Teaching & Learning Spanish

Revista: Educación 3.0

2012-01-21T11:52:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-17T07:03:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-15T10:02:00.001-05:00

¿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

2012-01-10T19:31:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-06T07:28:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-05T21:44:00.001-05:00

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.

Read, Listen & Learn On a Nook Color

2011-12-29T09:55:00.001-05:00

For Christmas I received a Nook Color – my very first ebook reader. To say I was excited when I saw it would be an understatement. I’ve already downloaded a couple of books in English and Spanish, the newest update (includes Netflix app), and checked out some books from the library.

Then I started to think about about how I could use the Nook for my Spanish language learning. For some time I’ve wanted to use the resources provided by VeinteMundos, but just couldn’t find the time to read the articles or listen to the mp3s on my laptop. (Granted I could’ve downloaded the MP3s on my iPod Touch, but just never got around to it.)

So this morning, I downloaded several PDFs of the articles along with the corresponding audio files onto my Nook. So now I can read and listen to the articles wherever I want, whenever I want.

How do you use your ebook reader to help you with your language learning?

Students use Spanish language skills to help needy

2011-12-05T08:50:00.001-05:00

I love this! Two groups of high school Spanish language students in northern Kentucky are using their growing language skills to help the needy in their community. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Aside from helping local families, the students are also improving their Spanish, according to Cobb.
"They're learning so much, not just about the language but also about the culture," said Cobb. "It's a huge benefit for them to be able to speak Spanish with native speakers.
"They're excited to help and the group is really getting into the project."

This is how to learn a language! I wish I had had a similar opportunity when I was in high school or college.

By the way, I ran across this article via the CASLS newsletter which I would highly recommend. I look forward to it every Monday morning.

Caramba Kids by José-Luis Orozco

2011-11-29T15:22:00.001-05:00

Just saw on Spanglish Baby’s Facebook page that José-Luis Orozco has a new site:

Caramba Kids is developing a new and innovative education program based on the music of renowned bilingual educator Jose-Luis Orozco. Our team consists of award-winning experts in animation, music, technology and early childhood development who are committed to the development of exciting educational content for children 8 and under.

You’ll find printable activities in both English and Spanish. They already have a YouTube channel as well as a presence on Facebook and Twitter.

This is great! I remember using his songs all the time when I taught preschool Spanish.

Khan Academy… en español

2011-11-22T21:35:00.001-05:00

Quick post to let you know that so far, close to 900 Khan Academy videos translated into Spanish have been uploaded on YouTube:

I ran across this piece of news on Facebook.

El día de los muertos

2011-10-31T11:01:00.001-04:00

I subscribe to the Annenberg Learner newsletter which is always full of information for teaching a wide variety of subjects. In this particular issue, there is a section about El día de los muertos (Day of the Dead). Here is the link to the activities including slideshows in English and Spanish, a teacher guide and more: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/DiaMuertosTG.html

If you don’t have time to use this lesson this year, then perhaps you can bookmark it for next year.

JP Is Back!

2011-10-18T17:22:00.001-04:00

And it’s about time! Just kidding, JP. Seriously though, I was a big fan of his when he was on SpanishPod. He had such a great way of explaining Spanish grammar, vocabulary, etc. So when I saw a post on my Facebook page (via Medical Spanish Podcast) that he was on a new podcast, I immediately came here to write a quick post about it.

The podcast is called Q&A Spanish and is part of the Radio Lingua Network… you know, the wonderful folks who produce Coffee Break Spanish, ShowTime Spanish and many more high-quality language podcasts.

From the Q&A Spanish web page:

When you’re learning a language on your own and you don’t have access to a teacher or a native speaker it can sometimes be difficult to get the help you need in order to build confidence in the language and make progress. Here at Radio Lingua we receive requests for help all the time through our website, email, our help desk, Twitter and Facebook. We’ve decided that the best way to answer these questions is by launching our new weekly show Q&A Spanish. Q&A Spanish is hosted by Spanish teacher and language expert JP Villanueva. JP is joined by Nahyeli Mendivil who will be sharing her native speaker knowledge with learners in each show.

You can also download the podcast via iTunes. And here’s the link to the Q&A Spanish Facebook page.

Pocoyó YouTube Channel

2011-09-19T15:47:00.001-04:00

After our Spanish lesson, my younger son and I watched a few episodes of Pocoyó on YouTube. It was nice to see that they have their own channel now. What’s really funny is that he wanted to watch an English version “just to see what it was like.” After less than a minute, he said he didn’t like it nearly as much.

Destino: España

2011-09-17T11:39:00.001-04:00

I’m totally addicted to the show, Destino: España, on RTVE. I ran across the program via the RTVE app on iTunes.

During each episode you meet several people from various parts of the world (from Togo to Mongolia and everywhere in between) who have chosen to set up residence in Spain. They talk about how long they’ve been there, introduce their family and friends, visit various parts of their town including where they work when applicable.

The program is organized by regions. I started with Aragón since that is where I spent most of my time when I studied abroad in Spain umpteen years ago. For instance, in the Aragón II episode, they talk to a gentleman from Romania who is a gardener at the Monasterio de Piedra. It was lovely to “re-visit” this beautiful location even for just a little bit.

I could see this being used in the classroom (upper-intermediate, advanced) for listening comprehension, Spanish language (of course), geography and culture.

Tocar y Luchar

2011-09-05T19:54:00.000-04:00

Watch more free documentariesA film I wanted to share with you. Enjoy!

How-to videos in Spanish

2011-07-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

Practicopedia.com is chocked-full of videos about how to do everything from packing a suitcase to touring El Prado, from how to transport a pet in your car to how to speak in public.

From the site:

Practicopedia.com es el líder del How-To audiovisual en España con más de un millón de usuarios mensuales. Practicopedia intenta dar solución a los problemas de la vida cotidiana creando contenidos originales, gracias a su equipo de redacción. Practicopedia.com también vigila por la calidad de los contenidos que envían los usuarios y sólo publica aquellos que pasan el filtro por tener los estándares de calidad periodista exigible.

You can also hover your mouse over any word and get the definition – in Spanish, of course. There is also a free iPhone app, so that you can watch the videos wherever you are.

To view more categories: http://categorias.practicopedia.com/

How would you use this site in your classroom?

Cooking with your children… in Spanish

2011-07-21T08:55:00.001-04:00

My older son loves to cook and I’m glad. I figure in a few years, I may be able to hand over the cooking duties to him. One can dream…

I have found a couple of websites full of recipes in Spanish so that I can help him improve his cooking skills as well as his Spanish language skills.

PequeRecetas http://www.pequerecetas.com/
You’ll find weekly menus, quick dinner recipes, recipes that you can do with your children and more.

Cocina facilisimo
http://cocina.facilisimo.com/
Here readers contribute recipes to the site which are broken up into your typical categories – salads, sauces, desserts, etc.

Do you cook with your children? Which sites would you recommend?

Los misterios de Laura

2011-07-18T19:31:00.001-04:00

Even though this series is probably not new to you, it’s new to me, so I thought I would post it here for those who didn’t know about it. Here’s a snippet from RTVE.es:

Laura Lebrel tiene que compatibilizar sus labores de esposa, ama de casa y madre de dos gemelos de cinco años con su trabajo como inspectora de policía. Pero no es una inspectora cualquiera... No se basa en pruebas científicas, ni controla el análisis psicológico. Su arma es la intuición y el instinto, que la llevarán a desmontar la coartada más perfecta…

Even though I don’t normally watch this sort of programming I’m willing to watch in Spanish just to help with my listening comprehension.

Where to go:
About the series - http://www.rtve.es/television/misterios-laura/serie/
(To watch the individual shows, click on the capítulos tab.)

Spanish Civil War – 75th Anniversary

2011-07-18T08:53:00.001-04:00

Today, July 18, marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. I saw a post by RTVE on Facebook which has an entire section (videos, reports, photographs) about the war.

