Page 4 - May_June - Gr.4

ISB Lower School Specialists’ Newsletter

Spanish

Dear Grade 4 Parents,

Welcome to our last Newsletter on Spanish classroom activities for the school year
2013/14. It´s a pleasure to have the opportunity to share with you our learning experience.

In this last month, we focused on improving our cultural competence, inquiring about the
Hispanic world, their symbols and demography, geographical position, important people
Mirjana Fildjokic from Spain and Latin America, music and dance, gastronomy, beliefs and traditions. After
Spanish Language Teacher
the introductory phase of providing the students with the global picture of the Hispanic

society, we researched in detail about some specific countries. In pairs or individually, the
students chose the country of their main interest and explored its geographical, social and
cultural elements. The students are currently preparing their project of the presentation of
the country they found most interesting. We used this unit not only to expand our
knowledge of the culture, but also to amplify the vocabulary on different topics: music and
dance (la salsa, la cumbia, los mariachis, el tango, el flamenco), typical dishes and food, tra-
ditions, holidays and their elements (carnivals, los Reyes Magos, el Día de la Madre, el Día
del Padre), as well as to review other lexical structures such as professions (talking about
celebrities from Spanish speaking countries), colors and shapes (talking about flags and
symbols). Moreover, we have worked on improving the student´s presentation and organi-
zation skills. Our activities were based on watching presentations and videos, listening and
singing the Spanish music, reading and writing activities on traditions and recipes. The stu-
dents were very motivated to make their own antifaz (mask) for the carnival as well as to
write their letter of wishes to Reyes Magos (the Magic Kings).

The students demonstrated a high level of interest for this unit, especially enjoying the His-
panic traditions and beliefs and comparing them to the ones of their own culture.
I encourage students to keep on learning about Spanish language and culture with the
same enthusiasm and devotion next school year!

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