La tarea opcional de la semana es escribir una “calaverita literaria” para uno de tus compañeros de clase, maestro de PBO o para ti mismo.  

Las calaveritas literarias son textos cortos, graciosos e ingeniosos acerca de un ser querido o una persona famosa y su encuentro con “la muerte”. Por ejemplo:

Estaban los estudiantes de PBO,

estudiando y estudiando español

cuando la muerte se les presentó.

La muerte un plan para ellos tenía:

mencionar todas las conjugaciones ellos necesitarían,

si mantener su vida querrían.

Seguros y sin dudar, todos los estudiantes comenzaron a conjugar.

Presente y pasado simple, pretérito, imperfecto y pluscuamperfecto.

Ellos todo sabían porque los mejores maestros tenían.

El turno del subjuntivo llegó y la confianza desapareció

La muerte se rió y en un segundo se los llevó.

¡Pobre Carolina! ¡Pobres maestros!

Sin sus alumnos se quedaron porque el subjuntivo no estudiaron.

Hacer bromas y reírse de la muerte es parte importante de la celebración del Día de los muertos y esta semana vamos a utilizar nuestra creatividad para escribir historias divertidas.

***La tarea extra de la semana * para los que quieran más tarea * es seguir con el capítulo 7, The future & the conditional, en la tercera edición de “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Les recomendamos leer las páginas 79 a 80  y hacer los ejercicios 7.18 a 7.19.

¡Felicidades a Roxie, Carol, Melanie, Jean, Lisa y Stephanie por completar el Bootcamp de español de 90 días!

Estás chicas asistieron a clase cada semana por 13 semanas, hicieron la tarea las 13 semanas, asistieron a 2+ de los eventos sociales durante los 90 días, escucharon o hablaron español por 20+ minutos cada día por 90 días, participaron en La conversación del día en Facebook por 90 días y leyeron el consejo semanal en el blog las 13 semanas.  ¡Increíble!

También quiero felicitar a Roxie, Carol y Stephanie por subir de nivel durante el Bootcamp :)

Además de todo esto es la primera vez en la historia del Bootcamp que 6 personas lo hayan completado.  ¡Qué orgullo chicas!

Les preguntamos que nos contaran un poco acerca de la experiencia y si se lo recomendarían a otros alumnos en el futuro.  Esto es lo que dijeron:

¡Felicitaciones!

Besos,

Caro

Weekly Tip – 10/19/17 – Bask in your accomplishments!

I had a conversation with a student this week that inspired this blog post.

This student just spent a year on and off in a Spanish-speaking country and has reached a C2 level.

My reaction was a very positive one, congratulating him for reaching fluency. His response was that on occasion he is still lost.

This is actually a very typical response. Most of the time when I congratulate students for their accomplishments they tell me everything that they don’t do well in Spanish or what they still need to work on. While it is important to know where your weaknesses are so that you can improve them, it is also incredibly important to take a moment and think about how far you have come with the language. This is not your native language, this is not a language that you speak and listen to 16 hours a day. This is a language that you have worked very hard to learn.

This week I recommend that you sit down and write a list of your accomplishments in Spanish and take a moment to bask in how far you have come.

Here is my list for Italian:

• I am now able to greet people in Italian without stopping to think about it
• I am able to understand the gist of what is being talked about in News in Slow Italian, rather than just understanding a word here and there
• My reading comprehension has improved by about 20%
• During my lessons I am able to express myself in a basic manner about 50% of the time (it was zero 6 months ago)
• During my lessons I am able to understand what my teacher is saying about 75% of the time (it was about 10% 6 months ago)
• I understand the past tense in Italian and use it fairly well
• My vocabulary has grown from using about 20 words six months ago to maybe 300-400 now
• Most importantly, I am not afraid to make mistakes. I put myself out there say some crazy things, laugh about them along with my teacher and then learn something new

What are your accomplishments in Spanish?

Besos,

Caro

Weekly Tip 10/12/17 – Why accuracy plays a role in your level of Spanish

Hola chicos,

Buenos días :)

From time to time students ask why they are not moving up a level when they understand everything and feel comfortable in the next level.  It could be for a number of reasons, but today I want to address accuracy.

When you’re learning a language you will make a million mistakes…and that’s ok, we want you to, as it means that you are putting yourself out there and trying.  It is important however to try to learn from your mistakes.

It is one thing to be able to understand everything, but it is quite another for a native Spanish speaker who does not speak English to understand you.

If this may be what is keeping you from advancing a level, here are a few things you can do to improve your accuracy:

• Actively listen.  This means that when your teacher & classmates are talking, you are paying attention to what they’re saying, not thinking about how you’re going to respond.  I would also recommend listening to podcasts or watching tv outside of class.
• Read.  Reading can be a tremendous help because you can visually start to notice patterns and pick up complete phrases.
• Work in a grammar workbook.  If grammar is what is killing you, try one of the books from the McGraw Hill “Practice Makes Perfect” series.  I recommend starting out with “Complete Spanish Grammar” and then trying out the others.
• Speak.  The more practice you get speaking, the better you will get.  It’s that simple.
• Last, but not least, when you are corrected in class, stop, repeat the correction and then continue.  If you have time, write it down.

Where do you feel you are at with your accuracy?  Do native Spanish speakers (who do not speak English) understand you?

Besitos,

Caro

Weekly Tip 10/5: Label your surroundings!

Hola chicos,

Buenos días :)  Espero que todos estén bien hoy.

Today I want to talk about things that you come into contact with all the time.

For example, for a teacher it could be desks, books, the principal, the cafeteria, etc.

For a lawyer it might be a jury, laws, billing, clients, contracts, felons, etc.

For anyone it might be a car, a bedroom, a hair brush, a blender, a cooking pan, etc.

Today I want you to pick 5 things that you come into contact with all the time that would be useful to know in Spanish.  This is an excellent way to learn new vocabulary without dedicating much time or effort.

Label them (maybe with a post-it) and look at it every day for a week to 2 weeks until you feel comfortable that you have learned it.

I understand that you can’t label your clients or a school principal, but maybe something that reminds you of them…

One rookie mistake: do NOT label too many things at once.  This can become overwhelming and annoying.  5 things at a time is a good number :)  Also, if you can, don’t write the word in English, only in Spanish.  

What will you be labeling?

Besos,

Caro