Winterferien! (Winter break!)

Guten Morgen!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your winter break. We had a great fall in German class, and we've managed to work on a few verbs as well as learn some winter vocabulary. If you're in a practicing mood over break, here are some things that should be familiar to the German learners:

Verstecken spielen = Hide and go seek
(verstecken = to hide; spielen = to play)

You can count to 25 (or however high you're willing to go) and then ask
Wo bist du!? = Where are you?
Wo ist (die Giraffe/ der Tiger)? = Where is (the giraffe/ the tiger)?

If you find something, you can exclaim "gefunden!" (found!) or just explain where the person/animal is:
Da bist du! = There you are!
Da ist (die Giraffe/ der Tiger)!


der Winter (winter)
der Schnee (snow)
der Schneemann (snowman)
das Auge (eye) - die Augen (eyes)
die Nase (nose)
der Mund (mouth)
der Schal (scarf)
der Bauch (belly)
der Arm (arm)
die Hand (hand) - die Hände (hands)
die Mütze (cap)
die Handschuhe (gloves, literally 'hand shoes')


Schöne Ferien!

Thanksgiving

My apologies to Rosario and students……this was supposed to be posted prior to Thanksgiving Break….

Hola a todos,

In the last three days we have been working on the body parts. If you feel like it these days you can play with your kids by touching some parts and name them eyes closed, or just play bingo with this bingo board (if it can be attached in the blog).

We have seen the parts involved in the song previously mentioned in my former post and also:

Brazo-arm

Mano-hand

Pie-foot

Ojo-eye

Rodilla-knee

Pierna-leg

Dientes-teeth

Nariz-nose

Boca-mouth

Cabeza-head

Oreja-ear

Happy Thanksgiving!

Le temps et la nourriture (Weather and Food in French)

Bonjour,
the past few weeks we have been learning the calendar, days of week, months of the year, seasons, and weather. o practice at home, you can ask your child to do a mini weather report at breakfast or at dinner.

This week and next week we are starting to talk about food: what we love, like, and hate to eat. Your child will bring home a long list of common foods. To practice, I recommend having your child help create a grocery list or plan menus for le petit déjuener (breakfast), le déjuener (lunch), and le dîner (dinner). We will also learn how to set the table.

Finally, the French postal service has a website where children can write to Santa and he writes back (it takes a few weeks). The website also has some games. I am happy to help your child write a letter to Santa; please have your child bring a short (two or three items) list of what they would like to ask for and I will translate for them.

Merci
Elizabeth

German Class - Week Two

Guten Morgen!

Even though it's evening now, our mornings in German class have been great so far! We have been moving around, singing, and coloring. We learned a fun "ABC" song and have been talking about our favorite animals and what they do (fly, swim).

Here are some of the phrases we're working on:
Ich heiße ____ (My name is ___)
Ich fliege (I fly)
Ich schwimme (I swim)
Auf wiedersehen (goodbye)

...and some of our favorite animals:
der Vogel (bird)
der Adler (eagle)
der Tiger (tiger)
die Giraffe (giraffe)
die Katze (cat)
das Eichhörnchen (squirrel)

We've also listened to the "Fliegerlied" and we watched the version with Tim Toupet on YouTube, if you'd like to see some of that flying and swimming in a catchy song!

Be sure to keep track of our progress on the German blog and come join us!

¡Hola a todos!

We are in the second week of the semester already. We have started by learning -for those who had not learned that before- to ask and answer what our name is:
- ¿Cómo te llamas?
-Me llamo Rosario
and to greet in a couple of different forms:
-Hola (hello)
-Buenos días (good morning)
-Buenas tardes (good afternoon)
-Buenas noches (good night)
-Adiós (bye-bye)
-Nos vemos (see you)
-¿Cómo estás? (how are you?)
-Bien ¿y tú? (well, and you?)

I know that some of the kids already knew this from previous classes but others did not, so it was important to devote the first week to it. Anyway, since these are expressions that I say ABSOLUTELY EVERY DAY to them, I have no doubt that they will never forget them. My intention is to move on to other things immediately so the ones who have studied Spanish and started from the basic several times don't get bored soon, but for the new ones the repetition is important, so here's your homework: please, greet and make your child greet you in Spanish sometimes when you think of it.

Tomorrow we will talk about halloween a bit (of course) and play "Simon dice" with basic commands like siéntate (sit down), levántate (stand up), dame el lápiz (give me the pencil) and so on, so we set up the basis of a class communication in Spanish.

Gracias y hasta pronto.

Rosario.

French October 2013

Bonjour,
the first two weeks of French have gone well. I've enjoyed getting to know your sons and daughters. The past few weeks we have worked on greetings, colors, and numbers. Last Thursday your child came home with instructions and patterns to make a color-bingo game. This week we are starting to work on the verb "etre" which means "to be" as well as some adjectives. Our focus is on describing ourselves.
Merci
Elizabeth

Classes Start Next Tuesday, October 22!!!!!

Greeting Families!


Run for the schools is this weekend (hope you all have your registrations done and running shoes ready!) - so that means classes start TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22!

