escolinha-feb 26, 2010

I think this week I left my head at home. I know I left it right next to the computer. God only knows how I did my errands, and then went (late) to the Escolinha. So, I was tired, grouchy and airheaded when Monica did her teaching. I know the theme was "a summary of the month" but I cannot tell what she did... except for the songs and activities that always happen. So, I have asked Suzanna to write as a guest here. I will come back and post when she gives me her text.Okay? So sorry, I swear I will put my head on, for next class.
                  Here is what wonderful Suzanna wrote. Thank you Suzanna!
Ultimamente quando temos chegado na aulinha, a Monica ja esta na garagem dancando com a galera toda.  Enquanto esperamos todas as criancas chegarem, Monica aproveita e faz suggestoes simples: "Bota a mao na cabeca!", "Agacha!" "Pula!".  As criancas adoraram, e e uma maneira de envolver os que nao falam, mas que ja entendem. 

Muitas maes participam tambem, e eu acho que nao so e uma manifestacao de solidariedade com a Monica, mas ajuda as criancas, ja que nem todos estao olhando para a professora constantemente para seguir as instrucoes.  No mundo ESOL chamamos isto de TPR, ou Total Physical Response.  Nem sempre e feita com musica.  O jogo Chefinho Mandou (Simon Says) e outro exemplo de TPR. 

Outra vantagem, claro, e que todo esse movimento cedinho cansa os meninos e ajuda eles a manterem mais concentracao durante as outras atividades.  Bem, normalmente funciona assim!  Tem dias que mare nao esta pra peixe...

Na sexta passada, Monica preparou uma especie de "best hits" de 2010!  Cantamos a musica da formiga (Fui ao mercado, comprar batata roxa...) fazendo todos os movimentos.  Lemos o livro Meus Amigos do Taro Gomi.  Cada crianca ganhou uma plaquinha  que Monica imprimiu com um dos personagens do livro.  Tinham que manter atencao para colocar sua plaquinha no quadro na sua vez.  Espero que Monica tente de novo na sexta que vem, ja que a atencao da turma nao estava 100%, e a atividade foi super valida. 

Para acabar, queria mencionar que a atividade do trem, em que as criancas tem que achar suas "passagems" usando so os seus nomes, sem se referenciar as fotos esta ficando cada vez mais facil.  Tem uns pequenininhos que ja estao achando os seus nomes.  Um garotinho de 2 anos identificou logo o "W" do seu nome.  A felicidade dos meninos quando colocam os crachazinhos no trem alegra qualquer coracao!

Tips to Raising a Bilingual Child

From 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child, by Naomi Steiner and Susan Hayes

1. Start little by little. Be aware that your child might resist an abrupt change of language.

2. Initially, you might be supporting understanding by translating, but the goal is to stop doing this little by little.

3. Start speaking the language during chosen times or activities when you're not rushed and there is plenty of extra time for explanations. For example, Sunday morning breakfasts might be a time when you feel relaxed. You don't want to put yourself in the situation of being stressed to get the kids out the door and teaching vocabulary. Then add on one activity at a time. For instance, add on bath time and teach the vocabulary words related to bath time.

4. Switch to reading simple books in the second language, simplifying and translating if needed. Books are a great way to teach new words.

5. Gradually extend the amount of time you speak the language and add on resources and activities that your kids can do on the computer or TV, for example.

6. Encourage your child to respond to you in the second language.

7. Don't give up! Remember, time is on your side.

Brazilian Preeschool--Escola dos Brasileirinhos

For about 7 months now some Brazilian moms (and one grandma) have been getting together to teach their kids Portuguese. We are all native Brazilians, some married to Americans some to fellow Brazilians...but all living in the USA. It has been such a fun journey! I am so thankful to God for putting such a special group of people together. We each have our own personalities and talents and we make a great mix. I feel so blessed that I wanted to share the love. So I am going to post here once a while about what we do in our group. But here is a first lesson for all of us-- If there was such a thing as a Motherhoood Manual---it would say--- raising kids is much easier with good friends!
Anyway, yesterday at our meeting we studied about FRIENDS or AMIGOS as we say in Portuguese. Monica read a wonderful story to the kids.It talks about how we learn things from animals and how they are our friends.
Here is the book she read (this book is in Spanish and English--not Portuguese-but she translated it so it worked perfectly)
My Friends/Mis Amigos

Then later, we sang a song about the ant (formiga)in the story. Part of the song said
"FUI AO MERCADO COMPRAR LIMÃO
E A FORMIGUINHA SUBIU NA MINHA MÃO
EU SACUDI, SACUDI, SACUDI
MAS A FORMIGUINHA NÃO PARAVA DE SUBIR"

This song is about someone going to the store to buy items and an ant biting a part of the body that rhymes with the items bought. Kids love it because they can move together with the song as the singer tries to get rid of the ants. Moms love it because it teaches parts of the body and names of food items. Perfect all around!
After singing, Creative Monica had the kids do a craft. They glued a picture of a lime (LIMÃO)then stamped their hand (MÃO) on the paper. The kids had to draw an ant (FORMIGA) moving up in the hand. It went so well with the song. The kids loved it! Unfortunately I forgot my camera...so pictures will start next week.