Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Utubersidad: Educational Videos in Spanish

As I was reading my Facebook page I ran across an announcement from BBCMundo: “Todos los videos educativos en español que se encuentran en You Tube, agrupados y catalogados... Bienvenidos a la Utubersidad.”

Well, that certainly caught my eye and instantly tweeted it, but then I felt this deserved its own blog post.

utuber

So far, there are over 8000 videos available covering a variety of topics from architecture to physics, from oceanography to literature. And they’re available for free.

Where to go:
Utubersidad
BBC Mundo Facebook

Thursday, November 4, 2010

More Science in Spanish

Hot off the Twitter presses… um, Twitter stream… well, in any case, I just saw this and wanted to pass it along to you.

From the EarthSky press section:

U.S. Spanish speakers will find more science on both radio and television in the coming three years, thanks to a new National Science Foundation grant, EarthSky announced today. The grant will support EarthSky’s goal of reaching, educating, and inspiring Spanish-speaking audiences in the U.S. with relevant and interesting science content.

What an exciting endeavor! Also, right now you can read articles, watch videos and listen to audio on their Spanish-language site.

Where to go:
More details in press release
EarthSky in Spanish

Friday, October 1, 2010

Don Quijote en YouTube de la mano de la RAE

A global reading of Don Quijote on YouTube. The old and new coming together…

Here’s an excerpt from the article on BBC Mundo:

Las aventuras del famoso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, héroe de la lengua española, se trasladan a internet, en la primera lectura global de la obra de Miguel de Cervantes en YouTube.

La iniciativa de la Real Academia Española (RAE) y el canal de videos YouTube, comenzó este jueves, y contará con la participación de 2.149 internautas de todo el mundo.

Cada voluntario deberá leer fragmentos de El Quijote para recrear, en video, la lectura completa de la novela, y luego subirlo a YouTube.

What’s especially helpful for those who are studying the language is that you can read along by clicking on the link below each video: Versión para imprimir.

Where to go:
El Quijote en YouTube
BBC Mundo article: El Quijote, nuevo héroe de YouTube

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Foreign Language Bill in US Congress

Just a quick heads-up about this bill. From the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL):

Congressmen Holt and Tonko have sponsored HR 6036 which will provide significant levels of funding at the national, state, and local levels for language education. Please help get co-sponsors for this bill so that Congress will realize how important this legislation is for students in the US and for building our nation's language capacity!

Where to go:
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (includes useful links to get started)
Article from Asia Society: New Language Bill Introduced in Congress

Saturday, September 18, 2010

SpanishDict: A very helpful app

I’m reading the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, but of course in Spanish (Los juegos del hambre). Currently I’m reading the second book En llamas (Catching Fire).image

This series came highly recommended by several friends. When I read the description, I must admit I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but I trusted my friends, so I bought the first book. I flew through it and enjoyed every minute of it.

But wait, the title of this post is about an app, right? Well, I don’t usually travel with a regular dictionary, but I always have my iPod Touch with me. Several months ago I downloaded the free SpanishDict app to test it out. While reading the first book I had to look up a few words. (I mainly do not look up every unfamiliar word because usually I can get the meaning within context.) Well, I was able to find every word in the dictionary section of this app (over 100,000 entries) and there were a few obscure words, let me add.

Frankly, I was impressed. What’s nice is that I don’t have be online to use it since I just have an iPod Touch. (There is an option to look up further meanings which requires you to be online, but I didn’t need to at the time.)

You can learn about the other features (phrasebook, word of the day, word game) using the links below.

Oh, by the way, they have a video podcast as well which is also free.

Where to go:
SpanishDict App on iTunes
SpanishDict Blog (post about the app)
SpanishDict Video Podcast on iTunes
Los juegos del hambre

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Free Online Magazine: VeinteMundos

Through the CASLS (Center for Applied Second Language Studies) newsletter I learned about a fairly new online magazine totally in Spanish called VeinteMundos. Here’s the information from their site: portadaVM14_v (1)

Journalists from Spain and Latin America write interesting reports and articles about everyday life and culture in their homelands. Alongside, Latinos tell us about their experiences in Europe, and Europeans and Americans about their experiences and travels in Spain and Latin America –all in Spanish, of course.

The texts are accompanied by key vocabulary and are written in varying degrees of difficulty, so that you can practice and refresh your Spanish in an efficient and enjoyable way.

An issue is released every month, free of charge, which includes a PDF version of the magazine, an audio version and a vocabulary list. Also, there are resources for teachers such as teacher guides, vocabulary lists, mp3s and more.

Where to go:
VeinteMundos
VeinteMundos for Teachers
CASLS

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Pocoyó with subtitles in English & Spanish

Browsing through my Facebook statuses, I saw a post by Transparent Spanish with a link to a Pocoyó episode with subtitles in English and Spanish.

