Hello, everyone! My "name" is Perchick and although I have no children of my own yet, I am here becuase I have the distinct privelage of teaching Spanish to some very dear friends who live just down the road...some of you may know them as Bigbub, Sis, and Lilbub.

School hasn't officially started for them yet, but I have been able to spend quite a bit of time with them over the past few weeks and they (especially Sis) have begged me to give them a Spanish lesson ever since we decided that we would give it a try...so, one day, I finally gave in a little and said, "I'll tell you what. How 'bout I give you all Spanish names for your 'first lesson'?"  So, I will be referring to them by their Spanish names in this blog...(they aren't necessarily their real names translated...these are just fun names that we decided would be good...lol)...Bigbub is now Alejandro, Sis is Carmelita, and Lilbub will be Jose. (if I mention either of the parents, it will be mami/papi)

They all seemed to like these names and just the other day, I got to spend a little time with them before I had to go back home for the evening and Carmelita was trying to remember the few words she had already learned to practice...she asked if I would teach her the alphabet and the numbers, so I asked her to get a piece of paper and a pencil and I would teach her. This representation was the best way I knew how to spell the sounds...(the vowells in Spanish only have one sound  a = cAr, e = bEnd, i = grEEn, o = bOne, u = spOOn...and...ll = Yes , ñ = oNIon , if you see a single "r" it is flipped and sounds like a "d", but if there are two of them together "rr" it is rolled like in "arrrrrrrrrrriba!"...the letter "v" sounds more like "bv" with less emphasis on the "b"...cu = QUick, and qu = Candy, "s" sounds like and "s" and not a "z", even at the end of a word..."j" sounds like "h",  and as far as I know, h is the only slient letter in the Spanish language)

a = ah , b = beh , c = seh , d = deh , e = eh , f = effeh , g = heh , h = a-che , i = ee , j = hota , k = kah , l = eleh , ll = eyah , m = em-meh , n = en-neh , ñ = en-yeh , o = oh , p = peh , q = koo , r = errrreh , rr = do-bleh errrreh (doble = double) , s = es-seh , t = teh , u = oo , v = bveh , w = do-bleh oo , x = eh-kees , z = seh-tah...I waited to explain "y" to her because it is the only letter that really makes no sense and is pretty hard to pronounce at first...it is spelled (if I'm not mistaken) "igryega" and pronounced "ih-gah-dee-eh-gah" (yes, it is five distinguishable syllables...lol) 

She did wonderful with these and then tried to spell several words including her own name in Spanish from memory...she did very well with this and only had to look at the sheet for a couple letters every other word or so...and, of course, she wanted to learn numbers as well...the numbers aren't very difficult to begin with but I only taught her 1-15 since we hadn't officially started lessons yet and she already knew 1-10 fairly well minus a couple pronunciation mistakes, so I spelled these for her in Spanish and helped her with the pronunciation...they are as follows (you should be able to figure out how to say them correctly with the guides in the two paragraphs above)

1 = uno , 2 = dos , 3 = tres , 4 = cuatro , 5 = cinco , 6 = seis , 7 = siete , 8 = ocho , 9 = nueve , 10 = diez , 11 = once , 12 = doce , 13 = trece , 14 = catorce , 15 = quince...Also, one thing I should note is that no matter how many vowells there are in a word - especially when they are next to each other - they each have their own distinguishable sound...so in the word "seis" you hear (seh-ihs) but it is run together to make one syllable...also in "nueve" = (noo-eh-veh) and "diez" = (dee-ehsz)...

After practicing these a few times, Carmelita was very excited and couldn't wait to recite them for Papi...I am very proud and excited about teaching them this year! I am graduated from high school and entering my 2nd year of college now, but I remember being homeschooled for Kindergarten and 1st grade and I am glad to have the honor of being part of these children's lives in this experience! Thanks so much to HomeForHeavensSake and her "dh" for allowing me to be a part of the family! I love you guys!!! 

And finally, for all you readers, I pray that God bless you beyond anything you could even begin to fathom and more, and I pray that He saturate my words and shine through me even on this blog!! To God be ALL the Glory!!! Amen.