Exploring El Mercado
by Elida Guardia Bonet
El mercado is an open air market on the side of the road with tables filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, arts and crafts, and the smell of delicious foods. Open air markets are found in every town and city in Latin America and visitors see and taste the products of the country, hear the voices of the people, the bartering, and the bargaining. A visit to an open air market is exciting!
Books to Share
- Alimentos by Karen Bryant-Mole.
- Día de tianguis by Ruth Rodriguez.
- El gusto del mercado mexicano / A Taste of the Mexican Market by Nancy Tabor.
- El sancocho del sábado / Saturday Sancocho by Leyla Torres.
- El sapo distraído / The Absent-Minded Toad by Javier Rondón.
- El tapiz de abuela / Abuela’s Weave by Omar S. Castañeda.
- La tortillería / The Tortilla Factory by Gary Paulsen.
Set up an open market with tables of real or plastic fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers, etc. Or display pictures of open markets and regular supermarkets, recipes, and pictures of foods.
Tortillitas de manteca
(From Ring A Ring O'Roses)
Clap hands together as if making tortillas.
Tortillitas de manteca
Para mamá a que está contenta.
Tortillitas de salvado
Para papá que está enojado.
Little Lard Tortillas
Little lard torillas
For mother who is very happy.
Little bran tortillas
For father who is very angry.
(A version of this song may be found in Niñez, Spanish Songs, Games and Stories of Childhood by Virginia Nylander Ebinger. You may listen to a recording of this rhyme on the El día de los niños/El día de los libros web site at www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/projects/ninos/songsrhymes.html.)
Children in Mexico often drink chocolate with breakfast. They stir it with a special utensil called a molinillo which is held between the palms and rotated back and forth. During the chorus of this rhyme, children rub their palms together and pretend to "stir" the chocolate with a molinillo. If possible, bring a molinillo to show the children. The children repeat the verse faster and faster each time.
Bate, bate, chocolate,
Tu nariz de cacahuate.
Uno, dos, tres, CHO!
Uno, dos, tres, CO!
Uno, dos, tres, LA!
Uno, dos, tres, TE!
Bate, bate, chocolate!
Bate, bate, bate, bate,
Bate, bate, CHOCOLATE!
Stir, stir, chocolate,
Your nose is a peanut.
One, two, three, CHO!
One, two, three, CO!
One, two, three, LA!
One, two, three, TE!
Stir, stir, the chocolate!
Stir, stir, stir, stir,
Stir, stir, CHOCOLATE!
Arroz con leche
(A version of this song and the recipe for rice pudding may be found in Arroz con leche, Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America, selected and illustrated by Lulu Delacre. You will also find the lyrics, and you may listen to a recording of it on the El día de los niños/El día de los libros web site at www.tsl.texas.gov/ld/projects/ninos/songsrhymes.html.)
These tongue twisters are fun in Spanish. The translation gives you an idea of what you are saying!
(This traditional rhyme may be found in Pin uno pin dos by Arturo Navarro.)
cómelo con limón,
cómelo con melón
y con melocotón.
Eat It, Cosme
Eat it, Cosme,
eat it with lemon,
eat it with melon,
and with peaches.
(This traditional rhyme may be found in ¿Qué será, qué no será? by Diana Dearden and Verónica Uribe.)
Compadre, cómpreme un coco.
Compadre, coco no compro,
que el que poco coco come,
poco coco compra.
Yo, como poco coco como
poco coco compro.
Crony, buy me a coconut.
Crony, coconuts I do not buy,
he who eats little coconut,
buys little coconuts.
As I eat little coconut
little coconuts I buy.
- "Compadre, cómpreme un coco" in De Colores and Other Latin American Folk Songs for Children by José Luis Orozco.
- "Naranja dulce" in Arroz con Leche, Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America by Lulu Delacre.
- "La panaderita" in El Toro Pinto and Other Songs in Spanish by Anne Rockwell.
- "El tortillero" in El Toro Pinto and Other Songs in Spanish by Anne Rockwell.
Tell The Goat in the Chile Patch. Patterns and English and Spanish versions of the story are on pages 40-45 of Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra.
Tell "La papaya de Tía Leticia." It is on the audiocassette, Debajo del árbol de mango, by Elida Guardia Bonet.
Tell "Tía Leticia’s Papaya." It is on the audiocassette Under the Mango Tree by Elida Guardia Bonet.
Talk about foods that are originally from Latin America. See Hands-on Latin America: Art Activities for All Ages by Yvonne Y. Merrill.
Serve the children sancocho. The recipe is in El sancocho del sábado / Saturday Sancocho by Leyla Torres.
Make copies of the illustration of a basket and various types of fruits at the end of this chapter, and let the children color it.
El mercado on Sesame Street Exitos Musicales. (45 minutes)
Arroz con leche, Popular Songs and Rhymes from Latin America selected and illustrated by Lulu Delacre.
Multicultural Folktales: Stories to Tell Young Children by Judy Sierra.