My kids were both home today because of the holiday, so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to sing some of the songs from Juguemos en Español and use some of my handy-dandy charts. I even made a new chart, Las Vocales (vowels). Las Vocales goes by the tune from the very opening of Mozart's "A Little Night Music".
My 20 month old daughter was happy just to get our musical instruments out. I felt bad, we rarely play with them since my 4.5 year old son just wants to play with Star Wars Legos, and when we do that, my full-time job is to keep my daughter away from the Legos. She's a bit like Godzilla razing a small Japanese town.
But I digress. My 4.5 year old wrinkled his nose when he saw my charts, and said it was for babies. Luckily, a friend of his who is almost a year older is in Susy Dorn's Let's Play in Spanish class. Take that, you little know-it-all. Oops, did I really type that? Being surrounded by young children does seem to lower my maturity level.
Still, I managed to sing a bunch of songs with them. My son especially liked using a drumstick to point at the pictures as they were being sung. The music is a bit fast for him though. The only instrument he really wanted to use was the drum, which drowned out a lot of the music. But we marched through some songs, and he got to blow a train whistle for a few tunes, so overall I think he liked it even though he later told my husband that it was "boring".
I did realize that it would have helped to create a playlist of just the songs I was going to play. I ended up searching for songs a lot, and that allowed the kids to get distracted. I need to find a way to display the charts where my son can reach it, but my daughter can't, at least, not when it's his turn to point.
I felt discouraged at times, but I reminded myself it was just my first try. The kids did stick with me through it. Later, we went in the car, and I played some of the songs, and my son sang along to "Los Colores". It was just a little thing, but I felt pretty validated.
I think if I practice a few more times with just my kids, I could work out the kinks. Then maybe I'll be courageous and invite some other families over to join us. Wish me luck.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Mexican Avocado Salad
This isn't about language, but one of my favorite things to do is to eat, so I thought I'd share this Mexican avocado salad recipe. I made this for a Christmas Eve dinner, to go along with tamale pie. Both the tamale pie and the salad were very, very delicious.
Ingredients
Preparation
In a large mixing bowl combine, drained corn, chopped artichoke hearts, avocado, drained & rinsed black beans, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped cilantro and salad dressing. Mix well. Add pepper to taste. Refrigerate for one hour and serve chilled.
Reprinted from:
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
El Día de los Reyes (Kings' Day)
After New Year's Day, Mexican families still have a very special date to commemorate and enjoy. On January 6, most of the Hispanic world celebrates El Día De Reyes, the Epiphany, remembering the day when the Three Wise Men following the star to Bethlehem, arrived bearing their treasured gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the Baby Jesus.
On the night, of January 5, the figurines of the Three Wise Men are added to the nativity scene. Before going to bed the children place their old shoes under their bed or in the living room, where the Wise Men will leave them their presents. Some also place outside the house, some hay and a bucket with water for the animals, and even some cookies and milk for Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar.
The children spend the day playing and admiring each other’s presents, sharing them with friends, talking about how they were able to hear or see the Reyes Magos when they arrived at their home, how one of them heard the camel’s footsteps, how the other saw a shining crown in the dark night! Meanwhile, adults prepare for the Merienda de Reyes, an early evening dinner that friends and families share to celebrate the Epiphany.
People go to the markets and stores to get the needed ingredients to prepare the feast. All over the country, in every city and in every little town, bakeries offer the Rosca de Reyes, an oval sweetbread, decorated with candied fruit.
The Merienda de Reyes is truly a multicultural event. The Spaniards brought the tradition of celebrating the Epiphany and sharing the Rosca to the New World. The Rosca is served along with Tamales, made of corn which was the pre-Hispanic food, and hot chocolate. Chocolate is also a gift from the native peoples of the New World.
(excerpted from http://www.inside-mexico.com/featurereyes.htm)
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