our unit on family vocabulary and physical descriptions. Your student should be able to name all of the members in your family as well as describe them. Feel free to quiz them some time! 

We have just begun a unit called "En el restaurante" (in the restaurant). Students have just learned the names for items found on the table at a restaurant (fork, knife, spoon, napkin etc.), as well as how to tell a waiter if something is missing from a table. Please feel free to quiz them on this as well! Students will also be learning how to order food at a restaurant as well as how to take food orders. If you are traveling to a Spanish Speaking Country over the break, you can order in Spanish on your vacation by saying "quisiera" key-see-ara" ("ara" with the "a" as in "apple") followed by the dish you would like to order! You can also visit many restaurants in the area where there are Spanish-speaking servers!  

Here is a list in case you're interested! And please let us know if you know if any others :) 
Acapulco's (Mexican) - Sudbury
El Azteca (Mexican) - Framingham
Pueblito Paisa (Colombian) - Framingham
La Casa de Pedro (Venezuelan) - Watertown
El Oriental de Cuba (Cuban) - Jamaica Plain
Mexico Lindo (Mexican) - Melrose

To wrap up the unit, we will focus on how to use the verbs "ser" and "estar", which both mean "to be", but serve different purposes. For example "estoy aburrido" means "I am bored" while "soy aburrido" means "I am boring". This may be challenging for some students, so please encourage them to seek extra help if they express frustration when we reach this point in the unit. 

Over the break, many students will go a whole week without any exposure to Spanish! Repeated exposure is very important in language learning, so below are a few tips to help encourage their student to keep their skills sharp over the break:

1. Review previous unit vocabulary on the site Quizlet.com. There are great interactive games that students can play or flashcard sets they can study...playing games on Quizlet could be an easy and fun solution if your student ever says "I'm bored" over the break!
2. Play games or complete practice activities on the website Conjuguemos.com. This is a great way for students to keep grammar concepts fresh. To play games, they can click on the topic they want to study and click on the "new interactive games" link on the left hand side of the activity.
3. Practice with a friend or family member who speaks Spanish!
4. Watch t.v. or listen to music in Spanish. Any input in Spanish, even if they only understand a few words will help keep their listening skills sharp.
5. Eat at one of the restaurants listed above where you student can order in Spanish!
6. If you are going to a Spanish Speaking Country, encourage your child to use their Spanish! An "Hola, ¿Cómo está usted?" can go a long way! 

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. We hope everyone has a happy, safe and restful February break.

Un saludo cordial,
Kathy Delima and Leigh Netcoh
8th grade Spanish Teachers

Preparing for Winter Break

¡Hola familias!

With the break fast approaching, we wanted to take  a few minutes to update you on what we have been doing since Thanksgiving and also provide you with some tips to help your student keep his or her Spanish skills fresh over the long break.

To begin, since Thanksgiving, we have been busy reinforcing family vocabulary and learning about how winter holidays are celebrated in both Spain and Colombia. Students have had lots of practice speaking and describing their own family, as well as famous families. The students have also learned about Noche de las Velitas and other holidays that are celebrated in Colombia this time of year. Additionally, students have learned about traditions in Spain such as eating twelve grapes and midnight on New Year's Eve. The students have also recently completed an assignment in which they recorded a video of themselves describing one of their favorite holidays that they celebrate. Many students include a comparison to holidays in Spain or Colombia in their descriptions.

After the break, we will be working on the Winter Poems that have been a tradition among all languages in the World Languages Department. Students will also be learning how to describe what they and others are like physically. Many students enjoy learning how to say someone is tall and has brown hair and green eyes etc.  We will also begin to discuss recommendations for 9th grade.  These are based on your student's progress in class and on assessments over the past two years.

Over the break, many students will go almost two weeks without any exposure to Spanish! Repeated exposure is very important in language learning, so below are a few tips to help encourage their student to keep their skills sharp over the break:

1. Review previous unit vocabulary on the site Quizlet.com. There are great interactive games that students can play or flashcard sets they can study...playing games on Quizlet could be an easy and fun solution if your student ever says "I'm bored" over the break!
2. Play games or complete practice activities on the website Conjuguemos.com. This is a great way for students to keep grammar concepts fresh. To play games, they can click on the topic they want to study and click on the "new interactive games" link on the left hand side of the activity.
3. Practice with a friend or family member who speaks Spanish!
4. Watch t.v. or listen to music in Spanish. Any input in Spanish, even if they only understand a few words will help keep their listening skills sharp.

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. We hope everyone has a happy, safe and restful winter break. See you next year!

Un saludo cordial,
Kathy Delima and Leigh Netcoh
8th grade Spanish Teachers