Anti-Bullying Video

 

Terrific video (link below) on opposing bullying as it starts.

Anti-bullying video

If you like the blog, why not read the eBooks? Zen Kyu Maestro: An English Teacher's Spanish Adventure, (Monday Books) available from Amazon. 

And the sequel: Cucuruchos or Cucurachas? An English Teacher's Spanish Dilemma, eBook or paperback from Amazon.

Two years in the life of an English teacher, teaching a class of lively Spanish seven-year-olds, in English, in Spain.

What could possibly go wrong?

“The detailed way Dean has described the atmosphere of this little city in Spain is magnificent.” Salford University, The Salfordian.

Click below for free sample chapters:

  Zen Kyu Maestro      Cucarachas eBook paperback

Up and down, up and down, 'til they're clean and sparkly.

Are you old enough to remember the old 'brush your teeth correctly' health education campaign; 'up and down, up and down, 'til they're clean and sparkly?' Hmmm, probably not. And surprisingly, it seems to be the only video in the universe which isn't available on Youtube. (Lucky you!)

Anyway, the Spanish also love a good health education video, so here's their own 'brush you teeth' offering, with a catchy little song for you to sing along to.

(N.B., the karaoke lyrics at the bottom are quite difficult to read so I've transcribed them for you below and added a translation.)

¡Disfruta!

Click on 'Descarga' (download) video 

Spanish: 

Siempre después de desayunar,

Los dientes hay que lavar.

Despues de comer,

Despues de cenar,

Pasta, cepillo.

¡Y porte a limpiar!

Subir, Subir,

Bajar, Bajar,

Tu boca sana y briliant está.

Recuerda que tus hijos pueden disfrutar

de una revisión anual gratuita en el dentista.

English:

Always after having breakfast,

You have to wash your teeth.

After eating,

After having dinner,

Paste, brush.

Get cleaning!

Up, up,

Down, down, 

Your mouth is healthy and shining.

Remember that your children can enjoy(!)

a free annual check-up at the dentist.

Truco o trato!

Truco o trato! Any guesses? A clue? I heard it a lot last night, 31 de octubre...

Here's something you might have been given (as a trato) if you were out last night:

I imagine the picture has given the game away by now. Yes, we're talking Hallowe'en en España. Can you guess what Pintalenguas means? You'll need to look up pintar (un verbo) and lengua (un sustantivo) in your Spanish/English diccionarios...

La respuesta below, so no peeking...

So, now you know that pintar means 'to paint'; you might already have known that lengua is tongue'. So, pintalenguas are 'toungue-painting' sweets. You suck them and your tongue turns rojo o negro o naranja, depending on which color you chose.

I hope you had a great Hallowe'en!

¡Toma!

Fiesta cuatro: RUN!

I imagine you might have heard about 'bull-running'. You might even know that Pamploma has a famous 'bull-running' fiesta every year.

But this picture wasn't taken in Pamploma.

And this bull isn't exactly 'normal'... 

 Yes, it's got wheels!

During the late summer, in many towns along the Valencian coastline, there are 'bull-running' fiestas. That's real bulls and real people. Yes it's dangerous, people are sometimes badly injured, even killed.

But these children aren't in any danger. There's a lot of screaming, yes.

And of course, a lot of running.

Well, there's also a bit of toddling...

...and sometimes, a bit of limping... 

Here's looking at you, baby!  

Here's looking at baby bull...

Sometimes, your friends don't look themselves.

It's probably time to take a taxi home.

Let's hope you make it safely...

Of course, not everyone likes being chased by bulls. Even bulls on wheels...

Even bulls with water-pistols...

But everyone loves to see an expert at work. And you can always spot one. 

He's got the look. 

He's got the cape. 

He's got the cool hairdo...

¡Olé!

If you'd like to see some bull-running pictures from previous years check these posts out.

And have an exciting weekend!

More bulls... 

Even more bulls... 

El Día a Mamá.

Spotted this in a shop window...

Great picture, but can you work out what it's all about? Here are some clues...

1. What does 'Día a Mamá' mean?

2. Do you know what 'regalos' are?

3. Why is the little girl carrying a present?

4. Why is she wearing adult high-heels?

Here are the answers.  

1. 'Día a Mamá' (or 'Día de la Madre') is Mothers' Day in Spanish. It's celebrated on the first Sunday in May which this year is tomorrow, the 4th.

2. 'Regalos' are presents.

3. See 1 & 2.

4. See 1 & 2.

The final word in the headline alégrale comes from the verb alegrar which means to cheer up. So the full meaning will be:

Cheer up Mothers' Day with cool presents.

So, is 'cool' a Spanish word? Well, no. The Spanish word for cool is guay, but this shop seems to like the English word, which is well understood in Spain.