Many years ago, during a studying abroad trip to Spain, I remember an excursion to Belchite… still remember it like it was yesterday. It’s a town in the province of Zaragoza which was completely destroyed. It was an eerie trip back in time… entire sides of buildings completely gone, large gaping holes in what remained of the cathedral and other structures. Needless to say it left quite an impression.

Where to go:
RTVE.es – La guerra civil
History Channel – Spanish Civil War breaks out
Belchite – Ghostly Reminder of the Spanish Civil War

Active learning

2011-07-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, most of my Spanish learning these days is inactive – reading and listening. There’s definitely nothing wrong with either one, but I feel I don’t progress as much as when I write or speak in Spanish on a regular basis.

Since my time is limited, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to work on the skills noted above. While I would love to speak in Spanish face-to-face with a native speaker, I realize I just can’t at this time. On the other hand, I do have access to the wonderful Internet and all its possibilities. One site that came to mind when I started thinking about this post was Lenguajero.com.

Lenguajero.com is an online community for those who are learning English and Spanish. That’s it… English and Spanish. I like this. Nothing wrong with language exchange sites which offer a multitude of languages, but I appreciate the simplicity of just having just these two to choose from.

Here’s the embarrassing part… I’ve been a member for over a year and I haven’t had a conversation through the site. I also haven’t used the text chat app and probably will not too often. On the other hand I have participated in their Writing Club… once. It was a very positive experience though. I chose to write a little something about myself as an introduction to the community. Within days I had feedback from Spanish language speakers which was so helpful.

So, here’s the thing. I’m going to put myself on a schedule of sorts. I’m going to start off by writing again in Spanish at least twice a week and then more frequently. During that time I’m going to also try to set up a conversation schedule with a couple of my Lenguajero “friends.”

I’ll write about my progress here. Wish me luck!

Where to go:
Lenguajero.com

Working, family and now homeschooling

2011-07-05T20:22:00.001-04:00

To say that I’ve been busy would be quite an understatement. As I’ve mentioned before I work at a summer camp which pretty much means I have little time for anything else. Luckily, I’ve actually been able to use my Spanish with a camper family from Madrid.

Speaking of which… I noticed the last few times I corresponded with the mother in Spanish, I found it to be a difficult task. I was doubting myself quite a bit and looking up more words than I should.

Family. Unlike some bloggers who write about learning languages, I just can’t pick up and travel to a Spanish-speaking country right now even though I really would like to. I need to work and look after my family. I wake up with the best intentions, but after a day at work, housework, family time, etc., I go to bed without doing anything in Spanish except to read or listen to part of a podcast during my commute to work.

And, that brings me back to this blog and why I started it in the first place over three years ago, but now with a bit of a twist. We’re going to start homeschooling in August. Over the past several years I’ve taught them some Spanish, but more structure will be necessary.

I’m currently searching for a curriculum for each (3rd and 7th grades), but so far, I haven’t been very satisfied with what I have seen. If or when I do find something, I will certainly write about it here. (And yes, I have thought about putting something together on my own.) I will also continue to write about resources for adult-learners.

So, that’s it. Just a quick update from me.

Starting off slow…

2011-07-03T20:19:00.001-04:00

I’m the first to admit that my listening comprehension is somewhat lacking. I find myself catching some words here and there and pretty much understanding what’s being said, but there is certainly room for improvement.

For the past several months, I’ve been listening to News in Slow Spanish which I wrote about last year. It’s slow, that’s for sure. In fact, I thought perhaps it would slow me down, but I have discovered that it’s helped my comprehension when listening to Spanish at a “normal” speed.

I compare it to reading a book. When listening to the News in Slow Spanish podcast, I can savor each word, think about its meaning and still pretty much keep up with the podcast. I have found that my vocabulary has increased quite a bit as well as my comprehension when listening to other Spanish language podcasts.

Give it a try! I think you’ll understand after a few episodes.

Where to go:
http://www.newsinslowspanish.com/
Subscribe via iTunes

New link for thematic units

2011-03-06T08:11:00.001-05:00

A reader brought to my attention the fact that the link for my post about free thematic units in Spanish and other languages did not work anymore. After a bit of research, I discovered that the pages were archived. The new link is: http://wayback.archive-it.org/855/20101103145624/http://nflrc.iastate.edu/pubs/units/unitsList.html

I will fix the link on the original post, but since I thought this was such a great resource, I thought it deserved a new post as well. Also, I would highly recommend that you download the material to your computer. I will be doing the same. Thanks again, Molly!

Videos: Adivina la palabra de hoy

2011-02-20T10:50:00.001-05:00

You know when you find one great website which then leads to another website and so on? Well, on the Practica Español site, I found a series of videos from the Fundación de la Lengua Española called Adivina. From the site:

"Adivina" es un diccionario básico del español en formato audiovisual con definiciones aportadas por niños españoles. Creado con el fin de fomentar el aprendizaje del idioma con una metodología en la que prima el entretenimiento.

Okay, I’m just going to say it. The videos are cute… useful as well, but cute. I can see this series of videos being used in the classroom or at home. You could also follow the premise of this series as a classroom exercise. Divide your students into two teams and have one person on each team describe a vocabulary word. Whichever team guesses correctly gets a point and so on.

Where to go:
Fundación de la Lengua Española - Adivina

Website: Practica Español

2011-02-14T17:44:00.001-05:00

I’m again amazed at the amount and quality of free learning materials that are available to the Spanish language student. In my weekly CASLS (Center for Applied Second Language Studies) email newsletter, I ran across this wonderful resource – Practica Español. From the site:

Dispones de una variedad de contenidos con diferentes temáticas: ESPAÑA, MUNDO, DEPORTES, ENTRETENIMIENTO, VIAJES, SALUD, NEGOCIOS, CULTURA, CIENCIA y GASTRONOMÍA.

Todos los contenidos tienen soporte en TEXTO, SONIDO E IMÁGENES (Video y/o Fotografía). Lo que te permite LEER, ESCUCHAR, PRACTICAR, APRENDER Y PARTICIPAR a través de los ejercicios que te proponemos.

And here’s their video:

Where to go:
Practica Español
Center for Applied Second Language Studies

Video: Lo Importante Que Es Saber Idiomas

2011-01-14T09:12:00.001-05:00

Amusing video I found via Facebook. Enjoy.

Utubersidad: Educational Videos in Spanish

2010-11-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

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.

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

More Science in Spanish

2010-11-04T12:42:00.001-04:00

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

Don Quijote en YouTube de la mano de la RAE

2010-10-01T09:07:00.000-04:00

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

Foreign Language Bill in US Congress

2010-09-28T16:45:00.001-04:00

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

SpanishDict: A very helpful app

2010-09-18T15:22:00.001-04:00

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).

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

Free Online Magazine: VeinteMundos

2010-07-24T21:18:00.001-04:00

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:

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

Pocoyó with subtitles in English & Spanish

2010-06-22T18:03:00.001-04:00

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

World Cup 2010/Copa Mundial de 2010

2010-06-16T10:41:00.001-04:00

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 over 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/

Free Spanish homeschool/classroom lesson plans

2010-06-08T13:28:00.001-04:00

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:

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

Nature ebooks in Spanish with support materials

2010-05-19T12:21:00.001-04:00

Well, this is a neat “discovery” and I didn’t find it through Twitter this 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

Foreign Language Teaching Methods

2010-05-17T11:16:00.001-04:00

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

Video: Book

2010-04-25T14:21:00.001-04:00

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

NY Times: A guide to online educational resources

2010-04-20T17:16:00.001-04:00

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

News in Slow Spanish

2010-04-13T14:13:00.001-04:00

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.

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

Actualidades Revista

2010-04-12T19:26:00.001-04:00

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:

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

Giveaway at MisCositas.com Facebook Page

2010-04-04T08:54:00.001-04:00

As I was going through my Facebook statuses this morning, an event on the MisCositas.com page caught my attention. They’re asking 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
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Free thematic units in Spanish and other languages

2010-03-29T19:54:00.002-04:00

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 Center 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)

Catalog of Spanish Voices

2010-03-10T20:42:00.002-05:00

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.

