Learn Spanish by Stories: 2014

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Small class under way

Our first class of this series took place yesterday, 18 de noviembre, with four students. We will continue tomorrow, 20 noviembre, at 3:00 p.m. Skipping Thanksgiving week, we will have two more lessons the following week at the same time, on Tuesday, 2 diciembre and Thursday, 4 diciembre. Join us!
See the tab for Current OLLI Class for more information (even though it is not an OLLI class.)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

New Class starting Nov. 18, 2014

NEW small group class scheduled!
Starts Nov. 18, 2014, for advanced beginners/low intermediates.
We'll have 4 or 5 sessions, 1.5 hrs each one, 3:00-4:30 pm. Dates are Nov. 18, 20, (possibly Nov. 25), Dec. 2, Dec. 4.
$60-$75 for the series, depending on that pre-Thanksgiving class, or $15 each session.
Contact me for Ashland location.
I'd love to have you join us. Teri@SpanishByStories.com

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Reading in Spanish

There are a number of wonderful books available online. Try this one, courtesy of our friend "Pancho," from Children'sLibrary.org. Poke around their site, and feel free to share your finds with us. Gracias, Pancho.

http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/BookPage?bookid=shaboyw_01010004&pnum1=2&pnum2=3&twoPage=true&route=simple_0_0_0_English_61&size=0&fullscreen=false&lang=English&ilang=English.

Friday, November 7, 2014

¡Más español!

Hay un grupo de conversación y lectura española que se reune todos los jueves desde las 3:00 hasta la 5:00 de la tarde. Tiene lugar en el piso de arriba, en el "study room" en la biblioteca de Ashland. Todos están bienvenidos.
Unos estudiantes de la clase ¡Adelante! están tratando de organizar unas lecciones privadas con Teri. ¿Qué les parece cada martes a las 3-4:30, el 11 de noviembre-9 de diciembre? ¿Otras ideas?

Si tienes interés, mándame un correo electrónico a Teri@SpanishByStories.com.

Estoy pensando en ofrecer una clase "Singing in Spanish" durante el trimestre de primavera en OLLI. Si tienes interés, o experiencia en la música o cantar, dímelo, por favor. Teri@SpanishByStories.com.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

La Llorona

La llorona is a folktale told throughout Mexico and the American Southwest. It tells about a young woman, her wealthy husband, and her children. For an extensive look at this legend, try this article from a New Mexico newspaper, 2007, by Paul Harden.
http://www.caminorealheritage.org/PH/1207_llorona.pdf

Also check the Canciones / Songs / Música section of this blog for three versions of the song, Llorona.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

El Cinco de Mayo

NO ES LA INDEPENDENCIA DE MÉXICO. Eso se celebra el 16 de septiembre, cuando en 1810 el Padre Miguel Hidalgo del pueblo Dolores dio su "grito de independencia" de España.

El cinco de mayo conmemora la Batalla de Puebla de 1862, en la cual los mexicanos ganaron una victoria sobre el ejército grande y poderosa de Francia.

El presidente Benito Juárez había pedido prestado mucho dinero de Inglaterra, España y Francia. Pero no pudo devolver el dinero. Inglaterra y España negociaron con Juárez, pero Francia quería conquistar a México e invadió su territorio.

Durante esta guerra los franceses avanzaron desde Veracruz hacia la ciudad de México con mucha confianza y seis mil soldados. Pero en la ciudad de Puebla, el 5 de mayo de 1862 después de una larga batalla, el pequeño ejército mexicano ganó y los franceses tuvieron que retirarse. Los franceses perdieron más de 500 soldados mientras los mexicanos, bajo el general Zaragoza, un tejano, perdieron solo 100 hombres.

Aunque los franceses lograron conquistar a México y lo controlaron durante seis años hasta la ejecución del Emperador Maxmiliano y su esposa Carlota en 1867, se considera la Batalla de Puebla como una victoria simbólica contra el imperialismo europeo en las Américas.

En México se celebra muy poco el cinco de mayo, excepto en Puebla. En los Estados Unidos ha llegado a ser una ocasión para celebrar la herencia y la cultura mexicana.

Para más información, recomiendo http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/cinco-de-mayo.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Pachamama

El día de la Pachamama, 22 abril 2014

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Yerba mate al estilo argentino

You can find "yerba mate" in various grocery stores. This video is from a friend of mine, who filmed her Argentinian friend Alicia making and enjoying mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn3XVe3fGdI

¿Entiendes el español de argentina?

Friday, January 10, 2014

How can you speed up learning?

Here's a fascinating talk about learning new things, especially languages. Much of it is based on studies by Dr. Stephen Krashen, whose work has also informed my methods of language teaching and learning.