Personally, I think I would rather have it with just Spanish subtitles or no subtitles, but for beginners, I think these videos would be helpful. After watching them a few times, you then could search for the episodes without any subtitles and see how much you understand.

Where to go:
YouTube channel with subtitled Pocoyó episodes
Transparent Spanish Facebook Page
Official Pocoyó Page

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

World Cup 2010/Copa Mundial de 2010

Doing a little tweeting this morning and just posted some helpful World Cup/soccer/football links I wanted to share with you:

To watch the game live in Spanish visit Univision’s World Cup page:  http://futbol.univision.com/fifacopamundial/partidos-en-vivo

But maybe before you start watching, you might want to look imageover this vocabulary list first: http://www.transparent.com/spanish/soccer-vocabulary-en-espanol/

You’ll find more vocabulary on the SSL4YOU Podcast – Español Segunda Lengua para Todos:
Locos por el fútbol  http://ssl4you.blogspot.com/

And to learn about the origins of fútbol read this article from MUY Interesante: http://www.muyinteresante.es/icual-es-el-origen-del-futbol?

Another interesting article:
http://www.curiosidadesenlared.com/9-curiosidades-sobre-el-mundial-de-sudafrica-2010/

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Free Spanish homeschool/classroom lesson plans

Today the folks at the Foreign Language House posted a great resource on their Facebook page. Whistlefritz, which produces immersion-based, award-winning CDs and DVDs now have made lesson plans available for free on their website:image

Whistlefritz® DVDs teach Spanish using a multi-sensory approach: children hear, see, speak, and move to, Spanish. As every parent and teacher knows, repetition is the key to learning a language. Our new Lesson Plans pick up where the DVDs leave off. The Lessons give children more opportunities to practice the words they are learning in our Spanish DVD programs.

Where to go:
Whistlefritz - homeschool lesson plans
Whistlefritz - About Us
Foreign Language House Facebook Page

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Nature ebooks in Spanish with support materials

Well, this is a neat “discovery” and I didn’t find it through Twitter buhothis time. Actually my younger son showed me the book, Baby Owl’s Rescue by Jennifer Keats Curtis. As we were looking through it I noticed that there were resources and teaching activities on the publisher’s site.

I visited the site and was very pleased to see support materials in both English and Spanish. For example if you visit the Baby Owl’s Rescue page and click on For Creative Minds (en Español), you’ll find Great Horned Owl fun facts, a matching activity, owl life sequencing activity and information about what to do if you find an injured bird.

You’ll also find ebook previews in English and Spanish – look over the books and listen as it is read aloud in either language. You’ll find just part of the text available, but you can listen to the entire book.

From what I gather from the site, the hardcovers and paperbacks are only available in English, but you can purchase ebooks – actually licenses for 1, 3, and 5 years or lifetime - in English or Spanish.

Where to go: 
Sylvan Dell Publishing
Ebooks in Spanish from Sylvan Dell Publishing

Monday, May 17, 2010

Foreign Language Teaching Methods

I picked this up from MisCositas.com’s Facebook page. It’s Foreign Language Teaching Methods from the University of Texas at Austin. From the site:

Foreign Language Teaching Methods focuses on 12 different aspects of language teaching, each taught by a different expert instructor. The site contains video footage from an actual methods course held at the University of Texas at Austin. This flexible resource is designed to be used by foreign language teachers as a component of a classroom methods course, a stand-alone course for independent learners, or as a means of obtaining professional development credits.

Where to go:
Foreign Language Teaching Methods
MisCositas.com Facebook page

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Video: Book

I ran across this video this morning. I thought it was amusing.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

NY Times: A guide to online educational resources

I found this article link in the latest issue of the ACTFL SmartBrief. It talks about the free educational materials that can be found online and highlights several including YouTube EDU, Connexions, iTunesU among others.

Where to go:
NY TImes: How to Learn Something for Nothing
Connexions
MIT OpenCourseWare
YouTube EDU
Open Culture: Free Language Lessons
iTunesU
OpenCourseWare Consortium
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACTFL SmartBrief – April 20, 2010

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

News in Slow Spanish

While wading through my Twitter stream, I saw an interesting tweet by @SECottrell. Her link led me to News in Slow Spanish which is basically what is says. From the site:

News in Slow Spanish is a podcast for those who already possess a basic vocabulary and some knowledge of Spanish grammar. Your host is a native Spanish speaker from Spain. Our section Explorando Latinoamérica is hosted by a native speaker from Latin America. In our program we discuss the Weekly News, grammar, and expressions, and much more in simplified Spanish at a slow pace so that you can understand almost every word and sentence.

