La tarea opcional para 5/29 – 6/3

Lunes a jueves:
La tarea opcional de esta semana es escribir una mini-historia, acerca de algo que haya pasado en las noticias, usando el presente histórico.  Un mini-ejemplo (el de Uds. debe de ser un poquito más largo):  Se junta (presente) con el Ministro de Exteriores y el embajador de Rusia y les revela (presente) secretos clasificados.

Viernes:
La tarea opcional de esta semana es escribir 3 datos cortos acerca de Uds. que no hayan compartido con la clase antes.  Por ejemplo, podría ser algo como “tengo un gemelo” – “el país que más quiero visitar es Noruega” – “una vez anduve en elefante” – “estoy contenta con los resultados de las elecciones en Francia.” etc.  Puede ser lo que se les antoje, con tal de que entiendan que la semana que viene van a tener que hablar más acerca del tema, después de que los otros alumnos adivinen a quién le pertenece el dato.

Sábado:
La tarea opcional de esta semana es leer un artículo de su nivel del sitio web Habla: Tu revista digital (http://www.habla.pl/).  Hay 6 niveles, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 y C2 así que encuentren el más cercano a su nivel.  La próxima semana nos cuentan un poco de lo que leyeron y nos enseñan una nueva palabra que hayan aprendido.

Para todos los que hacen la tarea extra:
(La tarea extra de la semana * para los que quieran más tarea * es seguir con el capítulo 9, The Progressive Tenses, en “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Les recomendamos leer las páginas 102 a 105  y hacer los ejercicios 9.5 a 9.9.)

Que tengan un buen finde :)

Say this not that! II

Hola chicos,

Last week I brought back “Say this, not that” by request, which had very positive feedback, so here we go again:

 

Don’t say: Voy a tener divertido, for I’m going to have fun

Say: Voy a divertirme

 

Don’t say: Soy x pies y x pulgadas – In Spanish we “measure” our height rather than “being” our height – makes more sense, don’t you think?

Say: Mido x pies y x pulgadas

 

Don’t say: MAma and PApa – as in putting the stress on the 1st syllable

Say: maMÁ y paPÁ (mamar = to breast feed, so if you put the stress on the 1st syllable you are saying that someone is breastfeeding – and you’re calling your Dad a potato – awkward!)

 

Don’t say: No bueno (unless you want to sound like a total Gringo)

Say: No es bueno

 

Don’t say: Encontré a mi novia en… (unless your girlfriend was actually lost and you found her)

Say: Conocí a mi novia en… (use this if you meant to say that you met her somewhere)

 

Don’t say: ¿Qué haces? – when you want to know what a person does for a living – this actually means “what are you doing?” – as in right now

Say: ¿A qué te dedicas? – which is really much better because it’s all encompassing – the answer welcomes what someone does for a living, if they are a student, if they’re a stay at home parent, etc.

 

Don’t say: El agua es frío

Say: El agua es fría – I know, the gender doesn’t seem to match, but it actually does.  Agua is a feminine word that uses a masculine article in the single but a feminine article in the plural – el agua – las aguas – but the adjective still needs to be in the feminine.  This is specifically designed to confuse you or piss you off.  Sorry.

 

Don’t say: Quizás voy al x…

Say: Quizás vaya al x…  (remember to use the subjunctive after “quizás”)

 

Ok chicos, that’s it for today.  Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Besos,
Caro

La tarea opcional para 9/22 a 9/25/17

La tarea opcional de esta semana es escribir 3 datos cortos acerca de Uds. que no hayan compartido con la clase antes.  Por ejemplo, podría ser algo como “tengo un gemelo” – “el país que más quiero visitar es Noruega” – “una vez anduve en elefante” – “estoy contenta con los resultados de las elecciones en Francia.” etc.  Puede ser lo que se les antoje, con tal de que entiendan que la semana que viene van a tener que hablar más acerca del tema, después de que los otros alumnos adivinen a quién le pertenece el dato.

(La tarea extra de la semana * para los que quieran más tarea * es empezar el capítulo 9, The Progressive Tenses, en “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Les recomendamos leer las páginas 98 a 102  y hacer los ejercicios 9.1 a 9.4.)

Say this not that!

Hola chicos,

“Say this, not that” is back by request!