I can’t wait to explore this site!

Where to go:
Catálogo de voces hispánicas from the Centro Virtual Cervantes
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Subscribe to my tweets

2010-03-08T19:34:00.000-05:00

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.
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Over at the Foreign Language Fun Blog…

2010-03-06T19:30:00.002-05:00

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
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Authentic material on Facebook

2010-03-04T19:02:00.002-05:00

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.

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.
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10 Free Language Learning Communities

2009-12-21T07:45:00.001-05:00

Joining a language learning community is a great way to learn or improve your Spanish. Online communities often provide free lessons, videos, audio materials, and a chance to practice with native speakers. Here are 10 free language learning communities to explore in your free time.

Livemocha - Livemocha, the world's largest language learning community, provides more than 160 hours of free Spanish lessons in addition to courses in 30 other languages. Site members can practice with the lessons and receive helpful tips from native speakers along the way.

Busuu - Bussu is a worldwide language learning community that is free for anyone to join. The site offers an integrated video chat option as well as hundreds of image and sound-based learning units.

iTalki - iTalki combines social networking and language learning to create a global education community. Members can communicate, share files, post content, and learn from each other online.

Tomisimo - Tomisimo is a Spanish language learning community with an English to Spanish dictionary and a Spanish verb conjugator. The site also provides a forum where learners can connect with other people who are studying Spanish.

Palabea - Palabea is a large language learning community for people who want to talk to native speakers in an online exchange. The site also provides free audio and visual learning tools and a language school database.

LingQ - LingQ is a language learning site that provides an unlimited number of free language lessons and a community where language learners can chat and make new friends online.

Lang-8 - Lang-8 is a free international language exchange community for people who want to learn in a social environment. Visitors can help others learn a language, have writing corrected by native speakers, and track learning progress.

VoxSwap - VoxSwap is a social network for language learners. Users can learn a new language, teach someone else a new language, and make friends with people all over the world.

Lingorilla - Lingorilla is an award-winning global video community for people who want to learn a new language and make new friends around the world. Site members can watch free videos, join or start a language group, and quiz themselves online.

Mixxer - This free language learning community makes it easy to find free language learning partners online and communicate with them via Skype.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online school for OnlineSchool.net.
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Spanish activities for children ages 6-9

2009-12-06T21:31:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, @mundaysa, an associate professor of Spanish who I follow on Twitter, passed along this wonderful resource - ¡Aprendo Jugando! Actividades de Español para niños y niñas de 6 a 9 años.

It’s a downloadable PDF file (110 pages) from the Departamento Confederal de Migraciones de UGT y de la Secretaría de Políticas Sociales de FETE-UGT. The text and activities are written by Fina García Naranjo and Concha Moreno García.

Each activity lists objectives, procedures, exercises with some of the support materials (worksheets, labels, etc.). Topics include the alphabet, numbers, food, family members, and much more. Here’s a screenshot of the table of contents.

Where to go:
¡Aprendo Jugando! Actividades de Español para niños y niñas de 6 a 9 años
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Give your Spanish a boost by volunteering

2009-11-20T13:50:00.002-05:00

As you may have noticed, I haven’t really been blogging a lot lately. Well, one of the main reasons is that I got a job back in April which has kept me extremely busy. It’s a steady paycheck so no complaining here. I work for a children’s summer camp. Some of my duties include taking photos for print materials, maintaining the website, social networking (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc), and much more. On the downside, I haven’t really used my Spanish too much except for a few emails.

Well, I decided that I needed to fix that. Very soon I’ll be volunteering as a bilingual reader for preschool age children. I’ve really missed teaching Spanish at the preschool, so I’m very excited about this new adventure. Currently all I’m doing at home is reading in Spanish… pretty much on a daily basis in fact, but I’m not using it in an active manner – i.e. conversing or writing. With this new position, I’ll be reading aloud and also interacting with the children in Spanish.

I can already tell that the “spark” has returned. In preparation for this new position I have started talking to my own kids more in Spanish, writing in my journal in Spanish and more. All I needed was that little push.

So, do you want to give it a try?

Where to go:
Volunteer Match: http://www.volunteermatch.org/
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The Olympics – Madrid still in the race…

2009-10-02T12:18:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post for those who want to follow the news about who will host the Olympics in 2016. You can learn background information about Madrid’s journey and watch live: http://www.rtve.es/deportes/madrid-2016/

Edited to add: Well, the 2016 Olympics will be in Rio de Janeiro which is still pretty neat – the first time in South America. In any case, the rtve.es site is still a great place to watch Spanish-language television.
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20 Free Online Resources for Spanish Language Learners

2009-08-29T11:08:00.002-04:00

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer.

Learning Spanish is a great way to open doors to opportunities in travel, professional areas, and even education. The Internet plays host to many different resources that would be useful to anyone who wants to learn Spanish. Here is a list of 20 free resources for Spanish language learners to explore:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT offers over 1,900 free courses for online learners, including several free Spanish courses. Course offerings include Spanish I-IV, oral communication, and advanced Spanish communication.

123TeachMe - This free service offers basic and conversational courses that cover vocabulary, grammar, and conversational Spanish. 123TeachMe also has resources strictly for kids, including games and quizzes.

Discover Spanish - Discover Spanish has fun, free podcast Spanish lessons. Podcast episodes last 15 minutes and cover greetings, numbers, age, and much more.

Insta Spanish - This online learning site features free Spanish podcast lessons for all levels of learners. Throughout this site, you can also find Spanish speaking pen pals, an e-learning newsletter, and a forum.

Learn Spanish Online - Learn Spanish Online offers 903 free pages of Spanish grammar with audio files to guide all examples. Language learners can find everything they need--from accents to verbs.

BBC - The BBC offers a large collection of resources for learning Spanish. Learners can find online courses, speaking resources, and quick fixes.

Radio Lingua Network - The Radio Lingua Network provides two free learning podcasts for learners to build their Spanish speaking confidence.

Study Spanish - This teaching site offers free tutorials for anyone interested in learning Spanish. The tutorials consist of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, verbs, idioms, and a travel helper.

Vocabulix - Vocabulix offers over 90 vocabulary lessons for improving your Spanish skills. Users of this site will also find verb drills and verb conjugation tables.

Babbel - This online language platform offers fun, multimedia courses for learning Spanish, English, German, Italian, and French. This is a great place for Spanish learners to find grammar builders, multimedia courses, and grammatical exercises.

Rolling R's - Rolling R's has a series of free videos lessons for building your Spanish speaking and writing skills. The site offers over 75 video lessons, most of which are available for free download or viewing.

don Quijote - This language site offers free Spanish lessons from Spanish teachers. Simply register for a free membership to gain access to this online language resource.

Edufone - Edufone has 40 free podcast lessons for all levels of Spanish speakers. The podcasts cover grammar, verbs, pronunciations, and conversations.

SpanishUnlimited - SpanishUnlimited features free services for learning and practicing Spanish. This site offers users lessons, vocabulary words, tests, and vocabulary games.

Spanicity - This Spanish learning site features grammar and vocabulary lessons complete with audio. Spanicity also comes complete with a Spanish dictionary and quiz.

LearnerSpanish.com - The LearnerSpanish.com site provides online tutorials on vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. This site utilizes both text and audio to help you learn.

Spanish Romance - Spanish Romance offers free online Spanish courses created by Spanish teachers. This site features resources for learning vocabulary, numbers, and phrases.

Palabea - This online social network offers video lectures, virtual classrooms, documents, podcasts, and language partners for Spanish language learners.

iTalki - iTalki is an online social community for learning a wide variety of different languages including Spanish. Users of this site will find 43 different courses, language partners, groups, and a knowledgebase.

