Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Day 1
Today the children learned new vocabulary. They were taught emotions like happy, sad, bored. They practiced these new words in a couple different games. Later, they learned about the culture of Costa Rica, the sports, religions and fiestas. They were very interested in learning about the parades they have to celebrate the Saints.
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
July 14 2009
This morning, we were greeted with an enthusiastic “ni hao!” from each child as they walked in the door. “Ni hao” is a phrase we learned yesterday - it means “hello”. Today was the second day of our Chinese Camp, and Mrs. Westlund taught us how to count to five in Chinese. Yi, èr, sān, si, and wŭ. The rest of the day was spent playing games to help us learn the numbers. We played musical chairs and the flyswatter game, which all the children enjoyed. Another favorite was picking the team names. Today the teams were the Golden Panthers vs the Golden Fish. The winning team got to get a little prize out of the prize box. All of the kids have great memories, and we are really impressed by how quickly they learned the numbers. Mrs. Westlund had a special surprise for us to eat at snack time. She brought in frozen Chinese dumplings, and she taught us about them as they boiled. All of the children had a bite of the dumplings, but only 2 liked the taste. It was a good experience for them to try a new food, even if most of the dumplings ended up in the trash. Mrs. Westlund read a story about Stillwater the panda bear. The children are already excited to show off what they learned to their parents at the end of the week.
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Day Five Mexico
The students learned about Mexico today. They were taught about the food, climate, and culture. They liked how colorful the Mexican culture is and enjoyed looking at the pictures of the scenery in Mexico. Later, they completed their scrap book, then practiced their skit and song until the parents came. They did a great job on their presentation!
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Day Three Ecuador
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Day One, Costa Rica
The girls were introduced to Costa Rica. They learned basic vocabulary related to food and restaurant, and practiced their new words while playing the game matamosca. They were then taught a little about Costa Rica, such as its climate, geography, and popular food. Later in the day we made Pan De Queso; a traditional dish from Costa Rica. The kids cooked it on their own!
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
On the last day of camp, the children present their parents with a sampling of what they have learned at camp. This past week, they sang “Los Pollitos” and “Los Vocales”. They made maracas and received pictures from Señora Wimer to remember Spanish Camp. The audience was large, but the children were not shy and gave us quite a performance.
The next camp coming up will be the Spanish Immersion Camp for ages 8 and older. They will be visiting 5 different Hispanic countries, and learning about and preparing food from those countries. Then there is the Chinese camp for ages 4 – 8, where they will be learning a variety of things about the Chinese culture and some useful phrases and vocabulary.
Check in regularly to see the exciting things happening at language camp!
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Yummy, yummy in my tummy
Just kidding! It may look like we’re hungry, but we’re just practicing for our presentation tomorrow. I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out who’s really hungry.
We made instruments today that we use in our presentations. We made them to remind us about the parrandas, where the people march around with instruments and make noise. Sorry madre and padre, these instruments do make a lot of noise!
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Let’s see.. what did I do at Spanish camp today? I made a game, played games, sang songs, played with friends, colored, played outside, and had lots of fun learning Spanish with new friends! Tomorrow we will learn about Las Parrandas of Puerto Rico.
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
This week’s theme is classroom objects and commands. The children had time to read some “libros” together and enjoyed telling the others what to do – in Spanish. They learned the vocabulary quickly and won the game against Señora. They are working on making a memory game they will bring home to play, so keep an eye out for it.
