What should the Angry family do today? DECISIONS! DECISIONS!

Grammar for today? how to say ‘should’ using DEBER and the conditional tense.

httpv://youtu.be/VO1I2gvQNLA

I’ve just rediscovered these wonderful videos and in the run up to the Olympics, I’ll be posting one every day.

Whilst they’re based on the Beijing Olympics, they look at specific language points each time and are funny!

Today’s episode, CAN CAN, looks at PODER – to be able to, as well as transport vocabulary.

httpv://youtu.be/zievaeBgBVo

Having been playing with Linguatrivia French ever since ILILC2 in February, I was pleased to see that a Spanish version has been released!

As with the French version, it features hundreds of questions at 3 levels with the difficulty and number of questions increasing with the level.

As the blurb says –

Put your Spanish knowledge to the test with this interactive quiz, based on Linguascope’s Linguatrivia competition. With a bank of hundreds of questions on Spanish language, culture, geography and more, this app will put you through your paces whether you are revising for a test at school or college, or just want to practise and improve your Spanish. As an added incentive, your correct answers will enable the little runner to jump the hurdles successfully – whereas incorrect answers leave him flat on his face!

I like playing the French version as I no longer teach French and I need to keep myself on my toes, especially as I never know when I’ll need to use it! And the Spanish one will also keep me on my toes – if I get less than 100% I’ll be back to heavy duty study ;o)
Linguatrivia Spanish costs £1.99 and works on iPod (3rd and 4th generation), iPhone 3GS and higher, and iPad – if you’ve got iOS4.3 or higher, you’re fine!

The blurb mentions a Linguatrivia Competition – this is in French and details of the next one, taking place next February, are on the Linguatrivia site. I wonder if there’ll be a Spanish version to come…?

They did it!  Having watched the quarter finals against France in France, the semis against Portugal in a restaurant in France and the final against Italy in an Italian restaurant in Switzerland, I am very very pleased to had survived all the excitement!!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz7MjY8GGdo

The Adidas advertisement featuring the Spanish ‘selección’ have the message El pasado no cuenta – Todo vuelve a empezar. The past doesn’t count. It’s all starting again.

Which it is!

httpv://youtu.be/JE3z0vVJDRk

And then they made another, with a similar message, but pointing out that La Furia Roja actually won in their away kit at the World Cup!

httpv://youtu.be/jjowT-C6s4s

Here’s the Eurocopa song by David Bisbal featuring Cali and El Dandee. Called No hay dos sino tres, it refers to the fact that Spain could win their 3rd Eurocopa (they are the holders from 2008 and also won in 1964) The first clip features lots of clips from the World Cup / Copa Mundial and ‘de motivación’ – to encourage the Selección in Polonia y Croacia.

Doing OK so far…

httpv://youtu.be/_949qd18BVA

And here’s the karaoke version

httpv://youtu.be/M1zLdmfofEc

A message from Linda Parker of ALL

Primary Spanish teachers – join us for free at Language World on Saturday 31 March! http://www.all-languages.org.uk/events/language_world/language_world_2012

Are you looking for ways to improve your Spanish?  ALL Corporate Member, the Fundacion Comillas, will be with us at Language World to talk to teachers of Spanish about their professional development courses in the beautiful village of Comillas in Cantabria.  As well as these opportunities for teachers, this region has a lot to offer for school group visits and exchanges. Want to know more? Then why not take up this invitation to come along and find out for free on Saturday 31 March?   As well as visiting the Language World Exhibition (open from 08.30 – 14.00), you can come along to the following session completely free of charge:

11.55 – 12.40

 Fundacion Comillas

The Comillas Foundation: research, academic programs, and professional development

Professor Kim Griffin will present the Comillas Foundation programmes for professional development for Spanish teachers.  The Comillas Foundation was created in 2005 as a centre for the teaching and learning of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.  Located in the picturesque town of Comillas on the northern coast of Spain, the Comillas Foundation offers a variety of courses specially designed for primary and secondary teachers of Spanish.  Courses are taught at all levels of competency and “classroom-without-walls” activities complement the academic environment.  The Comillas Foundation courses are total immersion courses and professors are trained to help participants use the Spanish language to their full potential.  Courses are also available for teachers who bring groups of young students to Comillas.

