¡Hola everyone, y felicitaciones (congratulations) on finishing another year of school! An extra special congratulations and shout out to the 8th graders at St. Paul who graduated this year! I'm so happy for you all, and hope that you will have wonderful high school times ahead! Now that you're all finished with the school year, I'm sure you're keeping busy, studying inglés and español, right? So, ¿qué tal tu verano? How's your summer going?
Mi esposo (husband) y yo have been traveling up and down the East Coast, visiting relatives and seeing lots of sights before we head off to Corea del Sur at the end of julio. We're still doing our Korean lessons and trying to get ready, so I thought I'd share one of our adventures. A week ago, we went with una amiga coreana (a Korean friend) to a Korean bakery in Annandale, Virginia, which is almost like a Koreatown with all of the Korean shops and businesses there are there! The bakery, Shilla, was awesome. Don't believe me? Check out these delicious pastries and cakes. Mmmmmm. (The free samples they set out are a very, very good thing.)
What stole the show for us, though, was the bingsoo, which you can see here. It's a popular summer snack - shaved ice with fruit, red beans (which are sweet, not salty!), sweetened condensed milk or fruit syrup, and even pieces of chewy rice cake. Might sound a little weird at first, but it was pretty fantastic. Plus, the picture doesn't do justice to the size of the one that we had. The container is probably the size of your cabeza (head)! We shared one and couldn't finish it, but I'm sure some of you could put us to shame in that arena. The lesson: if you have the opportunity to try some bingsoo or check out a Korean bakery, definitely do!
Hopefully I'll have more info for you on life in Korea soon! For now, hope you all have a great, fun summer!
02 July 2013
12 March 2013
Annyeonghaseyo, Jeju-do! (안녕하세요 제주도!)
Hmm, you may be thinking looking at the title of this post... That doesn't look like español, and it definitely isn't inglés! Run out of ideas?
It's coreano, or Korean, for "Hello, Jeju!" As you might remember, I graduated in diciembre, and have just recently accepted a job... teaching inglés en el 7o grado on Jeju Island in South Korea! I'm very excited both to be going to Jeju and to be teaching inglés again after the great experience I had en el otoño (in the fall).
Where is Jeju Island, you might ask? It's a little south of mainland South Korea, and close to Japan (on the right) and China (on the left).
Jeju is also known as "the Hawaii of Korea," and you can see from these pictures that it lives up to its name...
It's coreano, or Korean, for "Hello, Jeju!" As you might remember, I graduated in diciembre, and have just recently accepted a job... teaching inglés en el 7o grado on Jeju Island in South Korea! I'm very excited both to be going to Jeju and to be teaching inglés again after the great experience I had en el otoño (in the fall).
Where is Jeju Island, you might ask? It's a little south of mainland South Korea, and close to Japan (on the right) and China (on the left).
Jeju is also known as "the Hawaii of Korea," and you can see from these pictures that it lives up to its name...
You can check out some more pictures of Jeju here.
There's also an awesome UFO restaurant... no kidding!
I'm definitely looking forward to Jeju, but will also miss all of my estudiantes fabulosos (fabulous students) en Michigan. I wish you all the best, and hope you'll keep checking the blog and leaving me comments to keep in touch and let me know how you're doing!
For now, got some preguntas (questions) about Jeju or about South Korea? Have some travel advice for me? Leave it in a comment!
12 February 2013
¡Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad!
¡Hola a todos, y feliz día de San Valentin! For those of you who aren't lovers of the day of love (o que están tristes porque no tienen un novio/una novia), the way Valentine's Day is celebrated in many Latin countries should cheer you up a little bit. It's not just about celebrating love, but also celebrates amistad, friendship!
So, in honor of nuestros amigos, a few links for you all to enjoy and to use to let sus amigos know que son muy especiales!
Primero, who doesn't like to get una tarjeta (a card) de un amigo o una amiga? Tarjetas Zea has some very cute tarjetas en español that you can send to tus amigos por correo-e (e-mail)! If you leave your name and e-mail in the comments section, I'll even pick one out and send it to you! (Don't worry; I screen the comments so that your e-mail addy won't be published for everyone to see.)
