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?
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Early Start Spanish 2 Spring: la primavera; estamos en primavera. Summer: el verano; estamos en verano. Autumn: el otoño; estamos en otoño. Winter: el invierno; estamos en invierno. The winter scenes continue: What's the weather like in winter? It's cold; it's snowing. ¿Qué tiempo hace en invierno? Hace frío; está nevando. It's summer in San Vicente: What's the weather like in San Vicente? It's sunny; it's hot; it's nice weather. ¿Qué tiempo hace en San Vicente? Hace sol; hace calor; hace buen tiempo. It's spring in Nájera. It's nice weather. Es primavera en Nájera. Hace buen tiempo. It's winter in Nájera. It's cold; there's snow. It's nasty weather. Es invierno en Nájera. Hace frío; hay nieve. Hace mal tiempo. It's spring in San Vicente. It's cloudy and windy. Es primavera en San Vicente. Está nublado y hace viento. It's autumn in Nájera. It's raining. It's nasty weather. Es otoño en Nájera. Está lloviendo; hace mal tiempo.
Film A1: Summer in San Vicente.
KEY SOUNDS
Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds. Where have yo heard them before?
otoño, año Heard before in: cumpleaños, as in
as in primavera,
estación Heard before in: mediodía, piscina
θ
Get used to the sounds
as in estación
Heard before in: marzo,
❑ Echoing: show the seasons e-flashcards; click to HEAR sound but leave text OFF. Show each picture; pupils echo, e.g. “la primavera”
hace frío
β
lápiz,
primavera, verano, invierno, hay niebla, hay nieve Heard before in nueve, abril, as in
tormenta huricán Heard before in hora, hola
silent Then repeat displaying the text; pupils echo the phrase again, taking care with key sounds. n Remember gender When children echo each season, stress whether it is “la” or “el” and point out colour-coding.
❑ Play “true or false” Show the e-flashcard seasons pictures with sound and text OFF. Say, for example, “Esta mos en primavera”. If you are saying the correct season, pupils echo the words; if you are saying the name of a different season, pupils remain silent.
invierno
as in hay
* Note: phonetic symbols are for teachers ONLY! This box is not meant as a pronunciation guide - take the films and e-flashcards as a model.
see Talking Dictionary
8.2
2.8 Las estaciones del año ❑ Play “ listen and clap” Pupils can clap the names of the seasons. Askthem to focus on the key sounds as they clap each syllable, e.g. la pri-ma-ve-ra (5 syllables); el ver-a-no (4 syllables); el o-to-ño (4 syllables); el in-vi-er-no (5 syllables). Once you have established a rhythm, you can clap the seasons together, or passing from child to child e.g. child 1 claps: la pri-ma-ve-ra; child 2 claps: el ver-a-no and so on. If you are clapping together as a class, you can vary the pace whilst maintaining the rhythm.
season they are miming. n Weather descriptions Present the class with a series of weather phrases which are appropriate to a particular season. e.g. “Hace frío. Está nevando". Pupils say what season you are describing, e.g. “el invierno”. You could also invite confident children to choose the phrases. n Dressing up Provide the children with a collection of “weather” clothes and props such as sunglasses and umbrellas. As you make statements about a particular season, pupils take it in turns to dress up in response to the phrases they hear, e.g. “En verano, hace calor”; “En invierno hace frío”. You could also play this as a game with two teams competing to be first to dress appropriately.
Respond with understanding
❑ Decide a physical action for each season - e.g. shiver for winter; dig the garden for spring; eat an ice-cream for summer; pick apples for autumn. They perform the action as you call out the seasons. Make it funny by speaking fast, whispering etc. ❑ Vivaldi music: spot the season? Use the e-flashcards to play Vivaldi’s music again. Talk with pupils about their responses. Each musical note button plays one of the seasons concertos at random; pupils say which season they think it represents by clicking on the picture, e.g. 2=summer...
Look again at sounds
❑ Play “It’s that sound again” Now that the new words and sounds are familiar, pick out a “key sound” from this chapter’s new words. Ask children to suggest all the Spanish words they know that also contain that ‘special’ sound. Repeat this with another "key sound". ❑ Play “Find the sound”where children find an example of a “key sound” in a number of word-cards scattered on the floor. Play some music and pass a soft ball or cuddly toy around the circle. When the music stops, ask the pupil holding the ball to find a word containing the ‘special’ sound. Everyone echoes the word. Repeat this with one or two other "key sounds".
How many identified the "correct" piece of music for each season?
❑ Play “Which season is this?” Here are a variety of ways in which the children can respond to the questions, "¿Qué estación es?” and “¿Qué tiempo hace (en verano)?” n Mime the season Pairs of pupils prepare a mime to represent a season. The rest of the class must guess which
Watch Film A2: Seasons & months
8.3
❑ Before watching film A2, you might like to take another look at the months. You could sing the 'months song' from Early Start Spanish 1.11 "Tú y yo". Winter months: December - We see Christmas scenes in the town
Early Start Spanish 2 September: It is back to school for the pupils at Colegio Mata Linares in San Vicente. Septiembre; septiembre es en otoño. October: The town band is playing on a fine autumn Sunday morning in Calahorra. Octubre; octubre es en otoño. November: Up in the hills near Calahorra, a group of children enjoy an autumn visit to see real fossilised dinosaur footprints. Noviembre; noviembre es en otoño.