Livemocha - Livemocha is a free way for Spanish learners to find self-paced lessons, practice, and native speakers who want to share their skills. All you have to do is sign up for a free account to immerse yourself into the Spanish language.

Karen Schweitzer is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineCollege.org, an online college resource.
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Free iPod Touch/iPhone Apps for Learning Spanish

2009-07-29T16:00:00.001-04:00

After writing about the iRAE app, I thought it would be good to write more about iPhone/iPod Touch Apps that might be helpful for the Spanish language learner. All of these are free.

El Universal (Mexico) and El País (Spain) both have news articles, videos and other “authentic” materials for the Spanish language learner. Radio Nacional de España has five channels with which you can listen to music, news, weather, traffic, sports and more. (internet connection required)

WordReference is definitely a handy little app. You can access English-Spanish dictionaries, Spanish monolingual dictionary, Spanish synonyms dictionary, plus several others. You can also link to the WordReference’s forums via the app which comes in handy. (internet connection required)

SpanishPod has an app where you can look up words in their glossary with sample sentences. The sentences are accompanied by audio. Also, if you’re a premium member, which I’m not, you can also access their flashcard feature. (internet connection required for audio)

Stanza is one of my FAVORITE apps. I love to read and I really love the ability to load many books on my iPod Touch and take them wherever I go. Well, with this app, you can also download many books in Spanish. Right now I’m reading Drácula by Bram Stoker. Other authors represented include: Miguel Cervantes, Pio Baroja, Francisco de Quevedo, Benito Pérez Galdós and many, many others.

To find them within the app go to Online Catalog –> Feedbooks –> Public Domain Books –> Languages –> Español. You can also access Project Gutenberg books using the app as well. (internet connection required to download books)

TuneWiki is a rather unique app which I’m still trying to figure out myself, but still thought it was worth mentioning here. So far, I’ve been able to listen to some of my Spanish language music (from my iPod) and read the lyrics at the same time. Sometimes the lyrics aren’t very accurate, but others are… it’s hit or miss. You can also listen to radio stations from around the world and with some of them you can read the lyrics as the song is playing. Give it a try and let me know what you find. (internet connection required)

Where to go (iTunes links):
Radio Nacional de España
El Universal
El País
WordReference
SpanishPod
Stanza
TuneWiki

What are your favorite apps for learning Spanish?

RAE – App for your iPhone/iPod Touch

2009-07-02T15:16:00.001-04:00

The RAE (Real Academia Española) now has a free application for your iPhone and Ipod Touch. With this app you can look up words in the Royal Spanish Academy’s dictionary and search the Panhispanic Dictionary. It appears a newer version is currently under review and with that one you’ll also be able to look up synonyms.

I just loaded it this morning and so far, I like it. Thanks to a Twitter friend, @eldeingles, for the news!

Where to go:
iRAE on iTunes

Finding authentic materials on iTunes

2009-06-28T12:03:00.002-04:00

I was just outside doing a bit of yardwork and listening to ShowTime Spanish on my iPod, when Mark, one of the hosts, talked about a neat way of finding authentic materials on iTunes. As soon as I heard it, I knew I had to share it with all of you.

On the iTunes Store screen go to the very bottom. You’ll see this:

Click on the bar and choose a country. Here is a screenshot of the podcast section of the Spain iTunes store:

As Mark mentioned, you won’t be able to buy anything if you don’t have a credit card registered in Spain, but you can still enjoy all the podcasts.

Where to go:
Show Time Spanish http://rlnvault.com/rln09/category/shows/show-time-spanish/
iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
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Around the Twitterverse…

2009-06-27T17:54:00.001-04:00

I haven’t had much time to blog, but I’ve run across some great resources just by spending a little time on Twitter the last couple of weeks. Here are some good finds:

RT @josepicardo: New from Boxoftricks: Fun, engaging resources for the independent learner of Spanish http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1187

RT @icpjones: World Language Resources -- http://bit.ly/2XGxML

RT @spanglishbaby: New post about 4 bilingual and Spanish book publishers. Know more? Please leave link in comments http://bit.ly/16siln

RT @spanishonly: Some interesting articles about Extensive Reading for Second Language Acquisition. http://www.benikomason.net

RT @bencurtis: Fun Notes in Spanish video contest, big prizes, spread the word! http://bit.ly/vY0Xf

RT @yocrezco: Animal Scramble, de Wild Planet http://bit.ly/1a5hvz

RT @spanglishbaby: Finally found the PBS media player en ESPAÑOL! It’s here: http://bit.ly/Fq9h5

Ver vs. Mirar http://bit.ly/uxPES

Where to go:
To follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/spanishblog
To follow others click on the names after the @ sign. (You’ll have to sign up with Twitter first.)
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TED videos in other languages

2009-05-14T10:20:00.001-04:00

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an annual conference which is filled with talks by some of the world’s most fascinating people. I have been watching the videos for about two years now and have learned so much. Well, now, they have translated many of their videos in other languages including Spanish.

To watch a video with subtitles, click on the subtitles drop-down menu underneath and simply select a language. You can also click on the Open Interactive Transcript link to the right, click on any phrase to play the video from that point.

Where to go:
About TED: http://www.ted.com/index.php/pages/view/id/5
TED Translations: http://www.ted.com/index.php/OpenTranslationProject
TED Translations in Spanish: http://www.ted.com/index.php/translate/languages/spa
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Blog Spotlight: English Tricks

2009-04-06T21:47:00.000-04:00

Huh? Wait a minute… isn’t this a blog for learning Spanish? It certainly is and that’s why I thought I should bring this particular blog to your attention because you might not have noticed it otherwise.

Ramses from the Spanish-Only.com blog, first brought it to my attention via Twitter. (Seriously, Twitter is a great resource for finding things like this.) I started subscribing to it immediately and have kept up with it ever since.

The blog author who is a native Spanish speaker writes about English expressions and vocabulary. First, what the expression or word means in Spanish, then example sentences in English followed by the same sentences in Spanish.

An example from the blog:

Once and for all

El equivalente en español es: “de una vez por todas” y se usa para mostrar que algo termina definitivamente, después de un gran esfuerzo o de muchos intentos.

The pipe has been leaking for months. I’m going to fix it once and for all.

La tubería lleva goteando meses. Voy a repararla de una vez por todas.

Where to go:
English Tricks: http://www.englishtricks.com/
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Family Literacy Bag for The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2009-04-06T10:45:00.001-04:00

Just received this in my inbox this morning from CASLS (The Center for Applied Second Language Studies at the University of Oregon):

From http://readingrockets.org

Eric Carle's classic picture book is celebrating 40 years of delighting young children and adults with its simple concepts and brilliantly colorful illustrations. Reading Rockets has created a new family literacy bag inspired by the Hungry Caterpillar — activities that invite parents and kids to explore together the book's themes (in English and Spanish).

Read about the Family Literacy Bags at http://readingrockets.org/article/27935 .

Download the activity kit in English from http://readingrockets.org/content/pdfs/literacybags/Caterpillar_English.pdf or in Spanish from http://readingrockets.org/content/pdfs/literacybags/Caterpillar_Spanish.pdf .

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Dinosaurs and numbers in Spanish

2009-04-05T11:32:00.001-04:00

Funny how a teachable moment can evolve… The boys received their Easter baskets a week early from their grandma. Each one was packed with toys and lots of candy. Included in each was a 3-D foam dinosaur puzzle. In the package were two pieces of foam with the pieces precut and then a diagram of the pieces labeled with numbers. The directions were fairly simple… choose two pieces with the same number and construct the puzzle according to the numbers.

So, my little guy and I began putting together the tyrannosaurus which had about 25 pieces. As we were working on it, I realized that this definitely could be a teachable moment. So as we searched for the matching numbers, I started speaking in Spanish only. My son didn’t bat an eye! Then he started speaking in Spanish. I would ask “'¿Dónde está número once?” He would then look at the diagram saying over and over “once, once, once” until he found the piece. I honestly don’t think he realized he was doing this!

