Did you know that elephants portray their feelings by using their ears? Elephants have very large ears that help keep them cool while foraging in the hot savanna. They use these ears to show when they are happy, angry, or upset, by flapping them in different ways! Elephants also have amazing hearing… they can hear other elephants even if they are a few miles away!

Many schools have a two-hour lunch break during the day. This allows parents time to go and pick up their children for lunch, take them back home, feed them and relax for a bit before returning the kids to school. They do have canteens at school which offer a very nice and healthy meal and usually at least 3 to 4 courses, including a cheese course in itself!

There are many long breaks throughout the school year, for 2 weeks at a time. This was really nice as it allowed our kids to relax a bit and we could take trips together as a family. However, with this also comes the fact that school doesn’t end until the end of June, but my kids didn’t mind it at all. They really did like the extra time off throughout the school year.

To learn more about a child’s life in France, check out This Kid’s Life – France.

Students love learning by using an interactive notebook and learning a foreign language is no exception. Here are three reasons why using an interactive notebook in your foreign language class would be beneficial.

1. Ownership – Students love to create something that is their own. Using an interactive where they can see their progress and what they’ve learned throughout the year is just perfect for this!
2. Review – Interactive Notebooks allow students to create their own textbook in a way. Many of the activities are designed in a way that they can go back and review the vocabulary or grammar learned again and again, if needed.
3. Fun – What’s more fun? Turning a textbook and just seeing the same thing over and over or designed your own interactive notebook where you can color and design the pages the way you like? I think just by reading that, the answer is clear! Interactive Notebooks are fun!

Check out our Spanish Interactive Notebook that allow students to reuse the activities in order to practice what they’ve learned.

What time do you normally eat dinner? Did you know that people in Spain don’t start eating dinner until at least 8pm at the earliest? Restaurants don’t start opening for dinner until 8pm, but they really get crowded around 9pm to 9:30pm. Also, meals, especially dinner, are not quick. Dinner lasts at least 2 hours with many different courses served. It’s normal to eat a starter (appetizer), a main course, a cheese course, and then a dessert. Depending on the restaurant, you could even have more courses as well.

Paella is one of my favorite things to eat in Spain. It is very savory rice that usually served with seafood, but I prefer it with chicken and artichokes. Paella is served in a large shallow dish and is definitely a must have when visiting Spain. If you’d like to learn more about Spain that you can share with your students or childrens, check out this resource.

Tapas are also a fun, and perhaps a bit quicker way, to eat dinner. You can pick lots of little dishes that you will eat. This is fun because you can try many different things and also of course you can share with the people you are eating dinner with.

When learning a new language, it’s so important to do a little Spanish every day. It’s good to reinforce what you’ve learned and build upon that each and every day. This is doubly so important for kids. You might be thinking that you aren’t ‘qualified’ to teach Spanish to your children or students, but if you know a little, you can learn with them!

There are lots of different tools you can use to help your students or children learn Spanish. One of my favorites is Duolingo. If you used it 5 or so years ago, try it again! It’s changed so much and it’s much more interactive and game-like, giving it more qualities that young learners will enjoy.

Another great (and easy) way to get a little Spanish into your child’s life is to watch TV shows in Spanish. What I love to do is to find my favorite shows on Netflix and then change the track to Spanish when watching. Even better is to find a show that is originally made in Spanish.

In the classroom you can add simple and easy worksheets to reinforce vocabulary with your students. Worksheets can help you see which words your students or children know and which ones you need to focus on more. You can find some Spanish worksheets here.

Did you know that one of the most popular foods in Taiwan is called stinky tofu? It is a type of fermented tofu that, while delicious, has a really bad smell! It is commonly sold and eaten at night markets in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. In fact, there is an entire street in the Shenkeng District in New Taipei that is dedicated to restaurants that serve different varieties of stinky tofu!

If you’d like to learn more about Taiwan, its culture and its language, you can find a fun resource here about Taiwan.

It’s so fun for me to learn about different cultures and countries. It’s even more fun for me to teach about things that I’ve learned to my students and to my own children. Using an interactive notebook brings it all together with fun foldables and activities to help students remember the facts that they’ve learned. You can find my Around the World interactive notebook here at TeachersPayTeachers.

Not only is it an interactive notebook, but it also comes with Scaffolded notes that helps students organize their findings on the different countries.

The countries that are explored in my interactive notebook are: Italy, France, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, New Zealand, USA, Canada, England, Germany, Norway, Brazil, Japan, China, India, South Africa, Australia, Thailand, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Portugal, Turkey, Albania, South Korea, Ukraine, Tunisia, Finland, Morocco, and the Netherlands.

There are so many things that are learned about every every country. Facts like the capital of the country, language spoken, sites to see, local cuisine and more.

As always, I’m always keen on adding new countries to my units, so if there is a country that you’d like to see added, just let me know!

Have a great day!

Today, Canadians celebrate Canada Day. Canada Day takes place every year on July 1st. On this day in 1867 the British colonies of North America were joined together to form a federation called Canada. The name “Canada” likely comes from the word “kanata” which is the Iroquois-Huron word for “village”. It was on Canada Day in 1980 that “O Canada” became the country’s national anthem!

Here’s a freebie for Canadian teachers you can use in your classes to compare your life in Canada with that of other countries. Here’s a paid product for all teachers about Canada. Teachers can use it to compare their own country to that of Canada.

Do you know what gauchos are? Gauchos are the Argentinian version of cowboys. They roam the plains of the Pampas region, lassoing and raising cattle and horses.  In Argentina they are recognized as skilled horse riders. They are known to be colorful, brave, and also somewhat unruly!

It’s fun to teach children interesting facts about different cultures around the world. It really opens up the whole world to them and teaches them things they might never know without you as their teacher! Check out my store to find This Kid’s Life – Argentina where you can teach your students about life in Argentina and how their own lives compare to that of a child who lives in Argentina. It’s a fun way to introduce a new country to your students! Each This Kid’s Life unit comes with a letter for a child from that country, puzzles, fun facts, crafts, coloring sheets, writing activities, and more!