Third lockdown Spanish activities - Spring 1 - 2020/21

Hola a todos. Hello everyone.

Once more unto the breach. Since we don't know yet for how long are we going to be kept at home, I have decided to start with some recap activities on one side, plus some other to reinforce previous learning. The topic will be the same: sports.

Activity 1 - Sports vocabulary practice

This one is pretty simple. Just practice the words in this fun worksheet.

Activity 2 - Are you sporty?

How much do you like sports? Write about and draw yourself wearing your favourite sport kit.

Activity 3 - What sports do you like?

Let's write a short text about how much we like sports, which sports we don't like and, very important, why.

Use both sentence builder mats to assist you in the task.

New unit - Music and opinions

After months learning about sports, I thought it could be interesting if we could do something about music in Spanish. We will practice giving opinions on music and, later on, writing about our favourite band, singer or artist.

To start with, we will practice sentence structure and a whole new range of adjectives.

Please download the worksheet and the writing frame. Both documents a quite straight forward and intuitive to use. In case you have any problem understanding them, please either join our Zoom lesson this week, or send me a message on Seesaw.

There will be more contents added to this section during the half-term break, so make sure that you check it out regularly.

Activity 2

This week we will write music recommendations. Let's write about our favourite band or singer.

To find out how to do this activity, please join our next Zoom meeting on 24th February.

If you can't, just download the example below and see what we did. It is about writing adjectives and you will be asked to use a dictionary (see link below) to look them up.

Home learning - session 2 - Autumn 2

Hola a todos. Lockdowned again, naturally. Our next session will be at home, and to that effect we will provide the necessary material:

We will do recap on one side, and learn the use of two verbs: "juego" (play) and "practico" (practice).

First, download the PowerPoint and take your time going through it.

Then, do the worksheets (you can also do them on Seesaw, see Activities). Your choice.

Year 5D already did the articles worksheet, but they can do it a second time only on Seesaw (optional).

If it is possible, upload your work to Spanish Class Seesaw.

If you choose to do it on a printed worksheet, put your name on the back and bring it to school so you can stick it in your Spanish book.

It is a great opportunity to earn stickers. Don't miss it!

If you have any question just ask via Seesaw.

¡Ánimo!

Mr. Castro

The School of Spanish at Home

Summer Term

Bienvenidos de nuevo. Our self-isolation lingers on and we must make the most of this situation to improve our Spanish language skills. Are you ready?

Our new topic unit for Summer is called "Lección de cocina" ('Home cooking lesson').

Imperative verbs

First of all, we must learn how to use the imperative form of Spanish verbs. All the information you need is in the PowerPoint (download on the link below).

Sentence structure

The sentence structures that we are going to use have a word order similar to English. There will be some things that you must put attention to:

- Word agreement: double check previous notes on gender (masculine and feminine).

Example: if a noun is masculine (tomate), the article and the adjective must be masculine as well - "el tomate rojo" ('the red tomato').

Word agreement also applies to number (singular and plural).

Example: if a word is plural, so is the article and the adjective - "unas patatas grandes" ('some big potatoes').

Activities

I will be adding more activities every two weeks. Some activities will be challenges and, of course, each will earn you stickers and, eventually, a certificate.

To start with, we will read and translate into English a actual recipe of a traditional Spanish dish.

1 - Download the recipe and the worksheet. Please see that I have used colour code to help you understand the sentence structure better and make the translation process easier.

2 - Cooking challenge: "Salmorejo" is very easy and quick to make. You won't need unusual ingredients or any special skills. Try it and post it on Twitter or Spanish Class SeeSaw (sign in if you haven't yet!). You ca either make a video or a picture composition (collage).

All new and all easy. I'm looking forward to see your work.

Mr. Castro

Summer 1 - week 4

Hola 5s, ¿qué tal va todo? (how is everything going?)

I was very glad to see that some of you were already hands on the salmorejo recipe. I hope some of you feel brave to give it a go and try cooking it!

Now that we have seen how a recipe in Spanish is written and the kind of language used, it is time to write a recipe of our choosing into Spanish.

For this task we will use the word banks and the notes on grammar in the PowerPoint document for this half-term.

Please find the worksheet with the template in the link below this post.

This activity poses a good challenge and thus should be rewarded handsomly.

For a good work the reward will be 4 stickers.

For an outstanding job, you will receive 5 stickers.

As usual, you can share your work either on Twitter or via Spanish Class SeeSaw (have you signed in yet?).

I'm looking forward to see your recipes. ¡Ánimo y adelante!

Mr. Castro

The Spanish School at Home

Spring 2 - week 5

Buenas tardes a todos. It seems that we will have to continue our learning at home so, why not doing it in a fun way? Since we have been learning about sports and playground games in Spanish for quite a while, we will continue with this topic for one more "session".