 

 

 

 

Here are a few:

 

Don’t say: un otro… (these words can’t go together – it’s like saying a another)

Say: otro…

 

Don’t say: Yo gusto… (In Spanish you are saying that something is pleasing to YOU, not that YOU like IT)

Say: (A mi) me gusta(n)…

 

Don’t say: La gente son… (in Spanish “gente” is one unit)

Say: La gente es…

 

Don’t say: Estoy caliente… when you’re hot (unless you’re horny)

Say: Tengo calor...

 

Don’t say: Me encanta mucho… (“encantar” is already “to love” and it sounds awkward to say “I love it a lot”)

Say: Me encanta o me gusta mucho…

 

Don’t say: Buscar por… (“buscar” means “to look for” so if you add the “por” it’s like saying “I look for for”)

Say: Buscar… 

 

Don’t say: Voy a tomar mi perro al veterinario… (“tomar” is not used for taking people)

Say: Voy a llevar a mi perro…

 

Don’t say: Cuando llego a… (you must use the subjunctive after “cuando” when speaking of the future)

Say: Cuando llegue…

 

Ok chicos, that’s it for today.  I hope you found those helpful :)

Besos,

Caro

La tarea opcional para 5/15 – 5/20/17

La tarea opcional de esta semana es leer un artículo de su nivel del sitio web Habla: Tu revista digital (http://www.habla.pl/).  Hay 6 niveles, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 y C2 así que encuentren el más cercano a su nivel.  La próxima semana nos cuentan un poco de lo que leyeron y nos enseñan una nueva palabra que hayan aprendido.

(La tarea extra de la semana * para los que quieran más tarea * es terminar el capítulo 17, Nouns & Articles, (que empezamos hace unas semanas pero no terminamos), en “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Les recomendamos leer las páginas 215 a 220  y hacer los ejercicios 17.18 a 17.25.

Besitos

No peeking!

Buenos días alumnos de Español :)
¡Espero que todos estén bien!
This week in class we have been working on the pronunciation of certain vowels.  When asked to repeat the words we were using as practice, many students asked that we write the words on the board before attempting to pronounce them.  
Today I want to give you a tip that will help you improve your pronunciation.  Instead of LOOKING at a word and trying to pronounce it, LISTEN to the word.  Close your eyes, listen carefully, ask the teacher to repeat it, slow it down, whatever you need to make it more clear, and then repeat it without having a clue how it’s spelled.
When you are LOOKING at a word, you are going to pronounce it the way the letters sound in YOUR head, which may be quite different in Spanish than in your native language.  If you LISTEN to the word however, your pronunciation of it will be much closer to the actual sound.  After you have listened to it and repeated it several times, then of course you can take a look at the spelling.
Listening and repeating are the most important parts of improving pronunciation.  So next time that you hear a new word, remember to close your eyes and really HEAR the word!

The very wise (ja, ja),
Caro

La tarea opcional para 5/8 – 5/13/17

La tarea opcional de esta semana es traer algo para “show-n-tell.”  La semana que viene todos deben traer algo para mostrarle a sus compañeros mientras hablan acerca del objeto.  La presentación debe durar más o menos 5 minutos.  Puede ser un libro, fotos, un regalo que hayas recibido, algo interesante que compraste durante un viaje, un plato que hayas preparado, algo que hayas hecho con tus propias manos, lo que quieras, con tal de que puedas hablar acerca del tema por unos 5 minutos.

(La tarea extra de la semana * para los que quieran más tarea * es terminar el capítulo 6, More about the preterit and the imperfect, en “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Les recomendamos leer las páginas 67 a 68  y hacer los ejercicios 6.9 a 6.11.)

Let me check my schedule!

Buenos días maravillosos alumnos de español :)

You all know by now that being consistent when you’re learning a language is very important.  But did you know that the students who have a schedule make the most progress?  This is because working on their new language skills has become a habit for them.  They don’t simply work on it when the mood strikes or when they “have time” (that’s a joke – who has time for anything these days?), they have a set day and/or time that is set aside for this purpose specifically.

For example, my current schedule with Italian is to take a lesson every Friday, Saturday or Sunday morning at 10:30am (whatever day works best for me that week).  I schedule my following lesson immediately after I complete one, so I always know when it will be the following week.  Every day while I eat breakfast or after dinner/before I go to bed, I sit down and do 10-15 minutes worth of homework.  Every other day I listen to a podcast in Italian while I’m getting ready.  My Italian practice with Octavi is sporadic, but everything else is fairly set.

