I was speaking in Brighton about the wonders of Youtube several weeks ago, and showed one of my favourite videos – Conjugations Back. if you haven’t seen it, you’ve missed a treat! Check it out NOW!
Then there was Cry me a verb Some great dancing in this one!
Well, today I think I found another gem.
SrMara strikes again – this time with reflexive verbs.
I’ve been looking for resources about healthy lifestyles and food today, and came across this song on my travels around Youtube.
Very catchy and good for practising opinions about food – me gusta(n) / no me gusta(n)
Ojo – it’s South American so uses the phrase ‘el jugo de naranja’ for orange juice instead of the Spanish ‘el zumo de naranja’.
Another useful video on the same theme, and with the same ‘quirk’ is the one below. This time it’s a rap that could easily be adapted to include other items of food, or other vocabulary too.
I loved the official song of the FIFA World Cup 2010 when i heard it for the first time today. And now I’ve found this bi-lingual version too with K’Naan, the original artist, singing with David Bisbal.
The lyrics are below!
Waving Flag de K´naan y David Bisbal Give me freedom Give me fire give me reason Take me higher see the champions take the field now youll be fighters make us feel proud En las calles muchas manos levantadas, celebrando una fiesta sin descanzo los paises como hermanos Canta y une tu voz grita fuerte que te escuche el sol el partido ya va a comenzar todos juntos vamos a ganar Unidos! Seremos grandes, seremos fuertes somos un pueblo bandera de libertad que viene y que va (x3) when i get older i will be stronger theyll call me freedom just like a wavin flag Now wave your flag (x3) ohhh ohhh ohhh ohhh Danos vida danos fuego que nos lleve a lo alto campeones o vencidos pero unidos a internarlos In the streets are exalted people as we lose our inhibitions celebretion is around us every nation all around us Singing forever young, singins songs underneath the sun lets rejoice to the beatuful game and together at the end of day Seremos grandes, seremos fuertes somos un pueblo bandera de la libertad que viene y que va (x3) when i get older i will be stronger theyll call me freedom just like a wavin flag Now wave your flag (x3) ohhh ohhh ohhh ohhh Unidos! Seremos grandes, seremos fuertes somos un pueblo bandera de la libertad when i get older i will be stronger theyll call me freedom just like a wavin flag Now wave your flag (x3) ohhh ohhh ohhh ohhh And everybody will be singing
The Youtube page also explains –
El español David Bisbal y el somalí K´Naan interpretan la versión latina del tema Waving Flag, elegido para la Copa del Mundo FIFA Sudáfrica 2010. La canción fue estrenada ayer, como parte de las celebraciones rumbo al Mundial. “La música y el futbol unen al mundo, y a través de esta canción queremos contagiar el sentimiento de alegría que nos provoca este evento mundialista”, explicó el artista español, al referirse a la canción inspirada en costumbres africanas referentes a la fiesta, y que aborda temas como el amor, la unión y el optimismo. El tema presenta pasajes en español e ingles y un video en el que se pueden ver las pocas habilidades futbolistas de Bisbal, quien lucha sin éxito dominar un balón. La canción de la Copa del Mundo, Waving flag, fue compuesta por el rapero Knaan Mogasishu, quien nació en Somalia aunque es ciudadano canadiense. La canción es el tercer single de su álbum Troubador y meses atrás fue elegida por la organización del Mundial como su himno oficial.
I subscribed to the channel belonging to Imagiers a while ago.
Originally, I saw the traditional songs below –
Today I saw that there was new series – Les comptines de Gros nez. This is a series of 63 French rhymes / songs ‘sung’ by a cartoon blue man with a big red nose. For example –
Alternatively, you could use Les comptines de la souris –
Also on Imagiers are many vocabulary videos like the one below –
There are thousands of videos on the channel – some are more advanced grammar and so on, others are simpler vocabulary presentations. And some are not French at all – eg there are several clips about Helsinki!
Lyrics Training is a really fun approach to helping you pick up a foreign language. Choose a YouTube-hosted music video and select one of three mastery levels; Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. As the video begins to play, the song’s lyrics appear underneath with several words missing. Your job is to fill in the missing words as they’re sung.
If you get stumped, the video stops playing until you can come up with the word, but don’t take too long because the app keeps track of the time it takes you to fill in the blanks. Click the “Give Up!” button to see the words that elude you.
Videos are available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Dutch, and are rated easy medium and hard. You can then choose easy medium or hard tasks. Having said that, I chose easy and an easy task – and it was quite tricky as you have to type as you hear. I think if I listened to the song first I might have had a better chance. There is help – you can rewind the last line with the back space and use the tab to skip words you really can’t get! At the end you’re given a score based on how many words you successfully filled in and the time it took you in comparison to the actual length of the song. This is how I got on with Himno de la corazon
Good fun! Practises your
listening skills and also your spelling as it won’t accept the wrong spelling, letter by letter!
At the ELL Local Support Group (LSG) last week, we were talking about short activities that needed minimal preparation and could be used for the ‘little and often’ model.
One of the activities discussed was I spy…
In Spanish there is a lovely little rhyme that goes with the game – check out the East Riding sitefor sound files, instructions and words. A good game for playing with kids who have a wider vocabulary, but also for discrete groups of words eg food, sports, colours. You could change it to ‘tengo tengo’ (I have..) and play with items in a bag even.
Veo veo I see, I see,
¿Qué ves? What do you see?
Una cosita. A thing
Y ¿qué cosita es? And what thing is it?
Empieza con la ……. It begins with ………
¿Qué será? ¿Qué será? ¿Qué será? What can it be? (x 3)
I also came across this catchy sung version of the rhyme – here I’ve chosen the kiddies version rather than the tropical island and bikinis! Lyrics below.
Veo veo ¿qué ves? una cosita ¿y qué cosita es?
empieza con la “A”, ¿qué será?, ¿qué será?, ¿qué será?, alefante
no no no eso no no no eso no no no es así
con la “A” se escribe amor, con la a se escribe adiós
la alegría del amigo y un montón de cosas más
Veo veo ¿qué ves? una cosita ¿y qué cosita es?
empieza con la “E”, ¿qué seré?, ¿qué seré?, ¿qué seré?, eyuntamiento
no no no eso no no no eso no no no es así
con la “E” de la emoción estudiamos la expresíon
y entonando esta canción encontramos la verdad
Veo veo ¿qué ves? una cosita ¿y qué cosita es?
empieza con la “I”, ¿qué serí?, ¿qué serí?, ¿qué serí? invidia
no no no eso no no no eso no no no es así
con la “I” nuestra ilusión va intentando imaginar
cuan insolita inquietud una infancia sin maldad
Veo veo ¿qué ves? una cosita ¿y qué cosita es?
empieza con la “O”, ¿qué seró?, ¿qué seró?, ¿qué seró? oscuela
no no no eso no no no eso no no no es así
no no no eso no no no eso no no no es la hora del final
Veo veo ¿qué ves? una cosita ¿y qué cosita es?
empieza con la “F”, ¿qué seraf?, ¿qué seraf?, ¿qué seraf?, final
Primary language learning isn’t restricted to learning one language.
My pupils may learn Spanish, but they are also exposed to other languages in their lessons. Whether it’s for interest, comparison, to celebrate the languages spoken by pupils at our school or just for fun, those opportunities are welcome and add to their language learning experience.
Youtube recommended the following clip to me and I love it! In 90 seconds, I’ve learned half a dozen useful phrases in Japanese and am warmed up and ready to boogie with my kids who this weekend have discovered punk!!