Una semana más de cosas interesantes (¡nunca terminará!)

This week in Sra. Ramsey's Spanish classes:

Spanish I will be finishing up Unidad 2 in the book. We're making it a little more exciting this week with more conversation time (en español, estudiantes). Wednesday is your quiz over Lección 4. Thursday and Friday we'll be reviewing for your Unit 2 test el LUNES. ¡Sean preparados!

Spanish II is just now diving into Unidad 2 and will begin Lección 1 this week. Get ready for some listening and speaking activities. We should finish Lección 1 with a quiz sometime this week.

Spanish III and IV will be covering 'el pretérito'. You will need your yellow packet and your vocab sheet. Remember that your rough draft over 'Carmen' is due Monday. Also my Spanish III students will be excited to learn that from now on their quizzes and tests will differ from my Spanish IV students. Same amount of work, different expectations.

ALL CLASSES will have an extra credit opportunity!

Sugar Skull Workshop
Thursday, October 30, 2008
4:00-7:00 PM

In conjunction with our 21st annual Día de los Muertos celebration, Lawndale Art Center is offering a sugar skull making workshop. Stop in for a quick lesson, or stick around and help us make skulls to be decorated at our Family Day Fiesta on Saturday, November 1st.

The workshop is free and open to the public. All participants may take home one sugar skull and a printed recipe.

Family Day Fiesta
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Noon - 4:00 PM

Lawndale’s 21st annual Día de los Muertos celebration continues with a Saturday fiesta honoring participating teachers and students whose works of art can be viewed in the Canvar and Mezzanine Galleries.

Sugar skulls, papel picado, papier mache skeletons, retablos, altars and large-scale installations are just a few of the many projects on display.

Guests will enjoy hot chocolate and pan de muerto, performances by Mixteco Ballet Folklorico, and various children’s activities, such as decorating sugar skulls.

Admission: Free

MECA's Día de los Muertos Festival
MECA
November 1-November 2, 2008

Saturday-Sunday, November 1-2, MECA proudly presents MECA's Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Festival: Honoring our Past, Celebrating Our Future.

MECA's Día de los Muertos Festival features celebrations from throughout Latin America, with an altar exhibit competition, foods from Latin American countries, and vendors selling authentic Latin American Día de los Muertos arts and crafts.

This festival truly is a community cultural event celebrating our ancestors and Latin American traditions.

MECA's Day of the Dead Festival: Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Future is held at MECA's colorful, art-filled campus located at the nationally recognized historic Dow School in Houston's Old Sixth Ward.

Carmen and Pan's Labyrinth

This week in Sra. Ramsey's Spanish class:

*Our upper level Spanish classes (that's 3rd, 4th, and 5th period) will be indulging in a bit of Spanish culture. We will be watching one of the three famous flamenco movies by Carlos Saura and Antonio Gades. The film is "Carmen" and it will be a thrilling experience. You will be required to take notes and observe how Carlos Saura evolves the plot, mixing real life with the tragic events of Prosper Merimee's 'Carmen'. This is a REAL paper. Your rough draft will be due on Monday. More details in class!



*My sweet, darling little Level 2 classes will also be indulging in a bit of Spanish culture this week. In very-early-celebration of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), we will be watching a not-very-related-but-still-spooky movie called "Pan's Labyrinth". Lots of violence, lots of Magical Realism (what is THAT? Come to class to find out!), and lots of creepy characters giving Ofelia some trouble. Wonderful film. Wonderful assignment to follow. Show up and get ready for some intense movie-direction by Guillermo del Toro!



*I'm sorry to say that my Spanish 1 students will not be watching a film this week. Next week, guys, next week!

¡ESTUDIA, TRABAJA, Y MÁS QUE TODO, DISFRUTA LA LENGUA ESPAÑOLA!

La Tabacalera and other great flamenco scenes

Flamenco is a Spanish term that refers both to a musical genre and a dance genre.  The musical genre involves rapid passages, confusing time ligatures, and lots of passionate singing.  The dance genre is characterized by its swift, audible footwork.  The genres origin

ate in Andalucia, the southern state of Spain.  Flamenco has been influenced by Arabic, Andalucian, Sephardic, and Gypsy cultures that mixed before and after the time of the Reconquista.  I could spend a great deal of time talking about the music and song, which is probably one of the more important elements of the flamenco style.  But my passion is for the flamenco dance itself.

Characterized by the delicate swinging of hands and the fierce stomping of feet, Flamenco is a highly expressive dance form.  While flamenco dancers spend a considerable amount of time studying and practicing their art form, the dances are not choreographed, but are improvised to the rhythm.  The percussion is provided by the dancers by the heels and balls of their feet striking the floor.  Castanets are sometimes used and are clicked rapidly to the rhythm of the music.

I enjoy watching a good flamenco performance.  What is more exciting to me, however, are music and films that have elements of flamenco style.

For example:

Iron & Wine's, "Boy With a Coin"

Carmen's "La Tabacalera"