Segundo, did you know that some countries celebrate el Día del Amor y la Amistad on a different day? ¡En Colombia, celebran el tercer (3rd) sábado en septiembre, y países como Argentina, Brazil y Uruguay celebran sus amigos en El Día del Amigo (with a different origin) el 20 de julio! The origins of El Día del Amigo son muy interesantes, so click on the link if you want to find out more.
Finalmente, I found este video en Youtube con una canción bilingüe sobre el Día del Amor y la Amistad. I don't particularly love the part of the song that's en inglés, but I think the part that's en español is kind of cute. ¿Qué opinan Ustedes? (What do you think?)
Hope you'll enjoy the links, and...
So, in honor of nuestros amigos, a few links for you all to enjoy and to use to let sus amigos know que son muy especiales!
Primero, who doesn't like to get una tarjeta (a card) de un amigo o una amiga? Tarjetas Zea has some very cute tarjetas en español that you can send to tus amigos por correo-e (e-mail)! If you leave your name and e-mail in the comments section, I'll even pick one out and send it to you! (Don't worry; I screen the comments so that your e-mail addy won't be published for everyone to see.)
Segundo, did you know that some countries celebrate el Día del Amor y la Amistad on a different day? ¡En Colombia, celebran el tercer (3rd) sábado en septiembre, y países como Argentina, Brazil y Uruguay celebran sus amigos en El Día del Amigo (with a different origin) el 20 de julio! The origins of El Día del Amigo son muy interesantes, so click on the link if you want to find out more.
Finalmente, I found este video en Youtube con una canción bilingüe sobre el Día del Amor y la Amistad. I don't particularly love the part of the song that's en inglés, but I think the part that's en español is kind of cute. ¿Qué opinan Ustedes? (What do you think?)
Hope you'll enjoy the links, and...
¡espero que tengan un Día de la Amistad muy feliz!
06 January 2013
¡Feliz Día de los Reyes!
¡Hola estudiantes de St. Paul y estudiantes de O.W. Best! Espero que hayan tenido buenas vacaciones (I hope that you've had good vacations).
Some of you might be wondering about the title of my post... ¿qué es (what is) el Día de los Reyes? Hopefully you all from St. Paul remember... It means "Kings Day," and it's a Christian holiday celebrated today (el 6 de enero) all over the world. Many Latinos, especially those who are Catholic, use today to remember when the wisemen, or kings, searched for el Niño Jesús (the baby Jesus) and brought gifts to him. Check out this article to learn more - it even has some awesome pictures of a mile-long Rosca de Reyes (remember the sweet bread we ate with the Niño Jesús in it?) in Mexico City!
Para los estudiantes de O. W. Best, this is probably my first update that you've read - ¡Bienvenidos! (Welcome!) As you may have noticed, this is my Spanish teaching blog, so you'll read and see lots of Spanish words and activities here that can help you get ready for 8th grade Spanish! I'll also try to throw in a vocab word or two for you all as well, seeing as on my vacation with my family, I heard at least four of our vocab words: ironic, inevitable, indomitable, and even macabre! Hope you'll enjoy, and that you'll comment so that we can keep in touch!
Para los estudiantes de St. Paul, ¡fue muy lindo verles de nuevo en el concierto (it was very nice to see you again at the concert)! Lo siento that I couldn't make it that night, but I'm sure you all did a wonderful job! For those of you that I didn't get to see, felicitaciones (congratulations) on your great performances and readings. I've also gotten to hablar un poco con su nueva maestra, Señora Axt. Me parece que (it seems like) ella es muy simpática e interestante. I hope that you'll like her a lot!
Since I know that students from O. W. Best are going back tomorrow, una pregunta... ¿qué hicieron durante las vacaciones? (What did you do during your vacation?) Comment at the bottom to let me know! Just remember, use your first name and last initial only please, and make sure you type in the combo of letters and numbers in the box at the bottom of the comment form so that your comment will go through!
