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