Wednesday, April 25, 2007

El Dia de los Libros...El Dia de los ninos

The day of the Book and the day of the Child! This day is celebrated on April 30. It is a tradition that began in Mexico in 1925 and it honors children and literacy. Since I work in a library in the midst of a large Spanish population, I have been trying to implement this day into my story times and activities. Unfortunately, I do not know Spanish so trying to do bilingual activities has been interesting. On Monday, I went to a primarily Spanish speaking head start and read a few bilingual books and told them a story about The Elegant Rooster. I tried really hard to find stories that used Spanish words that I knew. I certainly had to step out of my comfort zone and try the words the best I could. The Spanish speakers were very kind and none of them snickered at me as I probably mispronounced their language. Anyway, it was lots of fun and I will leave you with a song we sang. It is to the tune of Frere Jacques...

Buenes Dias
Buenes Dias
Coma Estas
Coma Estas
Muy bien Gracious
Muy bien Gracious
Y usted
Y usted

Good day
How are you
Very good thank you
And you?

2 comments:

A Weaver's Touch said...

Mui bien, Leah - - - tu eres una buena maestra! (Yes, I know that's the word for teacher - - - but I don't know how to say "Librarian!")

christina said...

very creative! good job, leah. my spanish ended in high school, and though i had two good teachers....if you don't use it you lose it. and it's way past gone. of course, if i'm ever stuck in mexico i will always be able to ask "where is the bathroom?" profound. i know.