In Spanish, el tiempo (ehl-tee-ehm-poh) has two meanings - time and weather. These two topics can carry you through more than a month or two of simple lessons in any language. We'll begin with the harder of the two: TIME.
For time, let us begin at the beginning. Be sure you know your numbers 1-60 in the target language. Do not simply count! Be sure you and your student can do things such as say your phone number in Spanish, or French, or German, or give the ages of your family members, or street address, and even call out prices as you see them at the store. Use your numbers when you play board games, cards, or exercising (15 reps of lunges in Spanish seems to go faster than 15 reps in English - but I have no hard evidence on that - it just FEELS faster!) Be sure you can call out a number, and your student can write it down correctly as well. The bottom line: Don't just count!
After that simple step of drill (I would give it at least a week before tackling the concept of time, if you're not sure you know all those numbers) you can add the complete phrases of "It is" and AM and PM, as well as "What time is it?" in the foreign language you are studying. Usually, this is enough to be able to give and receive the time in any language. For more practice, week three can include idiomatic phrases such as noon, midnight, "half-past" and "quarter 'til," or "on the dot."
Finally, finish up with scheduling! A homeschooler's dream - you give your schedule to your child, and have them memorize at least three activities during the day, and the time that they occur. In Spanish, your lesson at this point would look something like this:
At 10:30, I study English. A las diez y treinta yo estudio inglés. (ah-lahs-dee-ehs-ee-trehn-tah...)
At noon, I eat. A las doce, yo como. (ah-lahs-doh-seh...)
At 3:00, I leave for practice. A las tres, yo salgo para la práctica. (ah-lahs-trehs, yoh-sahl-goh...)
Suddenly, you are reviewing first person verbs, and probably learning new ones, in a simple, yet repetitive form. Be sure to ask "What time is it?" throughout the day, as well as repeat the activity sentence aloud as you are actually doing it. Saying "I'm eating," three times while you are eating is a sure fire way to commit phrases and vocabulary to memory.
If you'd like a few more phrases in Spanish, or have more time-telling ideas to share, be sure to post!
Next week, we'll tackle weather!
Suzanne Gose (known by her students as Señora Gose) is a homeschooling mother of five children. A former public school teacher, she currently teaches over 80 homeschooling students in weekly Spanish classes at Triumph Homeschool Hall in Bryan, Texas. She is also the author of the Flip Flop Spanish Workbooks and other language teaching tools. You can see them at www.flipfloplearning.com and in the Schoolhouse Store.