Now imagine what it’s like for someone who speaks 7 languages like Octavi!  He doesn’t need to practice 3 of them as he speaks them daily (English, Spanish, Catalan), but he does need to practice French, Italian, Japanese & Korean.  Here is his schedule:  An hour of  Korean conversation on Monday or Tuesday night and an hour of Japanese conversation on Thursday afternoon.  Every Wednesday morning he meets a Swiss friend for a 2 hour language exchange of French & Spanish.  Italian is the language he is having a difficult time with right now, as his friend’s schedule is not as open as his.  But he’s working on it (I’m learning Italian as fast as I can Octavi!, so that we can practice!).

The moral of the story:  Life is busy, but if you make working on your Spanish a part of your schedule, it will become a habit that will help you progress faster.  When would be a good time for you to practice your Spanish outside of class?

Besos,
Caro

Las chicas del cable – Nueva serie original de Netlfix

¡Gracias a Lydia por pasarme el dato!

http://www.sensacine.com/noticias/series/noticia-18555659/

Terrified to speak Spanish in public?

Buenos días chicos :)

Today I would like to address the fear many language students face when it’s time for them to use that language in the real world.

First I would like to tell you that I struggled with this when I was learning English.  I was thrown into a classroom with 20+ kids and the teacher had them ask me questions one by one.  I didn’t understand much and certainly couldn’t respond in complete sentences.  With 40+ eyes on me I was completely traumatized and was praying to be struck by lightning right then & there.  

Many years later, after studying French for 3 years (I was about 16-17 at that time), I went to Paris and tried out my French.  The first person I spoke to said they didn’t understand and walked away from me.  I felt completely humiliated and didn’t utter a word in French again, until last year.

Based on those experiences, when I started PBO, one of my goals was to create an un-intimidating environment.  I wanted students to feel welcome and able to make mistakes.  I think we have done a good job of creating that vibe (onda), however I cannot control what happens out there in “the real world.”  

So what do you do if you are one of those people that are terrified of speaking Spanish in public?

1 – Ask yourself why you’re scared and what is the worst that could happen.  For example:

  • Why am I afraid to speak Spanish to my boyfriend’s family?
  • Because I’m embarrassed
  • Why do I get embarrassed?
  • Because I make a lot of mistakes
  • And what happens when I make a mistake?
  • Sometimes they laugh
  • And what’s the worst that can happen if I say something ridiculous and they laugh?
  • I turn bright red and feel dumb
  • And what happens if I turn red and feel dumb?  Will I die from this?  Will I be causing harm to anyone if I say something dumb?  Or will I forget about it and learn from it?

2 – Pay very close attention to how you see non-native English speakers.  Do THEY annoy YOU?  Are YOU judging THEM?  Do you see yourself through the same eyes that you see them when they speak English to you?  What is your judgement criteria when you speak to a foreigner?  For example, for me the only criteria is that I can understand them.  I am not pointing out their mistakes in my head, I am not annoyed with them, I do not think that they should shut up until they speak perfectly, etc.  There is no judgement from my part at all unless they have a very heavy accent & speak too fast at the same time.  When you run into this combo it can be very difficult to comprehend the other person (so if you have a strong American accent when you speak Spanish, slow down).

3 – Spend more time practicing whatever it is that makes you most embarrassed, which for some people is not understanding native speakers & for others is not being able to respond.  Both speaking & listening are crucial when you’re learning a language.  The more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel.  If you stay away from what makes you nervous you will never improve.

4 – Remember that many Spanish speakers are grateful and flattered when a “gringo” learns their language.   They usually respect and admire your effort rather than judge your mistakes.  Yes, there are some jerks out there, but for the most part people are very appreciative of your effort.

5 – Accept the fact that you will never speak a foreign language perfectly.  Unless you grow up speaking that language in the country it is spoken in, you will never speak it as well as a native speaker.  That’s not to say that with years of practice you won’t speak it incredibly well, but you are not a native speaker of that language and never will be.  It is what it is.

The last thing I will say about this is that in my old age I have learned that mindset is everything.  If you have the attitude that you will make a bunch of mistakes and sound like an idiot, you probably will.  If you believe that you can communicate with people from 21 countries because of the hard work that you have put into learning Spanish, you will.  It’s all in the attitude :)

Besitos,
Caro