Oh, and we listened to Spanish language music in the background (Jarabe de Palo station on Pandora.com).

So, if you’re teaching your children Spanish at home, look out for those teachable moments. They’re everywhere!

Additional numbers activities:
OnlineFreeSpanish.com printable worksheets: http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/aplica/coloringpages/printables/numbers110/printnum110.htm

OnlineFreeSpanish.com activity: http://www.onlinefreespanish.com/aplica/lessons/numbers110.htm
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¡A Prepararse Para Kindergarten!

2009-04-02T19:47:00.001-04:00

¡A Prepararse Para Kindergarten! (Let’s Get Ready for Kindergarten!) is packed with information in both Spanish and English for your up and coming kindergartner. Some of the early childhood skills your child may acquire in both languages include learning the alphabet, recognizing your left and right hand, knowing the basic colors, shapes and numbers 0-20, using positional words and more.

Stacey Kannenberg is the co-author and publisher (Cedar Valley Publishing). According to her bio, she is a nationally renowned education expert and award winning author with an expertise in children’s education. For the Spanish translations, she enlisted the help from native speakers and educators alike.

As a Spanish-language teaching tool for someone who is a native speaker or someone who is very familiar with the language, I think this book could be quite useful. It covers many of the basics from numbers, the alphabet, colors, shapes, parts of the body, days of the week, months of the year and so on. Quite handy to have in one book. Another thing I liked is that you can use dry erase markers on all the pages, so that makes it more interactive for your child.

On the other hand, if you’re not very familiar with the language, I’m afraid this book wouldn’t be as useful. Some of the words have the phonetic pronunciations included, but not the majority of them. I realize space was probably at a premium, but I would’ve liked to have seen this throughout the book. Additionally, some of the pages were very busy with the graphics and text. For example, the frequently used words page is quite confusing. Perhaps if the words had been organized in a table, it would've been easier to digest. Also, with the Spanish vocabulary, I would have liked to have seen the definite articles used where applicable.

Overall, I think it would be fine for a teaching tool for those who are knowledgeable in the language. Personally, I probably will not use it with my younger child only because I prefer the immersion method as opposed to translation.

Where to go:
Cedar Valley Publishing: http://cedarvalleypublishing.com/proddetail.php?prod=CV-SK
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A Library of Classroom Practices

2009-04-01T09:49:00.001-04:00

Every month I receive the newsletter from Annenberg Media which is always full of great links and resources for teachers. There is one resource that I particularly wanted to share with you - Teaching Foreign Languages K-12, A Library of Classroom Practices. From the website:

The Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 video library and professional development guide bring to life the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. Illustrating effective instruction and assessment strategies, the series documents 27 teachers and their students in K-12 classrooms around the country as they study eight languages across a range of competency levels.

The components of the library are the introduction, standards and the five Cs, assessment strategies, classroom programs, and a professional development guide. Spanish, Latin, German, Japanese, French, Chinese, Russian and Italian are the eight languages included in the library.

For example, here are the lessons for Spanish:

Creating Travel Advice
Food Facts and Stories
Fruits of the Americas
Hearing Authentic Voices
Interpreting Literature
Interpreting Picasso's Guernica
Politics of Art
Routes to Culture

Where to go:
Library of Classroom Practices: http://www.learner.org/libraries/tfl/
Newsletter sign-up: http://www.learner.org/mailman/listinfo/updates

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Video: Why it pays to be multilingual

2009-03-22T12:44:00.001-04:00

From the video page:

Professors from the foreign language and literatures department [California State University] explain the benefits of knowing more than one language, including understanding your own language better, being better off in the job market and just having fun.

My favorite quote: “When I travel in countries where I can speak the language, I have a key to the heart of other people.”

Thanks to Mandy Lindgren for tweeting about this video.
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Podcast Spotlight: SSL4YOU

2009-03-21T20:45:00.001-04:00

For a couple of years now I have been listening to SSL4YOU Español Segunda Lengua para Todos, hosted by Teresa Sánchez de Arriba, an English teacher in Zamora, Spain. The format is straightforward. She talks about a relevant topic and then afterwards explains some of the vocabulary words and phrases used—all in Spanish.

In the beginning, I wondered why she was explaining simple vocabulary words at times, but then I really came to appreciate this. How useful it is to describe everyday words in the target language instead of instantly translating them into English.

For example in her latest podcast, Pedir Aumento de Sueldo en Tiempos de Crisis, one of the phrases is mantener la calma which is pretty easy to define—in English, but how about in Spanish? (She goes on to describe it by using the following phrases: estar tranquilo, no perder los nervios and no enfadarte.)

I really feel like I get more out of this because she does stay in the target language rather than translating into English. In my opinion, listening to this podcast will truly enrich your vocabulary.

Where to find it:
Spanish with English translation with audio (click on titles)
Spanish only with audio
Subscribe to podcast with iTunes
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Perdidos

2009-03-10T16:36:00.001-04:00

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know this. I am a big fan of the television show Lost. I have been watching it since the first season. In addition to watching it, I also enjoy listening to the Jay and Jack’s Lost podcast for a recap, listener feedback and more.

I started thinking how neat it would be if there was something similar in Spanish to help with my listening comprehension. Just recently I found out that there is such a podcast called Extraviados run by two guys who simply like the show and decided to do a podcast. From their site:

Somos Vii y Camvoya. Nos gusta Lost. Se nos ocurrió hacer un podcast. Fin. Comentamos cada episodio y elucubramos teorías y conspiranoias. A nuestro aire, sin spoilers ni azúcares añadidos.

You can also subscribe to the podcasts through iTunes.

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Web site: Online Free Spanish

2009-02-17T11:04:00.001-05:00

Go over to El Rincón Español for a review of the Online Free Spanish site. I’m very impressed by the materials and the quality of the site itself.

Review: Foreign Language Friends

2009-02-11T13:40:00.001-05:00

Foreign Language Friends is a web-based learning program geared towards young children and I’m pretty excited about it… no, actually I’m very excited about it. From the site:

Foreign Language Friends is a complete multimedia experience designed to help your children learn a foreign language easily and successfully. Through unique and entertaining activities, your children will discover their unique ability to learn a foreign language almost effortlessly.

The theme-based program covers shapes, body parts, zoo animals, sea animals, family and more. (New themes are added on a regular basis.) With each theme there are seven activities such as Vocab Builder, Memory Match, Animation (completely in the target language) and several others finishing up with a printable booklet that can be used to reinforce the new vocabulary.

Even though your children could use the program independently, they recommend involving the entire family. I would as well. I think it’s very important to reinforce the language at home. For example, after doing the exercises for the shapes section, you and your children could go on a “shape hunt” in your house using the new vocabulary. (In fact, my head is buzzing with ideas for this.)

My six-year old was reluctant at first, as he is when it comes to almost anything that has to do with Spanish, but even this program hooked him. Yes, it did. His favorite parts are the matching game, the animation clip and the vocab builder activity. When I asked what he thought about Foreign Language Friends, he said enthusiastically, “I like it, I just like it!”

Monthly subscriptions are $9.95 a month or save and pay $99.95 for the year. But right now, Foreign Language Friends is offering a 7-day free trial for individuals and families so that you can try it out yourself. (For educational institutions, click here for information on pricing.)
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Added some new blogs

2009-02-09T10:49:00.001-05:00

I’m not sure if you have noticed my blog list (lower left-hand side), but just in case, I thought I would point out some new ones that I have just added in the last week or so.
More Spanish – Lesson plans & technology for the Spanish classroom is written by Sherry Amorocho, a high school Spanish teacher. It’s fairly new, but looks very promising.
Spanglish Baby – Two Latina moms talking about raising their children bilingual.
¡Vámonos! is written by Lisa Stevens, a primary language teacher in the UK who is also quite a techie.
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La policia mexicana de Saturday Night Live

2009-02-08T13:29:00.001-05:00

Twitter as a language learning tool

2009-01-30T12:06:00.001-05:00

Really? Yes, I think so. For the last month or so I have started following more native Spanish speakers on Twitter and they have started following me. From meteorology to finances, I’m learning many new words and phrases while at the same time enjoying meeting people from Spain, Argentina, Mexico and other countries. Also, the majority of them have blogs or web sites which you can read and learn even more Spanish. In general, the sites are listed in their profile.

