In honor of the approach of Mother’s Day, the moms of Calico Spanish would like to remind you about our free printable. It’s a fun and easy way to give kids the opportunities to sing their mom’s praise in Spanish. Enjoy!
Happy Mother’s Day!
¡Feliz Día de la Madre!
We recently saw an adorable Mother’s Day “My mom and I” printable activity in English. We love these activities and thought it was such a great idea we’d do something similar in Spanish. In ours, we’ve featured some of our Stories Online characters with their moms and grandmothers. Here at Calico Spanish, we are moms and love to honor mothers and all they do, in everything from our content to our support for homeschool families to the way we package and distribute our materials.
What mothers are in our Stories?
In the Stories Online program, here are some of the mamás and abuelas children will meet:
- At the beginning of Level B, “I Love My Family,” we meet Alicia, la mamá de Pepe, el perro café. It’s Pepe’s birthday and she has a gift for him, a new collar in his favorite color, negro. He tells her, “¡Te amo, Mami!“
- Later in Level B, we meet Camilo el conejo blanco in the park and he’s with his abuelo and abuela. His abuela helps him understand that he’s especial because even though he isn’t athletic and doesn’t like to play soccer like Pepe and Goyo el gato negro, he’s who he was meant to be: he’s good at jumping, he loves to read, and he likes to play hide-and-seek.
- At the end of Level B, in the lesson on pets, María la mona amarilla wants to tell her friends all about her abuela‘s new pet, a pájaro azul named Perico.
- In Level C, “I Live Here,” we’re invited into the home of Rita la rana verde and her family. In their multigenerational home, Rita’s abuela lives with them. Rita ends her busy day with her abuela helping her find her favorite storybook and reading it with her until she falls asleep. “Buenas noches, nena. Sueña con los angelitos,” her abuela tells her.
Kids can meet all of these characters and their friends and family right now, because your first seven days of learning are absolutely free, with no restrictions. It’s ideal for children ages 5-9 in any learning context, including preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and homeschool situations.
Where’s the activity?
Here we offer you a PDF download of the printable in a version for mamás and a version for abuelas. It asks children to tell us about their mamás and abuelas:
- My mom/grandma is named _________.
- My mom/grandma is ___________ and ___________. (Example: tall and smart)
- With my mom/grandma, I like to ______________.
- I love my mom/grandma because _________________.
Ready for your free download? Just click one of the images for your PDF.
Click for PDF.
Click for PDF.
And happy Mother’s Day from the moms of Calico Spanish!
Happy Mother’s Day from Calico Spanish!
Especially for early novice learners, culture can be a tough topic to cover in depth, beyond the infamous “Five F’s“: festivals, food, flags, fashion, and famous people. Throw in the fact that interculturality standards for language classes can’t be met outside of the target language, and it gets tougher. Throw in a situation where the teacher, guide, or parent doesn’t speak Spanish proficiently (or at all) and something’s got to give.
Instead of ignoring the problem, we decided to tackle it. We came up with what we think is a startlingly effective solution, and we hope you’ll think so, too. We took several cultural elements in our Stories Online curriculum and used them to develop what we call “Culture Capsules.” They bring together the best elements of research-based lessons: engaging content, achievable goals, critical thinking in an inquiry model, and of course, a target-language communication goal at the end of each one.
In each Culture Capsule, the teacher guides learners through a discussion on the capsule’s topic, while the children note answers to questions in their own print guide. Then, the class, group, or individual learners investigate answers to often deep cultural questions. Each capsule also culminates in a communicative task that asks children to demonstrate cultural awareness in Spanish, based on the national standards set by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Here are the Capsule topics in each level of Stories Online.
Level A: I Am Special
- Are “You” My Friend?
Why do Spanish speakers change the word they use for “you”?
- Days of the Week
How do we decide what is the first day of the week?
- Flags and Their Colors
What do the colors mean in the flags of the Spanish-speaking peoples?
- Describing Myself – free download below
What do the Spanish-speaking peoples “look like”?
Level B: I Love My Family
- Special Days – free download below
How does culture affect how we celebrate birthdays and other special days?
- Two Surnames?
How do many people in the Spanish-speaking cultures structure their names, and why?
- Community Activities
How do communities in different cultures have fun together?
- A Family, A Community
How do families in different cultures show their love for each other?
- Pets
Are the types of pets people like to keep different from culture to culture?
Level C: I Live Here
- Home Is Where the Heart Is – free download below
What is the same and what is different about homes in different cultures?
- Let’s Eat!
What is the same and what is different about foods in different cultures?
- ¡Gol!
What games and programs do people in the Spanish-speaking cultures find entertaining?
- ¿Qué hora es?
How does culture affect how people think about and talk about time?
Ready to see these in action with your learners? The above Capsules are included as part of the Stories Online program, but we’re pleased to offer you three of these Capsules to download absolutely free. Just head over to this page and get started. And please, tell us what you think!
Let’s teach children to speak real Spanish to real people for a lifetime. Starting today. Learn more about this innovative program for any preschool, kindergarten, elementary class, or homeschool at Discover Stories.