I know that most of you are following 'P.E. with Joe' every morning, so this gave me the idea of creating our own P.E. training session in Spanish at home. And this is how we are going to do it:

P.E. with Year 5 – Educación Física con año 5 de primaria

Our activity will be making our own P.E. training session in Spanish. How? Very easy! Just follow these steps:

1 – Greetings: we will start by greeting the audience with the usual expressions (e.g. "Buenos días", "buenas tardes", "hola", "¿qué tal estás?"). Whatever you use, do it correctly.

2 – Introduce yourself: very simple. Just say “Me llamo (your name). Vamos a hacer un poco de ejercicio juntos” (My name is... We are going to do some exercises together). If you want to do the video with someone else (i.e. mum, dad, brother, sister), then each one of them introduces him- or herself with “me llamo…”. Also, you can have a go with “este es mi papá/hermano” (this is my dad/brother) or “esta es mi mamá/hermana” (this is my mum/sister), “este es mi hijo/hija” (this is my son/daughter).

3 – Calentamiento (warm up exercises): we can combine exercises from these three categories. We only do 3 to 5 exercises in this section:

• Estiramientos (stretches): give instruction saying “estira + (part of the body)” and do it. “Estira” just means ‘stretch (your)’.
• Articulaciones (joints): the key instructions are “mueve” (move) and “gira” (rotate). So, “mueve + (part of the body)”, “gira + (part of the body)”, and you show how to do it. Examples: "mueve la cadera" (move your hips), "gira los tobillos" (rotate your ankles).
• Desplazamientos (moving around space): key instructions are “anda” (walk), “corre” (run), and “salta” (hop/jump). We will give the instructions using the preposition “hacia” (to) followed by the direction, or just by an adverb without “hacia” (see lists below). Examples: “salta rápido” (jump fast), “corre hacia la derecha” (run to the right), “anda hacia delante” (walk forwards).

4 – Ejercicios (exercises): this is where we do exercise proper. We will only do 3 different exercises, each one following the same pattern:

• Introduce exercise: start by asking the audience to look and listen to you with “escucha y mira” (listen and watch), and then show your exercise (something very simple!).
• Join in: now, ask the audience to join in with “ahora repite. ¿Preparados?” (now copy me. Are you ready?) and do the exercise again.

5 – Despedida (goodbye): just say “Espero que os haya gustado” (I hope you liked it) and “Muchas gracias. ¡Adiós!” (thank you very much. Bye!).

Tips for success:

• Good pronunciation: this is relevant. We must say everything correctly so please check the chart below. Also, keep in mind these basic rules:
  • The “u” in ‘qu-‘ words like “que” and “izquierda” is silent, so don’t say it.
  • Do not blend vowels in Spanish. You just say each one independently.
  • “h” is always a silent letter in Spanish. Never forget this.
  • Practice makes perfect. Say the word aloud until you feel confident.

• Use gestures and actions as to talk: this is what we do in class, so you are familiar to it (or at least you should!) This helps understanding and supports learning brilliantly. Don’t be shy and use this all the video through!

• Use visual cues: things like pictures, words written with big letters, etc. Only if you think you will need them.

• Make a plan or script first, and then rehearse it as many times necessary: this makes sense. There is no rush to get this done, and we happen to have lots of time at our disposal.

• Remember what we have been doing in school: games, instructions, etc. This is pretty much the same, but now you are the teacher!

• Be creative and original: it is your video, so why not doing something both instructive and quirk? The funnier the better.

• Involve your family: seek cooperation from your parents and siblings if you can. Make it memorable and happy.

• Edit it if you have the skill and knowledge to. Just make sure that your voice is always heard over any other sound in the video. You MUST be heard loud and clear at all times.

Once you have your video recorded and edited (if you so wish, of course), please upload it to Twitter so our Poppy Road children and teachers can do your P.E. session at home. If you don’t want to be seen on Twitter, you can always send it to SeeSaw.

Your video will be titled “Educación Física con (your name)”.

Rewards: just doing this activity will earn you 4 stickers, but if you do a very good and original work the recompense will be of 5 stickers instead. (I’ll put them myself on your Spanish challenge award books when I come to school next week). If you are lucky to get a new certificate, I will post this on Twitter and share it with you. Maybe someday I will be able to hand it in to you.

¡Mucho ánimo y adelante!

Mr. Castro

Games and P.E. verbs

• ¿Preparados?: are you ready?
• Corre: run
• Anda: walk
• Salta: hop/jump
• Agáchate: get down/crouch
• Levántate: get up
• Gira: rotate
• Flexiona: flex
• Eleva: raise
• Estira: stretch
• Para: stop
• Abre: open
• Cierra: close

Useful adverbs

• Rápido: fast
• Despacio: slow
• Abajo: down
• Arriba: up
• Delante: forward
• Detrás: backward
• Izquierda: left
• Derecha: right

Parts of the body

• La cabeza: head
• El cuello: neck
• Los hombros: shoulders
• Los brazos: arms
• Las manos: hands
• La cadera : hips
• Las muñecas: wrists
• Las piernas: legs
• Las rodillas: knees
• Los tobillos: ankles
• Los pies: feet

Instructions for exercises involving more than one person

Passing a small soft ball could be a good idea 

Mr. Castro