Classes will be held in the following locations:
German - Mrs. Kriz's room - Thank you Mrs. Kriz!!
French - Mr. Hartman's room - Thank you Mr. Hartman!!
Spanish I - Media Center - Thank you Ms. Madden!!
Spanish II - Mrs. Mulligan - Thank you Mrs. Mulligan!!

Classes are on TUESDAYS AND THURSDAYS from 7:45AM - 8:20AM.  The change in days is due to Orchestra practice being moved to Wednesday mornings AFTER we had scheduled classes for Mondays and Wednesdays.  

Here are our amazing instructors:
German - Tammy Kirchner
French - Elizabeth Carroll (A former WLCP instructor!)
Spanish - Rosario Merida and a second to be announced soon.
Their biographies are on our blog and will be sent home the first week of classes, along with other pertinent information.  We are in the process of finalizing our second instructor and we will have that information available as soon as possible.  

A few things to remember:
1.  If there is a late start or no classes at Hoover, we WILL NOT have classes.
2.  Attendance is not mandatory, but appreciated.
3.  Class will start promptly at 7:45AM.
4.  There will be "homework" but that is so that your students can share with you what they are learning.
5.  This is organized by volunteer parents outside of the official school system, so please feel free to contact Ana or Sara with questions or concerns.  Mrs. Maxwell will have general information about the program, but we kindly ask that you contact one of us first.

Lastly, a HUGE thank you to you parents for bringing your children to school early twice a week - I know what it's like to get kids out the door!  We appreciate your participation and belief that introduction to language early on is so beneficial, generates interest, and hopefully challenges them to pursue language as they progress through the educational system.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday!!!!

2013 - 2014 Instructors!

We are excited to welcome our 2013 - 2014 language instructors, Elizabeth Carroll (French), Rosario Merida Prieto (Spanish) and Tammy Kirchner (German)!  We have posted biographies of each instructor on the individual language blog page so that you may get to know them a bit.  In addition, they will be sending a welcome letter home the first week of classes with more information about the class, expectations, etc.
As always, please don't hesitate to contact us with questions, comments or concerns.

Thank you!

Program Information

Happy Friday!

The brochures and curriculum information is available at Hoover.  There are two folders hanging next to the PTA bulletin board.  The brochures contain the enrollment form and class dates.  The curriculum folder contains the beginner and advanced curriculums.  We are working on the intermediate curriculum and hope to have that available soon.

Registration For Classes

Greetings!

We are hopefully ending a long week of hot temperatures and early outs!  Looking forward to temperatures in the 80s!

We are in the process of finalizing the curriculum, deciding on books for the instructors, and starting the recruiting process for instructors.  We hope to have interviews completed and instructors hired by the end of September, the first week of October.  Classes will start the week of October 21 so mark your calendars!!

We have already had several families register for class, and are looking forward to many more!  As in years past, class availability and size will depend on how many students register.  There will be brochures complete with registration form available, as well as copies of different curriculums, by the PTA bulletin board.  Brochures will also be sent home with the Hoover Headlines in the near future.  We are happy to email a copy as well.  The email address is

wlcp.hoover@gmail.com

Classes will be offered in the mornings only.  Class will start at 7:45AM and run until the first bell at 8:20AM.  Students will then proceed to where they line up prior to school starting. We recognize that this may not be ideal for some, but there are many after school activities that conflict, as well as transportation to after school day care if children do not attend HOCC.  We have also spoken to several teachers and principals and their recommendations were to have class prior to school starting when the children are fresh and haven't been sitting in class all day!

Please don't hesitate to email us with questions or concerns.  We are looking forward to another fun and successful year!

Ice Cream Social

Friends,

It was so wonderful to see everyone last night at the ice cream social!  I can tell that the kids are ready to head back to school....and saw a few parents who are ready for their kids to go back as well!

We had a wonderful response at our WLCP table and are looking forward to another fun year.  We are currently in the process of securing rooms, posting job descriptions, and working to finalize the curriculum and purchase accompanying materials.  We will be sending out an email in the near future to all who signed up to verify email addresses, etc.  Email is how we will communicate, and we will also work on keeping the blog current.

If you know of possible instructor candidates, please feel free to email us or have them contact us.  We are looking for individuals available in the mornings.

Thank you and have a great first day at school!!

WLCP 2013 - 2104

Greetings!

We are starting to prepare for another successful year of language and culture at Hoover Elementary!  We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Hoover Ice Cream Social and will have the curriculum available, as well as other information, for parents and students.

We will be starting the week of October 21, 2013 and will be ending the week of April 28, 2014.  Information on class size, schedule and location will be forthcoming when we know how many will be participating and what classroom availability will be.

We look forward to seeing you at the Ice Cream Social and look forward to another great year!

Last Class

All,

The last class for the Hoover World Language Culture Program will be April 24th.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the students, parents, instructors and staff at Hoover Elementary for another successful year!
We wish our sixth graders much success at SEJH and look forward to seeing the rest of you next year!  We also are looking forward to seeing many new faces!  Please feel free to email us with any feedback you may have as our goal is to provide a safe, fun and interesting learning experience.

Thank you and Go Hoover Hawks!