If you want to give this a try, sign up with Twitter, follow me and then check out my followers and who I’m following. Another way is to visit TweetGrid and put in “learn Spanish” or other similar search terms to find people to follow.

Also, keep in mind that you will not always see “perfect” Spanish which is understandable because you’re only given 140 characters to express yourself per tweet. That’s quite challenging at times. You will sometimes see q, k, ke for que, dropped accents and punctuation marks and so on, so this wouldn’t be a good learning tool for beginners. On the flipside, you only have to worry about writing in Spanish in 140 or less characters. Not as much pressure, right?

Hope to see you soon on Twitter!
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Pocoyó – Elly sobre hielo

2009-01-15T11:36:00.001-05:00

Keywords and phrases: It’s all about helping in this video. :)

resbaladizo – slippery (0:10)
el hielo – ice (0:19)
patinar – to ice skate (0:26)
el patinador, la patinadora – ice skater (0:35)
ayudar – to help (1:58) – You’ll hear this word as well as ayuda throughout.
el pulpo – octupus (2:10)
la ballena – whale (2:25)
¡Inténtalo! – Try it! (3:40)
echarle una mano – to give somebody a hand (4:11)
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Childtopia: Online games and more for children

2009-01-01T22:20:00.001-05:00

Quick post to share with you this site that I ran across thanks to the Ñandu email list. The site is called Childtopia and is available in Spanish, French, Catalan, Basque and English. You’ll find the following activities:

I can’t wait to explore it more!
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Spanish Language Learning Goals for 2009

2008-12-31T17:26:00.001-05:00

Every year I like to set goals when it comes to my Spanish language learning. This year I would like to share them with you.

Goal #1 – Listen to the SpanishPod podcasts—all three (main, lesson review, dialogue only) as well as look over the transcripts. I know if I could just do this on a regular basis, my Spanish would improve greatly. Truly, it’s like a one-stop shop for language learners.*

Goal #2 – Listen to other podcasts such as ShowTime Spanish, Español Segunda Lengua Para Todos, and online radio using RadioBeta.

Goal #3 – In addition to reading in Spanish, I will also read aloud for at least 10 minutes every day. This one is easy since I kind of do it already—not every day, but I would say at least 3 times a week.

Goal #4 – Communicate more in Spanish with my boys. This includes more conversation, reading aloud, and playing using the language.

Goal #5 – Set up an intercambio. There is nothing like speaking the language to improve it.

That’s it! I think five is enough. I may add a couple more, but I think this should keep me busy. How about you? What are your goals for learning or teaching Spanish in 2009? Do you have any new strategies you might try in the classroom or at home? Please share them in the comments section.

*Not affiliated with SpanishPod in any way. I just like them a lot! :)
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Bookmarks, a poll and Twitter

2008-12-20T21:47:00.001-05:00

I’m staying pretty busy getting ready for the holidays, so I’m afraid I haven’t had much time to post here. Instead, I thought I would share my Delicious bookmarks with you. Also, if you could take a moment to answer my poll, I’d be most appreciative. If you have any favorites that are not listed in the poll, please put them in the comments section and why you like them. Gracias.

One more thing… I also post helpful web sites and other resources pretty regularly on Twitter. If you would like, follow me by clicking here.

¡Felices Fiestas!
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Bablingua: resource for teachers

2008-12-07T12:54:00.001-05:00

Eleena over at Voices en Español just wrote a review for Bablingua. Go check it out! Also, as a Christmas gift, if you subscribe to their mailing list, you’ll receive a free sample. You’ll find more information on their blog.

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The Open University: Languages

2008-12-06T19:13:00.001-05:00

And this is why I love Twitter. Just this morning Kevin Gaugler, an Associate Professor of Spanish posted a link to the Open University on iTunes. He recommended that we look at the Languages section which I promptly did.

What did I find? Three Spanish language courses for beginner, upper intermediate and advanced learners.

Portales: Beginners’ Spanish – audio tracks and transcripts
Viento en Popa: Upper Intermediate Spanish – iPod video, video, transcripts
A Buen Puerto: Fast Forward in Spanish – iPod video, video, audio, transcripts

There are also courses for French and German language learners.

For more information about these courses, visit The Open University’s Spanish Language section.

Oh, if you haven’t downloaded iTunes, click here. You don’t need to be on a Mac or have an iPod to enjoy the benefits.
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Book: First Spanish Words

2008-12-05T17:40:00.005-05:00

First Spanish Words
Illustrated by David Melling, Compiled by Neil Morris
Oxford University Press
November 2008
48 full color pages
Ages: 4-8
ISBN: 978-0-19-911004-9

From the publisher:

"… each volume takes the reader on a picture-book journey through a child’s typical day. There is a bird’s eye view of an early morning at home. the journey to school, inside the classroom, at a birthday party and even a trip to the museum and the beach. Aside from the useful everyday items, these books also incorporate many children’s favorite things; airplanes, dinosaurs and even fairy tale characters… These books also include supplementary material—a picture/word matching game, a learning to count page, identifying shapes, opposites, the weather, time, and a comprehensive index.”

When I looked through First Spanish Words my initial thoughts were that this book was doable and not so overwhelming. On each page you’ll find a large, two-page spread illustration based on a theme with vocabulary words on both sides. For example on the Nuestra clase page there are only 18 vocabulary words. In similar books I’ve seen as many as 35-40 which can be quite overwhelming to a child learning a new language. (In total there are over 400 words with English translations.)

Also, I really love the illustrations which invite you to use the new vocabulary—either make up stories about the characters and scenes or play games. For instance, I could see a parent and child playing ¿Dónde está… ? (Where is… ?), ¿De qué color es… ? (What color is… ?) or Veo-veo (I Spy). For more advanced students, you could even make up an entire story to go along with the illustration… Había una vez…

In addition to Spanish, Oxford Press offers the First Words Series in French and German as well.
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Tips from TLSB readers – bilingual book for preschoolers

2008-11-18T15:52:00.005-05:00

From Rachael:

I just started reading a bilingual book to my preschoolers. They love this book "Tim and Kim" by Kay Linda Nord. It is really cute. Anyway, with the book we have made a new game. Whoever can use the words we learned in Spanish the most in one day, gets to pick the story to read at night. I love it when learning tools are so much fun! And this will be perfect!

Since we are sharing, here is where I found the book - http://kaylindanord.com. It is great because it has cute illustrations and both English and Spanish (Mexican not the traditional Castilian) on the same page so you can follow along.

If you have any tips or advice for other TLSB readers, you may send me an email and I will post them. ¡Gracias!
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Spanish children television shows and more

2008-11-15T22:03:00.009-05:00

Vaya... just a quick post to share with you a very nice link. It's TVE a la carta - programas infantiles, but you can watch other types of online videos también such as sports, dramas, documentaries y más. Oh, and we're talking about entire episodes, not clips.
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Let’s go shopping

2008-11-15T20:48:00.005-05:00

Okay, not really, but how about we do some window-shopping online. I think it’s a fantastic way to learn new vocabulary and it’s pretty fun at the same time.

El Corte Inglés is a very large department store chain in Spain. When I studied abroad in Zaragoza, I shopped there a couple of times. From juguetes (toys) to zapatos (shoes), they have just about everything—including a supermercado (grocery store). Just have fun browsing around. Oh, and if you look carefully, you’ll find a free online magazine full of beautiful photographs, interesting articles and recetas (recipes).

