Spanish Language Podcast: "A mi aire"

First of all, I apologize for the long break. My paying job is working at a summer camp so summer is one of my busiest times of the year. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, I can start writing blog posts on a semi-regular basis. (By the way, we have had three campers from Spain and one from Mexico, so I have been able to use my Spanish a little.)

I started listening to a new podcast (new to me at least) about a month ago and I must say I have really enjoyed it. It’s called Alicia: A mi aire and can be found at www.podclub.ch. You can find past episodes here with links to entire transcripts and vocabulary used.

An overview from the site:

A mi aire es un podcast de Alicia para estudiantes de español a partir del nivel A2/B1. Alicia es el seudónimo utilizado por Paloma Bétrisey. Paloma tanto como Alicia es de Madrid y llegó a Zürich cuando las tiendas cerraban a las seis y media y los bares a las doce de la noche. ¡Qué tiempos aquellos! Alicia se acuerda de lo extraño que era para ella pasear por el centro de la ciudad a las siete con las tiendas cerradas y sin ver a nadie. Se preguntaba: "¿Dónde estará la gente?". Acababa de llegar de Madrid, una ciudad enorme, donde hay ruido y personas por todas partes. Su hermana Lucía se lo había dicho: "Alicia, te vas a Europa, allí no puedes comprar todo a última hora y tendrás que cenar a las siete, ¿eh?". "Ya lo sé, ya lo sé", le contestó ella entonces convencida, pero no fue tan fácil como ella pensaba al principio.

What makes this podcast different? Well, I find them engaging and truly interesting. She speaks clearly and a bit slower than normal, but not too much. And they’re free which is always a good thing.

The podcasts come out every two weeks. She is on a summer break, but it appears the podcasts will start up again in mid-August. Also, they offer podcasts in other languages such as English, German, French and Italian.

Magazine: Bilingual Times/Tiempo Bilingüe

Just a really quick post since it’s late, but had to share this one. Bilingual Times is a magazine for children that’s available in print and digital format. The digital version is free at this time.

From the site:

TIEMPO BILINGÜE es una publicación mensual en inglés y en español creada con el objetivo de aportar material de lectura para la práctica de los dos idiomas. Un contenido internacional y multicultural, que incluye noticias, artículos, relatos, juegos de palabras y actividades creativas que despiertan la iniciativa, la imaginación y el poder inventivo natural que todos tenemos.

BILINGUAL TIMES is a monthly publication in English and Spanish. It was created with the idea of bringing reading material to practice both languages. Our scope is international and multicultural; it covers news, stories, games, play on words and creative activities that awaken the initiative, the imagination and the common power of invention we all have.

Enjoy!

Hat Tip: Todoele.net

Happy Hour Spanish

As usual, I ran across this resource as I was spending a bit of time this morning on Twitter. Happy Hour Spanish is a fairly new site (2011) that features videocasts, podcasts and exercises to help you learn Spanish and about the Spanish culture.

Hayley, a California native, was a student of Maider who was teaching classes in Bilbao (her native city) when they decided to start the Happy Hour Spanish program. More information from the About Us page:

After becoming fast friends, we decided to embark on creating the ultimate language learning program based on our unique experience in both teaching and learning foreign languages. We have designed Happy Hour Spanish as a program that teaches Spanish grammar while also giving you an immersion-style experience of Spanish culture and the Spanish lifestyle.  We like to say you can consider our program a cross between “Rick Steve’s Europe” and “Rosetta Stone”.  Follow along with us on our video tours throughout Spain and enjoy all the sights and sounds the Iberian Peninsula has to offer while feeling what it is like to be immersed in a foreign language…

With the podcasts, you’ll find transcripts and translations. Accompanying the videocasts are transcripts, translations and printable exercises (beginner and intermediate).

Here is look at one of their videos about La Boqueria in Barcelona:

Art Resources for Children from El Prado

You will find a wealth of information about the works of art on the Museo del Prado website, but I wanted to highlight a resource for children – a series of videos with La Infanta Margarita from the painting Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. The animated version of Margarita along with her friend, Francisco de Paula act as guides as they share “secrets” of some of the works of art via interactive videos. There are several games available as well.

Free online magazine: El mundo con eñe

El mundo con eñe is a new free magazine available online. The first one is about Argentina – covering topics such as literature, music, movies, recipes and more.

Each article is given a reading level from A1 to C1. (Look for the number of aliens near the top of each page… yes, aliens.) Also throughout the articles certain words are highlighted which can be found in the glossary section near the end of the magazine. You will also find comprehension exercises for the reader.

In addition to the magazine, there are podcasts and a YouTube channel (links can be found in the magazine).

From their blog:

¿Qué es "El mundo con eñe"?
Es una revista mensual dirigida para quien estudia, enseña o simplemente le gusta el español.

¿Cuánto cuesta?
¡Nada!

¿Dónde la encuentro?
Aquí mismo, en nuestro sitio. Su publicación en línea permite que esté siempre disponible para descarga o lectura en el propio sitio donde la subimos.

Pero...¿qué voy a encontrar en la revista?
Todos los meses trabajaremos un país de habla hispana. Este mes se lo dedicamos a Argentina. Incluimos varias secciones: historia, qué hacer allí, literatura, música, entrevistas y recetas; todo referido al país elegido. Incluimos tambien, un  glosario y ejercicios para aplicar lo que aparece allí.

¿Cuándo la publican?
El útlimo viernes de cada mes.

