¡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.