Speaking of food, grocery store sites are fun to browse. One of my favorites is HEB Mexico. And guess what? You’ll find another free online magazine. Did you find it? I could see this being used in class when talking about food, shopping and even cooking. Maybe even use one of the recipes in class or have students make a dish and bring it in for extra credit.

Did someone mention hardware? How about we visit a ferretería? I didn’t know this, but there are Home Depots in Mexico. You can even thumb through the folleto electrónico. Here’s a hardware store in Spain – Ferretería Esmas. Can you find a martillo?

Well, I think that is enough window-shopping for now. Hasta luego.
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ShowTime Spanish Podcast

2008-11-09T15:09:00.009-05:00

Recently I started listening to a new podcast that I wanted to share with my readers here at TLSB. It’s called ShowTime Spanish, a new podcast from the Radio Lingua Network.

The two main presenters are Mark, an experienced teacher who has lived and worked in Spain and Alba, from Barcelona, who is teaching Spanish in Scotland. José Picardo, a native speaker from Andalucia, who currently teaches in England, makes a guest appearance in each show.

There are two acts in each podcast or show. During the first act, the presenters have a conversation about a particular topic. To help listeners understand the conversation, they provide a summary using more “straightforward” Spanish afterwards.

In the second act, the grammar and vocabulary used during the first act are then explained by Mark. In between the two acts is the intermedio where José talks about taking the language to the next level by introducing helpful phrases to sound more native. Also during the intermedio, Alba introduces trabalenguas (tongue twisters).

To access the podcasts, you can subscribe for free through iTunes or listen directly on the ShowTime Spanish site. You can take your learning even further by becoming a premium member. As a member you’ll have access to the lesson guides which include: “full transcripts of the introduction, the main conversation and any other Spanish texts used within the lesson. The guide also features the text and explanations relating to our intermedio section… premium members can also use the Encore podcast to test their understanding of what has been covered in the main lesson.”

For those who like to kick the tires and look under the hood so to speak, you can access the lesson 3 materials for free either through iTunes or here.

I have to say that I’m quite impressed with the entire package. The presenters are engaging and very knowledgeable about the Spanish language. The grammar and vocabulary explanations are done well and easy to understand. Overall I’m pleased to have found a new podcast to listen to as I go about my day in the car or around the house. I also have to mention that the Radio Lingua Network produces a podcast for beginners called Coffee Break Spanish as well as programs for other languages.
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Tips from TLSB readers

2008-11-08T11:44:00.012-05:00

Earlier I received an email from one of my readers and decided to share it with all of you.

From Tricia: I just made a good discovery in the dollar bins at Target. They are little wooden boxes with bears to "dress up." There's a boy bear and a girl bear. There are six heads with different emotions plus different colored pants, shirts, dresses, shoes, etc. I just sad down with my three year old and had a blast practicing Spanish for emotions, weather, clothes, colors, etc. They're actually in the $2.50 section, but I still thought it was a pretty good deal.

So, if you have any tips or advice for other TLSB readers, you may send me an email here at the Teaching & Learning Spanish Blog and I will post them. ¡Gracias!
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Keep track of your language learning

2008-11-02T11:38:00.010-05:00

While learning a language you might want to record what you have learned and what you would like to learn. The LinguaFolio is the perfect tool for this. From the web site:

LinguaFolio is designed for use by students and educators in secondary schools and in universities as well as for adult learners. Businesses and community employers may choose to use the document to profile language proficiency of their employees or job applicants.

LinguaFolio is designed to assist students with guidance from their instructors in assessing and describing individual language skills and to facilitate articulation from high school to the university level. The three sections of the portfolio are available to teachers and students for building individual portfolios in notebooks and/or as electronic files.

LinguaFolio should facilitate the earning of college credit for language study completed in high school or in transfer agreements among colleges by providing evidence of language learning experiences and intercultural experiences.

There are three parts: the Language Passport, Language Biography and the Dossier which are available in PDF format where applicable.

For younger learners, there is the LinguaFolio Jr. I have used this with my elementary-age student to assess what he knew and what he would like to learn. His mother commented that she really enjoyed filling it out with her son and that it gave her a clearer picture of what he had learned from previous Spanish classes and where he still needed help.

Some sample questions from the language biography section:

What helps me understand when I read words in another language?
What goals do I have for learning a language?
What activities help me pronounce words like my teacher says them?

You will also find a checklist for each level (novice, intermediate, advanced) and activity (speaking, listening, reading, writing). You can assess your child four times a year or fill it out over several years to track his/her progress. Here's a screenshot of a small part of the Advanced section under Speaking:

The LinguaFolio and the LinguaFolio Jr. can be very useful tools in school or at home to keep track of your language learning progress or the progress of your child.

(Here's a link to the Junior European Language Portfolio and the link to the adult version.)
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Foreign language advocacy

2008-10-25T15:18:00.004-04:00

In many schools across the United States, foreign languages are still not even offered until high school – yes, high school. As you have also most likely read, this isn’t the ideal time to introduce a new language. Okay, so what do you do if you would like to see foreign languages introduced earlier? Advocate.

First, you’ll need the reasons why foreign languages should be introduced at an earlier age. For a sampling of research, I would recommend the American Council on Teaching Foreign Language’s web site Discover Languages, Discover the World! Here you will find a good amount of information. On their What the Research Shows page, three major areas are listed:

How does language learning support academic achievement?

How does language learning provide cognitive benefits to students?

How does language learning affect attitudes and beliefs about language learning and about other cultures?

For annotated bibliographies of the research in support of elementary school foreign language learning visit this page.

Once you’ve gathered the research from here and other resources such as CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics), then you need a plan. Again, the ACTFL site has information on their Foreign Language Advocacy page.

More resources:

CALPER: Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research – Language Advocacy

FLAG: Foreign Language Association of Georgia – Advocacy

Sarah Shackelford (French Teacher): Advocacy Links

Glastonbury Foreign Language - Foreign Language Advocacy: A Case for Foreign Languages (The students in this community have studied at least one foreign language beginning in elementary school since the 1950s.)

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Free curriculum online

2008-10-16T12:26:00.011-04:00

When I was tutoring, I always tried to find free materials online before purchasing anything. Yes, I'm frugal. One has to be in this day and age.

During one of my searches I ran across Cuadros de familia - A Standards-Based Thematic Unit which is geared toward middle school students, but certainly could be adapted for elementary students which is what I did. It's available in PDF format.

The unit was developed by Katia Parviz-Condon, Donna Kleinman, Joseph Brown and Angela Roa. It was created as a result of a summer institute sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University.

It's based on the book Cuadros de familia by Carmen Lomas Garza which is about everyday life in a traditional Hispanic community in southern Texas. She also illustrated the book.

Among the teaching strategies used are Total Physical Response, Gouin Series, magic box, pair activities, language experience story and predicting and graphing. The first three are explained at the beginning. I could go on and on about this, but I would recommend you take a look for yourself.

Another great place to find curriculum is the thematic units page at miscositas.com. Here you will find four thematic curriculum units covering El Día de los Muertos for intermediate students, El Bosque Tropical for beginning Spanish students, Convivencia (Medieval Spain) for intermediate students and finally CuentaColombia (Colombian folklore) for intermediate students. They're available in PDF format. Be sure to check out the other teaching materials available not only in Spanish, but also French, Italian, English, Mandarin Chinese and Thai.
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VOA Podcasts - video and audio

2008-10-10T10:38:00.004-04:00

Since we do not have access to Spanish-language television, I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my listening comprehension. In particular I have been looking for newscasts in Spanish and the ones from Voice of America (VOA) fit the bill.

On this page you'll find three video podcasts:

El Mundo Al Día Capsulas
ArteKultura
Foro Inter-Americano

and two audio podcasts:

Deportivo Internacional
Buenos Días América

To subscribe using iTunes: from the top menu, choose Advanced, Subscribe and then paste the podcast url into the box. Click OK. Of course, you can also watch or listen to them online.

