Dear Members,

While looking for materials and working on bringing a little bit of thanksgiving to my Spanish and Portuguese Classes, I have found a lot of translated materials which doesn’t show any identity with Hispanic Heritage, they were just empty translations of English materials.

That made me reflect about culture and how you can’t acurately translate culture and heritage because it is something unique.

I have then decided to bring songs, stories and TPR activities which carried the symbol of Thanksgiving, as an act of saying thanks, avoiding bizarre translations of Mayflower poems and turkey hunters named Pedro; we sang and acted row, row your boat in Spanish with the little ones, we learned food vocabulary while having a thanksgiving meal and we played bingo with items they usually eat on Thanksgiving and more…..

My main objective with my class was to show the children and adults who take classes at my company and with me, the true meaning of saying Thanks, Gracias, Obrigada…..

We finished each class with a drawing or card, made in class, which said thank you to somebody they loved. The children and adult really enjoyed the class!

Thank you for reading our Blog and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Check out our newly released book at our website : www.easylearnlanguages.com

Claudia Krusch

Director of CK Translations and EasyLearnPrograms

Dear Members,

After searching for info on some sites and contacting my Mexican and Spanish Translators, I have reached the confusing conclusion that there isn’t and there is Halloween in Spanish.

The Spanish speaking countries used to celebrate that date as Dia de Los Muertos,  Dia de las Brujas, Dia das Bruxas……..offering celebrations in honor of the dead. Nowadays, the tradition has changed in many countries and the trick or treat has been incorporated….Dulces o travesuras….and other ways of saying it!

The modern world linked us through the Internet, linking our cultures, costumes and more. Even in Brazil, where this wasn’t a date celebrated at all, the Halloween has slowly taken over, at first in English Private Schools, now in other Schools…..costumes and dancing are no longer a Carnival privilege, costumes and dancing have been brought to October, which is also celebrated in Brazil as the Children’s month.

My nephew Daniel asked for a spiderman costume to wear at his school party and looking for the costume, while planning Spanish Speaking Halloween Classes, brought all those issues and research around this theme.

Wikipedia has a good article on it. I would definitely recommend it!

No matter what your tradition is, Halloween for the kids is about having fun and bringing their fantasies to life, whether you have a princess, a pumpkin, x-man or a transformer, let and encourage children to expose their fantasies to day dream and most of all, be happy!!

Please contact me if you wish to have a copy of my lesson plans for ages 14m up to 10 years old on Spanish Halloween and links and videos to be used in class or at home.

Spooky Saludos,

CLaudia Krusch – Director

CK Translations LLC

www.easylearnlanguages.com

After two successful Summer Camps and the great feedback from parents and students who attended the camps, I decided to share my thoughts on the subject.

When we had contemplated offer the summer camps, I searched for existing literature on this subject, to get some ideas from colleagues on how to bring my indoor classes to the outdoor setting, after a few weeks of online and bookstore search, I was not able to find any books or articles which would help me plan the activities.

I worked with my assistant to find camp activities which could be used with the topics we had originally proposed to the clients and give it a new twist to make the experience educational, interactive and fun at the same time.

The result amazed me because children were running, fishing, looking for bugs, treasure hunting, playing tug of war, soccer, making sand castles and more…….. in Spanish!!!!

I heard from a grandparent: “I had to drag my grandaughter here, because she said she hated Spanish, but I’m glad I did, because now she said she really enjoys it and it gave her a different perspective on learning a foreign language” – that was said by Allie’s Grandmother.

I have enjoyed working the summer camps so much that I decided to make the materials, ideas and plans available to teachers who wish to have access to them.

Please contact me if you wish to receive files with activities and suggestions for materials used.

When planing new activities for our fall classes, I will definitely try to incorporate some of the great ideas used at the camps and maybe trade the sand for some leaves and marshmallows!

Saludos,

Claudia Krusch

Director
CK Translations LLC