York House School Blog
Our Modern Languages Department hosted Language Awareness Week from April 26-29, 2016.
On Monday, there were crêpes and quesadillas in Mira’s Kitchen; Tuesday there was a Flag Game at recess and School Reach Trivia at lunch; Wednesday there was a Dance Party at lunch in the Sr. School Atrium; Thursday had short films in the language classrooms; and the week ended with a rousing game of musical chairs during lunch-hour.
In February, the Spanish for Social Justice Club held an English lesson for the Project Somos family in Tecpán, Guatemala over Skype. York House has stayed connected with Project Somos since the Spanish/Service trip during Spring Break 2014.
As soon as we saw each others’ faces on the Skype call, happy voices immediately cried out, “Hello!” and “Hola!” We started out with some introductions and catch-up time in Spanish and English before moving on to the English lesson portion of our call.
First, we went over some English conversation basics such as, “How are you?” and “What are you doing?” The mothers living at Project Somos often need help from volunteers on-site but cannot communicate with them. It is important that they learn a few basic conversational phrases in order to communicate with the English speaking volunteers.
Next, we worked with the kids on counting in English. They were all very enthusiastic and fast learners! Finally, we wrapped up the call by singing a couple of nursery songs and rhymes for each other: YHS students sang “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, complete with actions, and the Project Somos family performed “No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” with admirable passion! With a promise to Skype again, we ended the English lesson shouting, “Bye!” and “Adiós!”.
These Skype sessions are very insightful and also inspiring. The mothers at Project Somos still remember the YHS volunteers they met last year. They shared with us again how thankful they are to have met us and how excited they are to continue to keep in touch with us. The kids are also incredibly enthusiastic about learning English and are not only great students but also very cute and kind children! I hope that the Spanish for Social Justice Club will be able to organize more of these Skype sessions to continue building our relationship with the amazing human beings at Project Somos. YHS students will be back in Guatemala for the Spanish/Service trip in 2016.
If you would like to join us for the next Skype session, please email [email protected] and we’ll keep you updated.
View our Skype session:
Angela, Gr. 11