To supplement the news podcasts, I have also subscribed to their news summaries. I like to look over these before listening to familiarize myself with any new vocabulary.
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Pocoyó - Servicio Postal de Pato

2008-10-02T10:32:00.005-04:00

Keywords:

dibujar - to draw
enviar - to send
recibir - to receive

el dibujo - drawing (el retrato - portrait)
el cartero - mailman
la entrega - delivery
la carta - letter
el sobre - envelope
el sello - stamp (la estampilla is more common in Latin America)
el paquete - package
la caja - box
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Spain - On the Road Again

2008-09-28T10:03:00.007-04:00

UPDATE: It appears that the first episode was free for only a limited time. I apologize for any confusion. Each episode is available for $1.99 on iTunes.

Download the episodes of Spain - On the Road Again.

For more information y recetas visit http://spainontheroadagain.com/

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We Are Little Amigos CD Giveaway

2008-09-25T16:37:00.006-04:00

The Foreign Language Fun Blog is giving away a copy of the We Are Little Amigos cd. This would be perfect for both the home and classroom. From the blog:

Fun is exactly what you’ll find in the We Are Little Amigos CD. I ordered my copy the other week, and my kids LOVE it. You should see them dancing away. Mirabel Suardy, a native speaker and the creative genius behind the CD, has put easy-to-remember lyrics to familiar, upbeat tunes. I know very little Spanish, but the bilingual songs are easy to pick up and remember. I even find myself singing little Spanish phrases throughout my day.

So, go over there for a chance to win!
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Free Power Point presentations and other resources

2008-09-25T09:31:00.007-04:00

During my daily visit at the Free Technology for Teachers blog, I found a good resource for Spanish teachers. At Pete's Power Point Station, I made a stop at the Spanish language station. Not only will you find links to Power Point presentations, but also links to sites for children and teachers.

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Listening comprehension - helpful web sites

2008-09-25T08:31:00.009-04:00

First we'll begin with Albalearning.com where you'll find short stories and poems, organized by author, read aloud with transcripts. You will find works by García Lorca, Becquer, Neruda, Hardy, Poe, Woolf and many, many more. In some cases, you can find them in other languages side by side such as The Princess and the Pea/La Princesa y el Guisante or the combination of Spanish and French. Listen to the audio online or download them as mp3 files.

From literature to the news, we next visit Spanish NewsBites which is simply packed with lots of good things. They offer brief "snippets" from Spanish-language news sources with audio (listen online or download mp3 files), links and mouseover glossaries. Not only that, but Spanish NewsBites also offers a PDF transcript with key glossary words. And if that wasn't enough, you can test your comprehension with their fill-in-the gap exercises. There are three levels - beginner, intermediate and advanced.

The last one I will talk about today is Audiria. From their site:

An original daily audio file in Spanish with its transcription.
Different chapter "channels" along the week.
Chapters organized by difficulty level.
Different exercises associated to each chapter.
A forum for practicing your Spanish writing and get corrected.
Personal stats to follow-up your scores.
A collection of complementary learning resources.
A completely free book of grammar, vocabulary and a conversation guide.
Brief grammatical lessons in audio-text format.
A free iTunes podcast

All I can say is - wow! I mean, I really have nothing else to add. Wait, there is one more thing - all of these resources are free as in gratis. Enjoy!
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Profeland: A resource site for Spanish teachers - high school & up

2008-09-22T20:35:00.007-04:00

Profeland: La web para el profesor de español is a site that might be quite helpful to high school teachers, college professors and adults learning on their own.

They combine different types of media such as music videos, short movie clips and more along with support material. Here's un buen ejemplo. In fact, I think I might use this site myself.
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Go Animate: Teaching tool

2008-09-15T13:22:00.008-04:00

Okay, this is my first time making a cartoon at Go Animate.

¿Qué vamos a comer? - What are we going to eat?
Tengo hambre. - I am hungry.
Comer - to eat
Helado - ice cream
Pastel - cake
Arroz con pollo - rice with chicken

There is a way to add sound, but I thought I would keep it simple for my first one.

*It works now. Thanks for your patience!
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SpanishPod Cooking with Tabasco

2008-09-13T20:35:00.001-04:00

Learn a little Spanish and a new recipe at the same time!

A personal note

2008-09-12T10:05:00.005-04:00

I wanted to let all of you know that I'm going to slow down a bit the next few weeks for medical reasons. I'm not going to stop posting, but maybe just once a week or so. Thank you for understanding.
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Spain - On the Road Again

2008-09-05T17:06:00.006-04:00

I'm definitely watching this from start to finish. For more information visit Spain - On the Road Again.

(Apparently Gwyneth Paltrow, in addition to acting and singing, can also speak Spanish quite well... does it ever end?)
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SpanishPod - subscription changes

2008-09-05T11:33:00.004-04:00

On September 1, SpanishPod started charging for their podcasts except for the newbie lessons, ¿Qué Pasa? and Del Taco al Tango which will still be available for free. At first, I was sad to hear it because I really love their podcasts and I didn't think I would have the money to pay for even the basic subscription. (It seems everything in our house is breaking down at once - from the refrigerator to the plumbing. Like many of you, money is tight right now.)

But then I started thinking about it as an investment in my future. Out of all the Spanish-language podcasts available, I still think SpanishPod is far superior. I have learned so much from listening to them. I would even go as far as to say that I have learned more from their podcasts than in some of my Spanish courses in college. Their podcasts help me with my teaching and did I mention my language skills just helped me land a very cool part-time job? An investment in my future? Most definitely.

So today, I signed up for the basic subscription of $69/year which equals to $5.75/month which I can handle. With my subscription, I get all the MP3 lessons, video lessons and pdf transcripts. As the saying goes, "you get what you pay for." So true...
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Watching online videos on your television

2008-09-01T13:04:00.014-04:00

Recently I started thinking how much I would like to watch online videos on my television. You know, instead of having my five-year old perch on my lap as we watch Pocoyó videos on the laptop, we could watch them while we sit comfortably on the couch.

Now I'm not going to get too technical because of the number of variables, but this is what I did. We have a TV that is four years old which has an S-video input in the back. I have an S-video output on my laptop which is less than a year old.

With the computer off, I plugged the S-video cable (photo: on the right - empty package, click on it to see it up close) into the TV and laptop. In order to hear the sound through the TV, I also plugged in another cable (photo: on the left) into the headphone jack on my laptop and the other part into the TV.

Then I switched on my PC laptop running Vista and selected S-Video on the TV. Very easy! Total cost - about $6. I already had the audio cable from our portable DVD player. For more help, I recommend Googling "hooking up computer to TV."

So, yesterday, my little guy and I watched a couple of Pocoyó videos on our television... snuggling on the couch. I really believe my kids will be more inclined to watch more Spanish-language shows since all of us will not have to "crowd" around the laptop.

Also, for myself, I'm going to start watching Amar en tiempos revueltos - a television drama out of Spain.

And for you classroom teachers, this could be quite handy as well. Save the online videos beforehand using RealPlayer or some other similar program and then show them to your class on a larger screen. Always check the video quality first though. Not all online video will come through clearly.

¡Suerte!
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Scholastic's Club Leo

2008-08-31T08:57:00.008-04:00

One of my readers, Tricia, sent me an email about Scholastic's Club Leo which is a great resource for Spanish, English, and bilingual books from the U.S., Latin America, and Spain.

By now your child's teacher has probably already sent home Scholastic book order forms or will very soon. My kindergartner came home with one on Friday. I'm going to ask his teacher if we can also order from Club Leo. The prices are unbeatable and parents do not have to pay for shipping and handling. Also, the teachers will benefit by getting points towards books and materials for their classrooms. It's certainly a win-win situation.

Thanks for the tip, Tricia!
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Pocoyó - New activities on web site

2008-08-29T10:54:00.005-04:00

As I was exploring the Pocoyó site, I noticed that new printable activities had been added. Click on the characters at the top of the screen to access them. You'll find masks, coloring pages, and crafts for each character. Enjoy!

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