Spanish: Home, Chores, and Commands

• Students will be able to use their learning independently to communicate in the target language.
• How culture influences extracurricular activities and making plans will be explored.

Vocabulary

• House (furniture, rooms, layout, etc.)
• Chore
• Forms and uses of ser and estar
• Prepositions: Next to, on top of, between, etc.
• Informal commands, like clean your room, wash the dishes, take out the trash, etc.

Irregular Informal Commands

• Ven, Di, Sal, Haz, Ten, Ve, Pon, Sé
• Affirmative and negative informal commands are possible

Learning Outcomes

• Ability to describe their home
• The ability to ask memorized questions about others’ homes and chore routines using culturally appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication strategies
• To use prepositions and the verb estar to describe where objects are in the home
• Understand the difference between ser and estar
• Tell others what to do using informal commands and respond appropriately when given an informal command
• Interpret basic descriptions of housing and compare housing between the target culture and the students’ culture
• Present a memorized monologue describing their home
• Use appropriate vocabulary to discuss and describe everyday obligations
• Compare cultural household obligations and norms in the target culture and the students' culture

House Vocabulary

• Rooms of the house include: el estudio (the study), el dormitorio (the bedroom), el salón (the living room), el comedor (the dining room), el baño (the bathroom), la cocina (the kitchen), la lavandería (the laundry room), el jardín (the garden).

Spatial Relationships

• Use the verb "estar” + preposition to describe spatial relationships.
• El gato está dentro de la caja: The cat is inside the box.
• El gato está delante de la caja: The cat is in front of the box.
• El gato está al lado de la caja: The cat is beside the box.
• El gato está junto a la caja: The cat is next to the box.
• El gato está debajo de la caja: The cat is under the box.
• El gato está encima de la caja: The cat is on top of the box.
• El gato está entre las cajas: The cat is between the boxes.
• La lámpara está a la derecha de la cama: The lamp is to the right of the bed.
• La cama está a la izquierda de la lámpara: The bed is to the left of the lamp.
• Estamos dentro de la casa: We are inside the house.
• Estamos fuera de la casa: We are outside the house.
• La bañera está enfrente del lavabo: The bathtub is in front of the sink.
• La bañera está frente al lavabo: The bathtub is across from/opposite/facing the sink.
• El perro está cerca de la chica: The dog is near the girl.
• El gato está lejos de la chica: The cat is far from the girl.

Usage of Sobre and En

• Sobre = on/about
• En = in/on/at

Household Chores

• The verb TOCAR means to touch or play (an instrument), and can be used similarly to GUSTAR.
• To indicate whose turn it is to do something, the auxiliary verb "tocar" is conjugated, while the main action verb remains in its infinitive form (ending in -ar, -er, -ir).

Conjugations of TOCAR

• (a mí) me toca: it's my turn
• (a ti) te toca: it's your turn
• (a él/ella/usted) le toca: it's his/her/your (formal) turn
• (a nosotros/nosotras) nos toca: it's our turn
• (a vosotros/vosotras) os toca: it's your (plural, informal) turn
• (a ellos/ellas/ustedes) les toca: it's their/your (plural, formal) turn.
• Me toca cortar el césped y lavar el carro: It's my turn to mow the lawn and wash the car.

Adverbs of Frequency

• Frequency can be expressed with a word (siempre, nunca...) or a phrase (casi siempre, a veces...).
• Casi nunca lavo los platos: I hardly ever wash the dishes.

Adverb Examples

• siempre = always
• casi siempre = almost always
• a menudo = often
• a veces = sometimes
• casi nunca = hardly ever
• nunca = never
• todos los días = every day
• dos días por semana = twice a week
• los lunes, los martes... = on Mondays, on Tuesdays...

Word Order

• Adverbs of frequency can be placed in different positions in Spanish.
• Ex: Mi papá cocina siempre/Mi papá siempre cocina/Siempre cocina mi papá.
• Casi nunca and nunca must be placed before the verb, except when using no.
• Nunca saco a pasear al perro = No saco nunca a pasear al perro = No saco a pasear al perro nunca.