Film A2: January: the 3 Kings arrive in Santurzi.
of Santurzi in northern Spain. Diciembre; diciembre es en invierno. January - The 3 Kings arrive in the port town of Santurzi by boat on 6 January. Enero; enero es en invierno. February: It is carnival time another nearby northern town of Portugalete. Frebrero; febrero es en invierno. March: In March the storks return to build their nests after migrating for the winter. Marzo; marzo es en primavera. April: It is Holy Week and we see the Good Friday procession in the municipality of Dueñas. Abril; abril es en primavera. May: The trees are in blossom and we see the narrow guage Feve train as it makes it way from San Vicente to Santander on a spring morning. Mayo; mayo es en primavera. June: It is a beautiful June day and Lucía's family and friends are enjoying a picnic in the countryside near Nájera. Junio; junio es en verano. July: We see a skateboarding competition in on the streets of Castro Urdiales. Julio; julio es en verano. August: Young children take part in their own version of a bull fight as part of the traditional August 'Bull Run' festival in Duenas. Agosto: agosto es en verano.
Cultural awareness
Children will probably be keen to talk in English about the scenes they have seen in films A1 and A2. ■ Are there events associated with particular seasons which take place in your locality?
Respond with understanding
❑ Play "Which month? Which season?" Each child has one of the seasons pictures from the activity sheet. When you call out a month, e.g. "enero", the children with the winter picture, "invierno", hold it up for everyone to see. ❑ Play "Run to the season" Place one of the activity sheet pictures of the seasons in each corner of the room. Every child has a picture of a month (see activity sheet from Early Start Spanish 1.11). Alternatively, just ask the children to write their favourite month on a piece of paper. When you call out a season, e.g. "verano", the children holding junio, julio or agosto run to try and be first to touch the "summer" picture. You could also play a variation on this game: you call out a month, e.g. julio and the children holding 'julio' run to be first to touch the "summer" picture. The first to arrive must name the season correctly.
Watch Film A3: Seasons & birthdays
❑ This film shows children saying when their birthdays are. We then find out how to say which season another person's birthday is in. Mi cumpleaños es en primavera. Mi cumpleaños es en verano. Mi cumpleaños es en otoño. Mi cumpleaños es en invierno. Film A2: August: children's 'bull fight'.
8.4
2.8 Las estaciones del año mix them up. The first child takes a paper and says which season the person’s birthday is in, e.g. ‘Sam/octubre’ - “El cumpleaños de Sam es en otoño" ❑ Birthday circle game 3: You start by saying your birthday just as the children do in film A3, e.g.“Mi cumpleaños es el 12 de junio”. The child sitting next to you in the circle says; “El cumpleaños de (Señora Smith) es en verano". Mi cumpleaños es el 7 de mayo”. The next child says; “El cumpleaños de (Archie) es en primavera" and so on round the circle. You may need to have a list of the seasons and corresponding months on the board. ❑ Play El ahorcado (hangman) to practice spelling seasons and months.
Film A3: El cumpleaños de Irati es en invierno.
Mi cumpleaños es el 10 de junio. El cumpleaños de Amanda es en verano. Mi cumpleaños es el 10 de noviembre. El cumpleaños de Álavro es en otoño. Mi cumpleaños es el 20 de mayo. El cumpleaños de María es en primavera. Mi cumpleaños es el 3 de enero. El cumpleaños de Dani es en imvierno. Mi cumpleaños es el 4 de agosto. El cumpleaños de Elena es en verano. Mi cumpleaños es el 16 de febrero. El cumpleaños de Irati es en invierno. Mi cumpleaños es el 1 de junio. El cumpleaños de Jesús es en verano. Mi cumpleaños es el 6 de junio. El cumpleaños de Carla es en verano tambien. Mi cumpleaños es el 13 de mayo. El cumpleaños de Jero es en primavera.
CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
❑ Art & design ■ Ask pupils to write a sentence about their favourite season in the middle of their piece of paper, e.g. "En verano hace calor" or, perhaps, "Mi cumpleaños es en otoño". They then illustrate the season around the sentence to make a classroom display. ■ Pupils can make mobiles representing their favourite season. The mobiles must include the name of the season and also the names of the months of that season. You might like to show films A1 and A2 again to stimulate ideas for their illustrations.
❑ Tell the children which season your birthday is in, e.g Mi cumpleaños es en verano (My birthday is in the summer). Ask your Spanish speaking puppet, ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? The puppet replies, e.g Mi cumpleaños es en invierno. (My birthday is in the winter). Now you (or the puppet) ask individual children when their birthdays are, ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? Encourage them to reply, Mi cumpleaños es en (otoño), but some children may just give the name of the season at this stage.
COMING SOON
❑ We are currently preparing some additional activities which will look at the seasons in other Spanish speaking countries - in the northern and southern hemispheres.
❑ Birthday circle game 1: Children sit in circle, and go round saying the season of their birthday (or throw a ball); “Mi cumpleaños es en ... (verano)” .
❑ Birthday circle game 2: Remind pupils of the phrase used in film A3 to say which season someone else’s birthday is in. e.g. “El cumpleaños de (María) es en primavera”. Each child writes their name and birthday month on a piece of paper. Put the papers in a box and
8.5
Les estaciones del aĂąo Me llamo........................... ........
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