Chris Lonsdale: How to learn any language in six months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0yGdNEWdn0

Watch. See what you think. Try it on Spanish, I'm trying it on Russian. Good luck.

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Cognates: words that are similar in two languages, in both spelling or sound and meaning.

Words that end in "or" are often identical in both English and Spanish. So, you already know these words! Spanish words that end in "r" are stressed on the last syllable (doc-TOR).
actor
doctor
color
director
doctor (also médico)
error
exterior
honor
horror
humor
motor
opresor
superior
tumor
vigor

PERSONALITY COGNATES:

The words below are all related to personality characteristics, so you can use them to describe someone. You might notice that most can end in -o (masculine) or -a (feminine). But others don't change their endings, they can refer to either a masculine or feminine person. For example, artista or dentista = an artist or dentist (m. or f.) idealista, optimista. Words ending in -l or -e don't usually need to change endings for m. or f., although they do add -s or -es for plurals. (Ellos son sociables y joviales. Sus amigos son elegantes.)

temperamental

- generoso, -a

- elegante

- creativo, -a

- organizado, -a

- independiente

- entusiasta

- idealista

- activo, -a

- energético, -a

- versátil

- sociable

- sentimental

- romántico, -a

- persistente

- agresivo, -a

- serio, -a

- práctico, -a

- selectivo, -a

- artístico, -a

- tímido, -a

- jovial

- reservado, -a

- intuitivo, -a

- optimista

- impulsivo, -a

Al cine / At the movies

El ciudadano ilustre, de Argentina. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4562518/

Me gustó mucho. La recomiendo. Besides being a fun and interesting film to watch, with plenty of twists and turns, it's really good for listening to Argentine Spanish dialect.

Warehoused (Almacenados) 2015 en Netflix

This occasionally absurd dramedy works on all levels. TWITTER

I really enjoyed this film about a young man reporting for work at his new job and his retiring boss, who has only a week to teach the new man all the details of the job. It's in understandable Spanish, with very little dialog, and wonderful repetition of several stock phrases.

Medianeras (Sidewalls) (Argentina) 2011

"Separated by the wall their apartments share, Mariana and Martin are the perfect couple. They have the same quirks, same tastes, same ideals and even the same neuroses--they're a match made in heaven. There's just one problem -- they've never met. " - Netflix.

Chico y Rita (Cuba)
An animated film about love, time and distance. Quite delightful, and I barely noticed it was animated. On Netflix.

La misma luna (Under the same moon)
This drama centers on a young boy's journey across the U.S./Mexico border to be reunited with his mother. Adrian Alonso stars as Carlitos, a Mexican boy living with his grandmother while his mother works as a maid in the U.S., hoping someday to send for her child. But when the grandmother dies unexpectedly, Carlitos must sneak across the border and seek out his mother.
This is a film for the whole family and it puts a very human face on the immigrant story.
Try watching it in Spanish with or without English subtitles. Then, find a scene you understand and play it several times to practice listening.

The Way, 2011
This film, directed by Emilio Estévez and starring his father Martin Sheen, is not in Spanish. But it is filmed in Spain, and France, and shows a man walking The Way, el Camino de Santiago. This is a pilgrimage to the supposed burial site of St. James the Apostle, Santiago de Compostela, a town in northwest Spain in the area of Galicia. One pilgrim from Ashland told me she had stayed in some of the same "albergues" (shelters) as Sheen and that the movie was very authentic in presenting the experience. I liked it very much and recommend it as a treatment of father-son relationships and personal growth as well as for the wonderful scenery. ¡Buen camino!

Even the Rain / También la lluvia

In my opinion, this is an outstanding film in every way. For students of Spanish, the contrast between the Castilian Spanish of the film crew and the Bolivian Spanish is wonderful to hear. You might also catch some local Quechua dialect. Available on Netflix.

What's it about? Read the info I lifted from the official website, www.eventherainmovie.com:

"A Spanish film crew led by idealistic director Sebastian (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) come to Bolivia to make a revisionist epic about the conquest of Latin America - on the cheap. Carlos Aduviri is dynamic as “Daniel,” a local cast as a 16th century native in the film within a film. When the make-up and loin cloth come off, Daniel sails into action protesting his community’s deprivation of water at the hands of multi-national corporations.

This fictional Fitzcarraldo-like quest to make a film against all odds is set against the back drop of the real life “Water Wars,” fought against the privatization of Bolivia’s water supply in the year 2000 and is anchored in the philosophies of historian Howard Zinn, as well as the stories of 16th century priests, Fathers Bartolome de las Casas and Antonio Montesinos, the first radical voices of conscience against an Empire."

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