Sunday, December 8, 2013

Serendipitous

I learned a nasty lesson about not saving blog posts. I talk to myself sometimes.. Let me just check a reference really quick here, won't be more than a minute..  and kabam! ..What just happened?!..

This means I should go to bed and do the quickest recap of lesson planning serendipity that I can muster. It's all about having key points to guide your plan and then having everything thoughtfully tie in. Easy, right? Especially if you remember to tie it to authentic stories and then immerse your students in that world. It's pretty neat how unrelated thoughts and ideas over the course of days fuse together to make meaningful, experiential lesson plans. Appeal to the senses and to the learning types and let the magic happen!  ..··~~~*~~.·.·.·**

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Dipping my toes in Spanish literature

For a while now I've been very protective of my books in Spanish. My rapidly growing collection has been due to an unquenchable desire to fill my house with Spanish literature, and hopefully, capture my children's interest in the language. We are a mono-lingual household, mostly. Spanish is the preferred language but my husband and I often banter back and forth in English. I wonder if this confuses our kids, that we use English often when we're playfully conversing or just teasing each other. We don't seem to have ignited any passion for Spanish but they certainly don't hate it. My two older boys are proud to be bilingual. My youngest doesn't care and isn't saying much either way.

In our collection there are books that are loose-translations and books with translations that take themselves far too seriously. I have very few originally Spanish books. Off the top of my head I can only think of two or three but they are technically bilingual books. Then there's a smattering of Plaza Sesamo and Maya and Miguel and uninspiring non-fiction. At least for now I can say that I don't mind if the book is not originally Spanish, as long as it is translated with the message and the emotion kept in tact. I sometimes panic because no one is talking about Spanish children's literature in the classical sense. At least no one on my blog roll! These would be books with real staying power and original language and even good grammar.

For now I'll be looking into "El principito" (The Little Prince) on a friend's suggestion and enjoying my personal favorite, "Sarah, alta y sencilla" (Sarah, Plain and Tall). But maybe what I really need is to become more cultured myself and soak in some better grammar. "Don Quijote" is waiting.

Me in a nutshell

Under One Techo | Under One Roof
I grew up an air-force brat, on bases and off bases, statewide and on foreign soil. Having lived in both Japan and Los Angeles (Little Mexico!), I have a love for both the Latin and Asian communities. But above all that lies a commitment to God, marriage, and family as the backbone of society. And with that, let the crazy, cultural mash-up begin..