I visited mi familia in the Washington DC area over winter break, and while there, mis amigos, mi esposo y yo fuimos a un restaurante argentino delicioso que se llama Panas, which is short for empanadas. If you've never had Argentinian food or empanadas before, I would highly recommend it!
As you can see, empanadas are fried or baked dough filled with a variety of things - ours had queso, vegetales y carne y pollo (para mi esposo, como yo soy vegetariana) and came with cuatro delicious dipping sauces. Mmmmmm. A la izquierda (on the left), you can see my drink, lulo juice, which is made from a fruit that comes from Sudamérica, and on either side of the plate, some plantain and roasted veggie skewers. The yellow "chips" in the front of the picture are plantain chips. For those of you who don't know, plantains are somewhat like bananas, but are bigger and less sweet when they are verde, or ripe, so they make great chips!
Last but not least, el 15 de diciembre, me gradué de mi programa de Maestría (I graduated from my Master's program), so I am now officially a teacher! Quiero agradecerles todos por su atención, paciencia, entusiasmo y cariño (I want to thank all of you for your attention, patience, enthusiasm, and caring). You definitely contributed to my desire to be a teacher, and showed me how fun and awesome this job can be!
Some of you might be wondering about the title of my post... ¿qué es (what is) el Día de los Reyes? Hopefully you all from St. Paul remember... It means "Kings Day," and it's a Christian holiday celebrated today (el 6 de enero) all over the world. Many Latinos, especially those who are Catholic, use today to remember when the wisemen, or kings, searched for el Niño Jesús (the baby Jesus) and brought gifts to him. Check out this article to learn more - it even has some awesome pictures of a mile-long Rosca de Reyes (remember the sweet bread we ate with the Niño Jesús in it?) in Mexico City!
Para los estudiantes de O. W. Best, this is probably my first update that you've read - ¡Bienvenidos! (Welcome!) As you may have noticed, this is my Spanish teaching blog, so you'll read and see lots of Spanish words and activities here that can help you get ready for 8th grade Spanish! I'll also try to throw in a vocab word or two for you all as well, seeing as on my vacation with my family, I heard at least four of our vocab words: ironic, inevitable, indomitable, and even macabre! Hope you'll enjoy, and that you'll comment so that we can keep in touch!
Para los estudiantes de St. Paul, ¡fue muy lindo verles de nuevo en el concierto (it was very nice to see you again at the concert)! Lo siento that I couldn't make it that night, but I'm sure you all did a wonderful job! For those of you that I didn't get to see, felicitaciones (congratulations) on your great performances and readings. I've also gotten to hablar un poco con su nueva maestra, Señora Axt. Me parece que (it seems like) ella es muy simpática e interestante. I hope that you'll like her a lot!
Since I know that students from O. W. Best are going back tomorrow, una pregunta... ¿qué hicieron durante las vacaciones? (What did you do during your vacation?) Comment at the bottom to let me know! Just remember, use your first name and last initial only please, and make sure you type in the combo of letters and numbers in the box at the bottom of the comment form so that your comment will go through!
I visited mi familia in the Washington DC area over winter break, and while there, mis amigos, mi esposo y yo fuimos a un restaurante argentino delicioso que se llama Panas, which is short for empanadas. If you've never had Argentinian food or empanadas before, I would highly recommend it!
As you can see, empanadas are fried or baked dough filled with a variety of things - ours had queso, vegetales y carne y pollo (para mi esposo, como yo soy vegetariana) and came with cuatro delicious dipping sauces. Mmmmmm. A la izquierda (on the left), you can see my drink, lulo juice, which is made from a fruit that comes from Sudamérica, and on either side of the plate, some plantain and roasted veggie skewers. The yellow "chips" in the front of the picture are plantain chips. For those of you who don't know, plantains are somewhat like bananas, but are bigger and less sweet when they are verde, or ripe, so they make great chips!
Last but not least, el 15 de diciembre, me gradué de mi programa de Maestría (I graduated from my Master's program), so I am now officially a teacher! Quiero agradecerles todos por su atención, paciencia, entusiasmo y cariño (I want to thank all of you for your attention, patience, enthusiasm, and caring). You definitely contributed to my desire to be a teacher, and showed me how fun and awesome this job can be!