La Confitería

La Confitería (sweet shop) in our plaza has a lot more than just sweets, as you can see...

There are 18 things on the list. Can you guess what some of them are without looking at the pictures? Why not make it a competition? (Decide whether or not you're going to use dictionaries.)

Maybe your teacher will give a prize for the group which gets the most?? I'd suggest that most Spanish of all sweets... some Chupa-Chups! And don't go all British on me by pronouncing Chupa to rhyme with 'cuppa'. Haven't you seen the 'Bum, bum Madrid' post? Say, 'Choopa-choops!'  

¡Disfruta! (Enjoy!)

P.S. As a tie-breaker question, why do you think Chupa Chups are so called? (A clue? Use your dictionary.)

The answers to the quiz are below...

...so no peeking!

Las respuestas:

PRENSA is newspapers.

REVISTAS magazines.

CHUCHERIAS sweets, but also trinkets, knick-knacks, junk.

PETARDOS bangers, usually only on sale during Las Fallas, or other regional (noisy) fiestas.

TABACO Correct!

ARTÍCULOS DE REGALO Presents or gifts.

CUMPLEAÑOS  Birthdays.

BAUTIZOS Baptisms.

COMUNIONES Communions.

BODAS Weddings.

JUGETERÍA Toys.

ALIMENTACIÓN Food.

BOLLERÍA Cakes.

BEBIDAS Drinks.

HIELO Ice (pronounced 'yellow'.)

HELADOS Ice-creams.

FOTOCOPIAS Yes!

JUEGOS ONCE Lottery tickets from the charity for blind and partially sighted people, ONCE (Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles)  (Pronounced on-thay)- For an extended blog-post on ONCE, see ONCE BLOG

And finally, why Chupa-Chups? Well, did you find the Spanish verb Chupar in your dictionary?

¡Carnaval Quiz!

Yes, it's Carnaval (not Carnival, as in the UK) time, and remember to stress the 'val' bit.

Here in Spain, dressing up is very popular. All the children (and staff) in school will come with a home-made or commercially-made costume. To give you a flavour, here are some of the costumes (disfraces) available. Try to guess what they are before you look at the description (below each picture). Why not make it a class quiz?

Before you start, here are a few of the other words you'll see:

Disfraz (dees-frath)  Costume (it also means 'disguise').
Talla (tie-yah) Size.
Años (an-yos) Years.

1. Animadora (an-ee-mad-or-ah) is a cheerleader.

2. Blancanieves means 'white-snows' or Snow White to you.

 3. Bob Esponja? SpongeBob!

4. Bombero (pronounce it 'Bom-bear-oh') is a fireman.

5. Cangrejo (pr. Can-greh-ho) is a crab. Very Spanish!

6. Cerdito. Cerdo is a pig, so cerdito (ther-dee-toe) is a little pig or piglet.

 7. Apparently (I asked the girls in my class) 'Monster High' is very popular here in Spain and 'Clawdeen Wolf' is one of the main characters. So now I know...

 8. Cocinero (Coth-een-air-oh) is a cook (or chef).

 9. Esqueleto (es-kell-et-oh) is a skeleton. Notice that many English words that start with 's' have a Spanish equivalent that starts with 'es', (Esquela- school: espagueti-spaghetti: estudio-study).

 10. Gallina (Guy-ee-nah) is a chicken.

 11. Marinero (mah-reen-air-oh) is a sailor.

 12. Muñeca (moon-yek-ah) is a doll.

 13. Payaso (pie-ass-oh) is a clown.

 14. Pitufo (pee-too-foh) is a Smurf.

15. Rey del Pop? King of Pop; but 'Michael Jackson' to you and me.

 16. Sevillana (sev-ee-yan-ah) is a 'girl from Seville', but we'd probably call her a 'Flamenco-dancer'.

 17. Soldado (sol-dad-oh) is a soldier.

 18. Torero (tor-air-oh) is a bull-fighter.

 19. Trenecito (tren-eh-thee-toe) is a little train; looks like Thomas to me!

 20. Vampiro (vam-pee-roh)... need I say more?

21. Vaquero (vack-air-roh) is a cowboy.

And finally, to show you that it's not just Spanish niños who get involved in Carvaval, here are some of the adult costumes which I haven't chosen to wear!

E

Espantapajaros (es-panta-pah-aros) means 'scare brids'; scarecrow to us.

Sumo. A great word to learn your Spanish 'u' sound, just say it as you would in English.

Vaca. Moooo!

Gallo (Guy-yo) is a cock (without the doodle-doo).

If you enjoyed this little game, check out the website where I found the pics for lots (lots!) more example of the Spaniards at play.

Fancy Dress.