A place to share books, music, techniques, and all things related to bilingual storytime!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Tortilla Time! ¡Tiempo de tortillas!

Food is always a fun storytime theme. Tortillas are a great selection if you want to celebrate a specific food and get a little creative. Below is a suggested Family Storytime using tortillas as a theme. This is designed as a bilingual storytime, but it could also be a monolingual Spanish program or a monolingual English program which is inclusive of Latino cultures through its use of materials by Latino authors/illustrators and celebration of a food item common in many Latino cuisines.

It is worth noting that the word "tortilla" does not mean the same thing in every Spanish-speaking country! For a family program, this would be a great discussion topic and a way to play around with geography and vocabulary as you introduce the theme in the beginning of the program. In Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a flat bread, generally made of wheat or corn, used for scooping or wrapping vegetables, meats and beans. In Spain and South America, a tortilla is an egg dish, very similar to an omelet! For older kids, particularly in a classroom setting, this could be a great topic to explore. You could ask the students to brainstorm why a word may mean one thing in one country, yet mean something else in another country. Can they find any examples of this in the English language?

Opening Book: Round is a Tortilla - Roseanne Greenfield Thong

This English language story told in rhyme uses Latino imagery to introduce shapes. Options for extending the story abound - you could have shapes hidden in the room and have a scavenger hunt, you could go on a shape walk around the neighborhood, or you could have a shape sort activity for parents and children to work on together. There is no Spanish only version of this story, so monolingual Spanish language programs will need to replace this book with another title.

Rhyme: Tortillitas

"Tortillitas" is a very well-known children's rhyme. I believe that it originates from Mexico, but is also widely known in Central America. If I am mistaken, please leave a comment and let me know! Also, I'm curious if anyone who is from or grew up in the Caribbean or South America can let me know if this rhyme (or a variant of it) is something that you remember from your childhood, or if it is new to you. I know there is a similar version about papas/potatoes. I'd love to hear from you on this topic! There are several versions of the "Tortillitas" rhyme; here are two that I like to use:

Tortillitas, tortillitas, / tortillitas para mamá; / tortillitas para papá. / Las quemaditas para mamá. / Las bonitas para papá. / Tortillitas, tortillitas.

Tortillitas de manteca / pa'mamá que está contenta. / Tortillitas de salvado / pa'papá que está enojado.

Here is an English translation that I came up with. The literal meaning has changed in order to maintain rhythm and rhyme:
Little tortillas made of wheat / for my mom who is so sweet. / Little tortillas made of corn / for my dad who I adore!


Book/Flannelboard Story: La tortilla corredora - Laura Herrera

A cumulative story based on the Gingerbread Man that follows a runaway tortilla. Unfortunately no English version of this story is available, so you may want to replace it with one of the titles below in an English language storytime. Alternatively, you can tell this story using the flannelboard.

Ending Activity - Painting Tortillas

Time to get creative! Use tortillas as a canvas and have a paint party! You could encourage children to paint the various shapes or pick a favorite shape to paint in lots of different ways. Another blogger I found suggests keeping the whole activity edible by adding food coloring to water for paint (you could maybe try yogurt as well for different textures) and using lettuce leaves (or corn husks) as brushes!

Other Suggested Books:



Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Rosana's Translations

Last year, Rosana Santana was a student in my class "Bilingual Storytime at Your Biblioteca" offered through Library Juice Academy. She submitted several excellent Spanish translations of rhymes on her final Bilingual Storytime Plans. With her permission, I am sharing those translations here. Thanks, Rosana, for your excellent work and your willingness to share it with your colleagues!

Four Autumn Leaves                Cuatro Hojas de Otoño
Four Autumn Leaves                   Cuatro hojas de otoño
In a big old tree                         esperando el fin del mes,
One blew off                              una se cayó
Then there were three                y quedaban tres.

Three little leaves Tres hojas de otoño
With nothing to do bailaban en los vientos,
Another blew off otra se cayó
Then there were two y quedaban dos.

Two little leaves                        Dos hojas de otoño
In the autumn sun                      acostadas como en cuna,
One blew off                           una se cayó
Then there was one                   y quedaba solo una.

Being all alone Ahí sentada toda sola
Wasn’t much fun las otras hojas la miraron,
The last on blew off la última se tiro
Then there was none y se acabaron.

The Floppy Scarecrow                    El espantapájaro bailarín
The floppy, floppy scarecrow El espantapájaro bailarín
Guards his field all day Cuida las plantas todo el día
He wave his floppy (body part) Mueve su (parte del cuerpo)
To scare the crows away! Para espantarar los no confia

Five Little Pirates Cinco Piratas
Five Litter Pirates Cinco piratas
hear the captain roar. flotando en un barco.
One raised the black flag Uno levantó la bandera
and then there were four. y solo quedaban cuatro.

Four Little Pirates, Cuatro piratas 
sailing on the sea, mirando a un pez.
One tumbled overboard, Uno brincó para agarrarlo
and then there were three. y solo quedaban tres.

Three little pirates, Tres piratas
swam the ocean blue, cantaban en alta voz.
One swam away Uno le dio toz
and there were two. y solo quedaba dos.

Two little pirates Dos Piratas
standing in the sun, comieron desayuno.
One felt too hot Uno se enfermó 
and there was one. y solo quedaba uno.  
One little pirate Un pirata 
like to have fun, encontró un cofre de tesoro
He found a treasure chest y se fue del bote
and there were none.   a comprar un loro.