Dr. Kim Griffin has been a resident of Spain for thirty years. Dr. Griffin currently directs the academic program at the Comillas Foundation. Previously she directed the Middlebury College School in Spain; an undergraduate and post-graduate institution. A graduate of SUNY Oswego, Middlebury College, and the Ohio State University, she has taught both English and Spanish as a Second Language, founded and directed the Faculty of Translation and Interpretation for a Spanish university, and teaches post-graduate courses at several Spanish institutions. Dr. Griffin has also presided over the Association of North American University Programs in Spain, which represents over fifty of the most outstanding American universities that host programs in Spain.

Interested?  Contact us for a free pass today!  Email info@all-languages.org.uk

Please note that this invitation does not include refreshments, lunch or any other Language World sessions.  To join us for the full event, register HERE

It's heavy!

Materials and presentation from my second session at #ILILC2 – Barça, Barça, Baaarça!

Barca – presentation

Barca handout – links to things mentioned in the above presentation and more!

comenius_spotlight_birmingham – information sheet from British Council on the project

A day early I know but I figured it would be more useful to tell you about it BEFORE the day so that you might be able to use it ON the day…

Via Twitter, I discovered this lovely activity from OnlineFreeSpanish.com for making Valentine’s Day cards.

I particularly like this resource as it offers lots of choice! You can choose a border, an image and a bilingual message to suit your personality and the recipient. Not all the messages are ‘slushy, lovey-dovey’ ones so it’s quite safe to use with a group of children who might not be into romance. And you can also choose to have the image in colour or leave it black adn white to be coloured in. Additionally, you can choose to print the card as a poster (one loveheart icon), as a sheet of four (four lovehearts) or as a sheet that can be folded to form a proper card (heart on card icon) The only downside is that the inside of the card is only in English 🙁

More Spanish Valentine’s fun here  on Youtube from Babelzone/LCF with a little video and a new take on He loves me, he loves me not!

For more Valentine’s ideas (mostly in French) check out Jo Rhys-Jones’ post on Talkabout Primary MFL.

And why not get adventurous and follow the lead of @wizenedcrone aka Fiona Joyce who had her Y9 learners writing a simple collaborative poem. Following a simple structure

Te quiero como ………… quiere a …………

learners can use dictionaries to suggest nouns to fill the gaps. In the example from Fiona, my favourite line is

‘Te quiero como las abuelas quieren a los crucigramas’

My example –

Te quiero como el mono quiere al plátano.

Te quiero como el pato quiere al agua.

Te quiero como los profes quieren a las vacaciones.

Te quiero como la fresa quiere a la nata.

Or you could try it with this pattern

…………. son rojos

…………. es azul

Quiero a ……………

Como quiero a tí

substituting the dots with a plural noun, a singular noun and another noun that you like a lot.

My poem might be

Las cerezas son rojas

El cielo es azul

Quiero al chocolate 

Como quiero a ti

Just rediscovered a lovely website for stories in Spanish. La Biblioteca Infantil and La Biblioteca Pre-Escolar are great for native speakers and young learners alike with stories on a variety of themes complete with accompanying activities.

For example, La Pelota Dorada in La Biblioteca Infantil is a story based on a fairytale (won’t give away which one!) in which you can name the princess, the prince and also the hero which you choose from a duck, a beaver or a tortoise. The story has passages of text to read and sections of dialogue that appear in speech bubbles and are read to you.

Accompanying the story is an activity – in this case a ‘Find the difference’ – and also a list of books on a similar theme.

In La Biblioteca Pre-Escolar the stories are more simple and are all read aloud to the reader. In El canto del corral features a little girl who wants to sing but everyone is too busy until he goes into the farmyard. To accompnay the story there is an online activity – choosing musical instruments – and a craft activity as well as a list of books ona similar theme.

There aren’t a huge number of stories, however they are on a variety of themes that are suitable for integration into the primary curriculum, particularly in the  EYFS / PSHE areas.

The site also exists in English so good for comparing language, and also for the less confident Spanish speaker who wants to check out the meaning of the story!