¿Contiene audios para practicar la comprensión auditiva?
Sí. A partir del segundo número, todas las revistas serán acompañadas por un archivo de audio donde encontrarán  los textos leídos para quien quiera escucharlos y no leerlos. Pero hagan las dos cosas, vamos...

¿Qué harán cuando cubran todos los países de habla hispana?
(Silencio)

No entendí la respuesta...

(Silencio- silencio. Ruido de grillos)

From the questions and answers you can tell that the magazine will be pretty interesting.

Hat tip: http://www.todoele.net/

Free Bilingual Family Magazine: Plaza Familia

Just a quick post to let you know there’s a new free bilingual magazine for Latino families called Plaza Familia.

According to Mommy Maestra they will be distributed for free at various Walmarts and supermarkets across the country. If you can’t find them there, you can also read the issues for free online. I downloaded the latest issue and then uploaded it to my Nook Color. Looks great!

For more information visit Mommy Maestra.

About.com en español

Okay, where have I been and why haven’t I noticed this before? As I was scrolling through the Teaching & Learning Spanish Facebook page, (yes, shameless plug, but turning out to be a great resource) I ran across a post on mamalatina.about.com. I paused and thought, wait a minute, about.com in SPANISH! So, I clicked on the About.com en español link at the top of the page, sat back in my chair and thought how cool is this!

The menu at the top lists the following topics: Autos, Casa, Cocina y recetas, Cultura, Deportes y actividades, Educación, Familia y more. (Hmm… shouldn’t that say más?) Either hover over the menu at the top or scroll down to view the subcategories.

Needless to say, this is a great resource for learning everyday Spanish. I can’t wait to dive in!

Radio Ambulante

Radio Ambulante is a new monthly Spanish-language radio program. Here’s more from their web site:

Radio Ambulante es un nuevo programa de radio que contará historias latinoamericanas provenientes de todos los países de habla hispana, incluyendo Estados Unidos. Buscamos llevar la estética de la buena crónica de prensa escrita a la radio.

Nuestro podcast podrá ser escuchado pronto desde nuestra web en cualquier parte del mundo. Además crearemos alianzas con emisoras en Latinoamérica y Estados Unidos, para alcanzar una audiencia de habla hispana en todo el continente.

Una de nuestras metas es formar una comunidad de cronistas de radio en distintos países, aprovechando los avances tecnológicos para producir, distribuir, e intercambiar historias.

There are stories, so far, from Peru, Argentina, United States and others. You can keep up with Radio Ambulante on Twitter and Facebook. I think this program is of course wonderful for native Spanish speakers to listen to stories in their own language, but also for those of us who are learning the language.

More Free Resources for Learning Spanish

I ran across this resource via Twitter. Es de la página del Departamento de Español de la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Coruña.

En la página hay tres secciones:

1) Para comenzar a saber el español
2) Para reforzar el español que aprendemos
3) Situaciones más específicas

Y no dejan de echar un vistazo a los enlaces en la lista de blogs y sitios a la izquierda de la página.

Revista: Educación 3.0

As I was browsing the website Issuu, I ran across this downloadable magazine, Educación 3.0. From the magazine description:

Educación 3.0 es la revista del aula del siglo XXI. Nuestro objetivo es facilitar la compleja integración entre las nuevas tecnologías y la educación. Para que el aula digital sea una realidad, contribuimos ofreciendo todo tipo de contenidos (información, nuevos dispositivos, novedades editoriales, recursos educativos, materiales, plataformas, software, juegos...) que resulten útiles a los integrantes de la comunidad educativa española…

Keep in mind it’s an abbreviated version. For instance the latest issue is 18 pages while the hard copy has over 50 pages. Still, you’re able to read a few articles. Also, you can load this on your ebook reader which is quite handy.

Free Bilingual Books from Read Conmigo

Just saw this on Facebook from the ladies at Spanglish Baby. Sign up for Club Read to receive a free bilingual book monthly. For ebook versions and summaries of some of the past titles visit this page. (The program is sponsored by Infinity Insurance.)

There’s even a great deal for educators. Go visit Spanglish Baby to find out more!

El placer de aprender idiomas

¿Qué opinan? ¿Están de acuerdo con Sr. Kaufmann? ¿Es corregir a alguien sin permiso una falta de cortesía? Es cierto que me da miedo a veces escribir o hablar en español porque no quiero cometer los errores pero ¿cómo aprendo si no utilizo el idioma?

Kids Do Ecology in Spanish

On Kids Do Ecology you’ll find information about biomes (aquatic & land), marine mammals, endangered animals, the scientific method and much more. I think this would be a good source for a unit study.

Duolingo

Just saw this on Twitter this morning. Basically with Duolingo you help translate the web while you simultaneously learn a language for free. It’s in private beta so you have to sign up for an invitation. Of course I signed up. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Update: Salsa – Spanish Language Program for Children

Back in June 2008 I wrote a post about Salsa, an elementary Spanish language and cultural series from Georgia Public Broadcasting. During the last few years I remember checking the link at various times and noticed that either the videos weren’t available or they were only viewable on a small screen.

Just today I saw on the Freely Educate blog that there was a post about the program, so I had to take another look. I’m happy to report that the videos (42 episodes) are of a much better quality with transcripts (English & Spanish) and activity ideas (on each episode page). Also, there are now games for your children/students to play to reinforce what they have learned.

Additional support materials can be found on the Wyoming Department of Education website.  As mentioned in the blog, the videos are geared towards kindergarten through 2nd grade.