2.8 Las estaciones del año
2.8 Las estaciones del año Seasons of the year
In this section pupils learn to talk about the seasons of the year. They build on the work from Early Start Spanish 1: weather, months and birthdays.
Films to see A1. Seasons and weather A2. Seasons and months A3. Seasons and birthdays
NEW WORDS AND PHRASES
la primavera - spring el verano - summer el otoño - autumn el invierno - winter
¿Qué estación es? - What season is it?
estamos en otoño it's autumn (lit. we are in autumn)
¿Qué tiempo hace en (verano)? What's the weather like (in summer)?
Film A1: "El invierno" Santurzi in deep snow.
Mayo es en la primavera May is in spring Mi cumpleaños es en invierno My birthday is in winter
It is a good idea to have a world map available to help talk about seasons and weather in other Spanish speaking countries.
Activities
El cumpleaños de María es en primavera
María's birthday is in spring
Warm up
Before watching film A1, have a brief “warm up" session: you could open the lesson using the weather flashcards from “Early Start Spanish 1: section 1.16, "sort the months" from 1.11 and "When's my birthday?" from 1.13. You could also introduce children to the music of "The four seasons" concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Use the online music activity (It has the short versions also heard in film A1). Play each piece of music and ask pupils to write down in English which season they think it represents - but don't tell them the answer! Talk in English about their choices and make a note with the class of how many people thought piece (i) represented "spring" etc.
hay tormenta - it's stormy hay niebla - it's foggy/misty hay nieve - another way of saying: it's snowy/snowing
un huricán - hurricane una tormenta -a tropical storm tropical see Talking Dictionary
Planning your lessons
A warm-up session to revise weather, months and birthdays will help pupils prepare for talking in more detail about the seasons. There are actually very few new words to learn; the key is putting together known words and phrases to to extend what children can say and write about, using the films as examples. You can use the online "The Four seasons music activity" to introduce pupils to Vivaldi's "Four seasons" concertos; or you may prefer to use your own resources from the internet, CDs etc.
Watch film A1: Seasons & weather
Naming the seasons: Each season is represented by images from northern Spain as we hear music from 'The four seasons" - ¿Qué estación es?
8.1