Spanish Class With Bean (No Me Gusta)

Bean and I had our first Spanish class last week. I can't really say that I am looking forward to the next class, but it's not because of the class itself.

My first issue is that it's about an hour away. I knew this, and I didn't think it was going to be a big deal because I figured Bean would sleep in the car since it would be his nap time. Well, he didn't sleep in the car, but he was sleepy, so that was a very long ride.

Then we get to this class, and he is just being loud...really loud. Now I shouldn't have been surprised because I always call him my little fuss box, but it's different when you are in public. He wasn't crying, and that's a plus, but he was just "talking" in a very loud voice. Everyone else was quiet and he was just babbling away. I felt like all eyes were on us.

Then he didn't want to put the toys away, and I didn't really blame him. He was sitting there, just fine, holding that maraca. He was quiet, not bothering a soul. Class wasn't over, so why did she come around in the middle of the class and have everyone put their toy in a basket? Is this some sort of conditioning exercise? *gives side eye*

However, he kept the maraca until I was able to sneak it away. But there was another "here's a toy, now I take it away" exercise that did not go over too well.

So I don't know, it was just too stressful for me. I can't even comment on the Spanish aspects right now because that's all I can think about. But on a positive note, it's always good to increase the amount of language exposure....I guess.

¿Cuántas clases más?

Free Spanish Shows For Kids

I've been checking out a lot of children's materials from the library. They have a nice little selection of Spanish-only and bilingual books, as well as DVD's and CD's. I must say that for the most part I've been disappointed with the DVD's.

I think they'd be great for an older child who is just being introduced to a new language; but for our purposes, I don't like how many of these DVD's translate everything. They say a sentence in English and then they say it in Spanish and it goes back and fourth. Not only is it boring to watch, but it's really not necessary. If you just watch it, you can tell what is going on without the translations.

I prefer materials that are solamente en español. So I decided to get on Amazon and see if they had anything I we could watch on Demand via our Roku. I was pleasantly surprised when I found episodes of Sesame Street in Spanish- for free. It's actually Sesame Street, not Plaza Sesamo. You can get the episodes here.

If you don't have a Roku, you can still watch them online or download them to your PC. Too bad they don't allow people with Macs to download the episodes.

Duck or Hot Dog?

Am I the only one who thinks that "pato" sounds like "hot dog"? Seriously.

Bean has this toy that says all the animal names when you press it. I didn't know that it was a bilingual toy because I didn't buy it. So you press it once it says the name in English, you press it again and it says it in Spanish. Press it again and it breaks out in song. So each time he'd press it, I'd hear "duck" and then "hot dog". I was very confused about this.