SABOREANDO A COLOMBIA: ARROZ CON CAMARONES

SABOREANDO A COLOMBIA: ARROZ CON CAMARONES

Noche de Hogar

Last night, for the first time, we had a Family Home Evening all in Spanish. I taught the children the lesson titled "Voy a cuidar mi cuerpo" found in the nursery manual Mirad a vuestros pequeñitos. They understood about half of what I was saying and the other half I had to repeat a few times and sometimes even translate. But I have the confidence that after a few of these lessons they'll be able to understand everything.
I chose this manual because it is full of lessons in simple language since it is geared towards the 1 1/2 to 3 year old children in the church.
We repeated the words to a song called "Cae la lluvia alrededor" which is found on page 117 of the Canciones para niños and we did some actions to go with it. The opening and closing prayers were given in Spanish as well. 
Afterwards  the kids had some pink cake that my visiting teachers brought for us earlier. We had a fun time!
Traducción
Anoche, por primera vez, tuvimos una Noche de Hogar toda en español. Yo les enseñé a los niños la lección titulada "Voy a cuidar de mi cuerpo" que se encuentra en el manual de la guardería Mirad a vuestros pequeñitos. Ellos entendieron como la mitad de lo que les estaba diciendo y la otra mitad tuve que repetir varias veces y algunas veces hasta tuve que traducir. Pero yo estoy segura que despues varias de estas lecciones ellos van a entender todo.
Yo escogí este manual porque está lleno de lecciones en lenguage simple ya que esta dirigido hacia los niños de 1 1/2 a 3 años de edad en la iglesia.
Repetimos las palabras de la canción "Cae la lluvia alrededor" que se encuentra en la pagina 117 de Canciones para los niños e hicimos movimientos que iban con la canción. La primera y última oración se dijeron en español también.
Después los niños comieron un pastel rosado que mis maestras visitantes nos habian traído anteriormente. Fue muy divertido!

Rondó de Gracias y oración.

Last night we started memorizing a song from the Canciones Para Los Niños called "Rondó de gracias". Canciones para los Niños is the songbook used in the LDS Church in the children's organization called Primary where the children meet together from the time they are 1 and half years old until they turn 12. I chose it because it is short and sweet. It is supposed to be sang in rounds but we haven't gotten that far yet ;). Most of the children have memorized the words and we have sang in a round a couple of times and it already sounds great! I can't wait to get a good video of the children singing and show it to you.
Another thing we started to do was to say prayers in Spanish. I wish I could show you how cute they sound saying their prayers but we can't record that. It was Mom's turn last night and then it will be the 13 year old's tonight. Oración is a wonderful way to communicate with God and the kids know they are always heard.
Hasta pronto!!!

Ayer en la noche comenzamos a memorizar una cancion en Canciones para los niños llamada "Rondó de gracias". Canciones para los Niños es el cancionero usado en la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los ultimos Días en su organizacion llamada la Primaria que es donde participan los niños de 1 año y medio hasta cuando cumplen 12. Escogí esa cancion porque es corta y dulce. Se supone que debe ser cantada como un rondó pero todavía no hemos llegado ahí. La mayoría de los niños se han memorizado las palabras y la hemos cantado en rondó un par de veces y ya suena muy bien! No puedo esperar para tomar un buen video de los niños cantándola y mostrárselos.
Otra cosas que hemos empezado es a decir las oraciones en español. Me gustaría mostrarles en un video lo lindo que suenan pero no lo puedo hacer. Fue el turno de mamá anoche y entonces hoy en la noche será el turno de la de 13 años. Oración es una maravillosa forma de comunicarse con Dios y los niños saben que siempre son escuchados.
Hasta pronto!!

PS. The translation was a request made by my husband. Even though it is a lot more work I think it is a very good idea. Gracias cariño!!!

Speaking more often.

My two year old son is making a lot of progress learning Spanish, who would have thought??? hehehe. He repeats everything he hears so I have many opportunities to practice with him. It seems to me that every day I speak more often in Spanish to the children than the previous day. I am proud of myself. I realised yesterday that it helps to have the Spanish channels on the TV to help me turn on the Spanish speaking switch in my  brain!  
Once in a while one of the children will say something or answer to me in Spanish and it gratifies me, it makes me happy. I try to consistently thank them for their efforts and am going to implement a rewards system to encourage them to speak the language more often.
Hasta la proxima!!

"No sabe"

Yesterday we had our first little success. To start in our journey I decided that since I am fluent in Spanish (it is my first language after all) it would make sense to speak it as much as possible to the children without making to frustrating for them. So while cleaning the house I asked my second son to take something to the kitchen and he very politely answered "no sabe". I repeated the sentence a couple of time until he understood and then when he came back from his task I thanked him for his efforts and went on to explain to him the difference between "no sabe" and "no se". The first one being used when you are talking about a third person and the second being used when you are talking about yourself. I am so proud of him!

Can I teach my children Spanish now??

Ok, here I go. This great journey is about to begin. For some time now I've been feeling guilty about not taking the time all these years to teach my children Spanish. 
I was born and raised in Colombia. I came to the United States at the age of 21. I learned English while serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Arizona. The cool thing about that was that there were missionaries teaching Spanish speakers but I was serving among the English speakers. The process of learning English was awesome. I loved it and would do it again in a heart bit. Believe or not I was speaking English in about 3 months.
So back to my topic here, now after 20 years of living in the States and 7 children later I have decided that enough is enough and my children will learn Spanish.
I have taught them some Spanish over the years but they are not fluent by any means. It is embarrassing when people ask me why they don't. It is a long story. I think mainly because our children were born so close to one another that the task of raising them became so overwhelming and I didn't want to add the "be fluent in Spanish" element to all the chaos. 
Now that my children are older and the chaos is of a different nature, I feel like I am ready to step forward and do my job teaching them my  native language, but the question is... Can I teach my children to hablar Español at this point??
I am excited to start this adventure. I pray that all the effort will be worthwhile.

I came back!

Ah! Well, I'm glad I was able to find this blog again. It has been ages since my last and only post. My 7th baby is now 2 years old! His birthday was just 2 days ago. His name is Aaron and he is adorable! I made him a tres leches cake and he received books from Grandma Fullmer, an afghan and a cool sippy cup from me. He was very happy about the presents and he was a real champ blowing his two candles!! The only thing I regret was not having put some pants on him for the pictures so he is in his diaper in all of them *sigh*.