¡Muchísimas gracias!
12 November 2012
¡Saludos, y Día de los Muertos!
¡Hola estudiantes! ¡Qué sorpresa más linda! (What a lovely surprise!) Gracias por tu mensaje, Julia y Lupe. Estoy contenta que estén bien, y que estén disfrutando este año en St. Paul. (I'm very happy that you all are doing well, and that you're enjoying this year at St. Paul.)
Qué pena that you haven't gotten un(a) profesor(a) de español yet. I hope that Ferndale is able to find a great one for you soon, and that you are practicing in the meantime! I'm still adding canciones to the playlist on Grooveshark for la clase de espanol, so feel free to go check them out, or leave me a comment if there are songs that you've discovered that I should add!
I was thinking about Ustedes recently en el 1 y el 2 de noviembre, el Día de los Muertos! Fui al Mexicantown para ver las ofrendas, or altars, that different people and businesses created, and had a lot of fun looking at the different sites. Compré pan de muerto, the special bread that we ate last year, and brought it to school for my language arts students to try. I also bought some tamales con queso y jalapeños muy deliciosos en La Gloria Bakery, y bebé (drank) chocolate español en el Cafe con Leche. Compré postales (postcards) de Día de los Muertos en Xochi's Gift Shop, también; pueden verlos aquí:
It's been fun teaching 7th grade language arts so far, especially since I'm getting to bring in a lot of the ideas and materials that we worked on en la clase de español, since our current unit is on immigrants! Here's a bulletin board that the class and I have created of famous immigrants from all over the world, in case you want to check it out!
Les extraño a todos (I miss you all), and am glad you wrote!
¡Gracias, y cuídense mucho (take care)!
Señora Greaves
05 September 2012
Un Año Nuevo
¡Hola estudiantes!
Ayer fue mi primer día en la escuela, and I'm guessing that the majority of you have already started school now as well. I hope that your first days back went as well as mine did, and that you'll have un año escolar maravilloso (a wonderful school year)! I've been thinking about the new ninth graders this year especially - I hope that you all like your new schools, and that you're finding solid teachers, interesting classes, and good friends.
Les extraño a todos (I miss you all), and hope you'll keep in touch. For now, though... ¡para adelante! (Onward!)
Con mejores deseos (with best wishes),
Señora Greaves
Ayer fue mi primer día en la escuela, and I'm guessing that the majority of you have already started school now as well. I hope that your first days back went as well as mine did, and that you'll have un año escolar maravilloso (a wonderful school year)! I've been thinking about the new ninth graders this year especially - I hope that you all like your new schools, and that you're finding solid teachers, interesting classes, and good friends.
Les extraño a todos (I miss you all), and hope you'll keep in touch. For now, though... ¡para adelante! (Onward!)
Con mejores deseos (with best wishes),
Señora Greaves
04 June 2012
Galletas
Hoy fue un día muy divertido. Comimos galletas, dulce de leche, manioc y torta, y tomamos refrescos de diferentes países de Latinoamérica. Unos estudiantes quieren la receta (recipe) para las galletas. La receta es de mi madre, y es muy facíl de preparar. Aquí está:
Chocolate Oatmeal Drop Cookies
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Mix peanut butter, sugar, butter, milk, salt, and cocoa together in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil, then cook for two minutes. Add the vanilla and the 3 cups oatmeal. Remove the mixture from heat, and then drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper and let sit for two hours.
Los estudiantes del 8o grado también se graduaron hoy. ¡Felicitaciones a todos!
Chocolate Oatmeal Drop Cookies
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Mix peanut butter, sugar, butter, milk, salt, and cocoa together in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil, then cook for two minutes. Add the vanilla and the 3 cups oatmeal. Remove the mixture from heat, and then drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper and let sit for two hours.
Los estudiantes del 8o grado también se graduaron hoy. ¡Felicitaciones a todos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)