There is both free and paid content. The free content includes the audio with a transcription of the introduction (not the entire audio). Several words are highlighted in the transcription which you can hover your mouse over to see a translation in English. The paid content includes grammar lessons, expressions review, pronunciation practice, flashcards, grammar exercises and more depending on the subscription level. You can find a demo episode on the homepage.

image

Where to go:
News in Slow Spanish
Mis Musicuentos – SECottrell’s blog. (She’s a Spanish teacher.)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Actualidades Revista

One of my favorite blogs now will be publishing a downloadable magazine which will feature printable versions of some of the articles from Actualidades: Blogueando Para Aprender as well as exercises including crossword puzzles, reading comprehension questions and more geared toward high school Spanish language students.

Take a look at the magazine’s masthead:

image 
I think this is brilliant. What a wonderful resource this will be for high school/college teachers!

Where to go:
Actualidades Revista – first issue
Actualidades: Blogueando Para Aprender

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Giveaway at MisCositas.com Facebook Page

As I was going through my Facebook statuses this morning, an event on the MisCositas.com page caught my attention. They’re languagesandchildrenasking for suggestions for a new Niko Spanish vocabulary video. The prize is a copy of Languages and Children: Making the Match by Helena Curtain and Carol Ann Dahlberg. All you have to do is post a suggestion or comment between now and April 30, 2010 to be automatically entered.

Where to go:
MisCositas Facebook Page
April Giveaway – Languages and Children: Making the Match
MisCositas.com YouTube Channel
____________________________________

Monday, March 29, 2010

Free thematic units in Spanish and other languages

I was just reading through my CASLS newsletter that I receive once a week via email, when my mouse stopped in its tracks. Here is the article in its entirety:
K-12 Thematic Units Available for Download

The National K-12 Foreign Language Resource unitsCenter is pleased to announce that they have now made available on their website as free Adobe PDF downloads all of their K-12 standards-based thematic units: six in Spanish and three in French, as well as their teacher’s guide to the national Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. Each may still be purchased at cost in paper format.

Additionally, a new publication, A Thematic Unit: Let’s Go to School in Japan! (Jessica Haxhi, Author), is now available for downloading. DVDs of the accompanying five, one-hour Japanese demonstration classes for fifth and sixth grade students also can be purchased.

Access all of these resources at
http://wayback.archive-it.org/855/20101103145624/http://nflrc.iastate.edu/pubs/units/unitsList.html 
WOW! As soon as I saw this, I had to share. Enjoy!

(Edited 3/6/2011 - updated link)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Catalog of Spanish Voices

First, let me say again, that I love Twitter. Why? Because that’s how I ran across this site Catálogo de voces hispánicas from the Centro Virtual Cervantes. Thanks to Deborah from @bilingualparent for tweeting it!

You’ll find a list of countries with links to various cities within each country. Once you make a selection, then you’re taken to a page with a video of a person from that area speaking. You’ll also find the linguistic characteristics, a transcription of the video and more information about the location including a map.

catalog

I can’t wait to explore this site!

Where to go:
Catálogo de voces hispánicas from the Centro Virtual Cervantes
____________________________________

Monday, March 8, 2010

Subscribe to my tweets

If you would like to learn about useful Spanish language resources, but don’t really want to join Twitter, you can subscribe to my tweets via RSS.
________________________________________________

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Over at the Foreign Language Fun Blog…

This evening I was reading through my blog list when this review at the Foreign Language Fun blog caught my attention. Diane, a French teacher, who is encouraging her sons to learn Spanish as well, wrote a post about Sing-a-Lingo. To me her review has clout because of her background in education and foreign languages.  So, I decided to click on the video:


And I have to admit, I was hooked as well. This music is fun and I could definitely see young children learning Spanish by listening to it.

Where to go:
Foreign Language Fun Blog
Sing-a-Lingo
____________________________________________

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Authentic material on Facebook

Become a fan! Recently I’ve become a fan of several Spanish organizations on Facebook. I’ve discovered that this is probably one of the easiest ways to access authentic Spanish-language material online. fblogo_sm

Here are some of my favorites:

RTVE - http://www.facebook.com/rtve
Muy Interesante - http://www.facebook.com/pages/MUY-Interesante-GJ/50689135867
BBC Mundo - http://www.facebook.com/pages/BBC-Mundo/81395234664?ref=mf

What I have found interesting and sometimes even entertaining are the comments left by the fans – especially on the RTVE page.

If you have any suggestions, please post them in the comments.

Oh, one more thing. I have to give a big shout-out to the Mis Cositas Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/MisCositascom/190662591830

Become a fan! She’s always posting resources, helpful links and much more.
________________________________