BOCA BETH: One Song at a Time

Too cute!  Too precious!  Too wonderful for words!  These little children were singing and dancing this morning to our Boca Beth song called ¿ Cómo estás ? How Are You? during one of my summer enrichment library events with the Hillsborough County Public Library System.  Vickie Trice is the Youth Specialist at this Riverview, Florida library, and she ROCKS!!!

It’s so rewarding to get somewhere and have the families really, really appreciate your music, your energy, your enthusiasm and genuine love of working with young children and second language learning.  I give the children name tags so that I might interact with them by name - providing a quick level of comfort on their part (since my sessions at libraries are typically only 30 minutes).

We play!  We sing!  We dance!  We read!  Ahhhhh…the sweet sounds of early reading skills, literacy, problem solving and No Child Left Behind.  My Boca Beth stuff is so reflective of all of this and more.  Who knew when I started conceptualizing this bilingual program back in the early 2002 months that all of the recent research would substantiate all of my hard efforts…………. 

So, here are the lyrics to this cool song we did this morning that really allows the whole room to interact as a group:

Cómo Estás?/How Are You? (From our Boca Beth CD called My First Songs in Spanish song #10)
(sung to the melody of “Skip To My Lou”)

¿Hola, cómo estás?
¿Hola, cómo estás?
¿Hola, cómo estás?
¿Cómo estás hoy día?

Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
Hello, how are you?
How are you today?

¡Muy bien gracias mi buen amigo!
¡Muy bien gracias mi buen amigo!
¡Muy bien gracias mi buen amigo!
¡Muy bien hoy dia!

Very fine thank you my good friend!
Very fine thank you my good friend!
Very fine thank you my good friend!
Very fine today!

repeat one more time

If possible, have each child get a BOCA puppet passed out to them and explain that BOCA loves to do “dos cosas/two things.” He loves to sing/canta and dance/baila. I also explain that BOCA has excellent behavior and that he never bites or hits or touches another puppet friend. Have the children put BOCA on their hands and interact with their friends respecting space and enjoying the fun of puppeteering.  Remember that the suggested activities come from our Boca Beth Free Resource Area located on our web site.

This is a great way to start off the new school year, a terrific birthday party activity, a fantastic getting to know you song for children just getting to know one another - an overall great ice breaker!

Happy Educating!  ¡Sea feliz educando!

Boca Beth