Learn Spanish by Stories: 2018

Monday, July 23, 2018

Intermediate Spanish: Dudas y Preguntas

Fall Term, 2018

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons,

3:30 pm - 5 pm,

September 11 -- October 4.

The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish, but students are urged, even required ¡?! to ask for clarification or repetition at any time. It's open to students who feel relatively comfortable reading in Spanish but may hesitate to talk because they're nervous about vocabulary, usage or grammar. We'll be telling stories and amusing ourselves too much to worry a lot, but this will be a great time to resolve some of those nagging doubts.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Class Cancelled April 19, 2018

Lo siento muchísimo, pero no me encuentro bien. No puedo dar la clase hoy. Estoy muy triste. Gracias por venir a esta clase, ha sido muy interesante para mi. - Teri

Monday, April 16, 2018

Top 10 sure signs you've gone native in Spain

If you live in a country for a while, you start picking up their customs without realizing it. It's called

For example, "You have breakfast in a bar."

"Cultural Adaptation". What do you think of these habits? ¡Ojo! These apply to Spain, not necessarily to every Spanish-speaking country! (From The Local, news of Spain in English.)

Friday, March 23, 2018

New class starting April 3, 2018!

It's an intermediate class called "Dudas y Preguntas" in which we will tackle some of those common questions about Spanish. As of this moment, there is still room in the class for a few more students, so sign up with OLLI if you think it's for you. If you're not sure, leave me a question in the "Contact us" part of this blog. ¡Hasta pronto!

Thursday, February 1, 2018

So how do you learn a language?

Here's a very very brief look at some prominent theories of language learning and development. There are links to each one, as well. FluentU has lots of useful videos, lessons and other aids to language learning.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Shakira!

Shakira won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album. You can listen on You Tube (haz clic aquí here.)

Here's the entire list of nominees and winners in the LATIN field. You can probably find some good music here.

LATIN FIELD

Best Latin Pop Album:
Lo Único Constante — Alex Cuba
Mis Planes Son Amarte — Juanes
Amar Y Vivir En Vivo Desde La Ciudad De México, 2017 — La Santa Cecilia
Musas (Un Homenaje Al Folclore Latinoamericano En Manos De Los Macorinos) — Natalia Lafourcade
El Dorado — Shakira -- WINNER

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album:
Ayo — Bomba Estéreo
Pa’ Fuera — C4 Trío & Desorden Público
Salvavidas De Hielo — Jorge Drexler
El Paradise — Los Amigos Invisibles
Residente — Residente -- WINNER

Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano):
Ni Diablo Ni Santo — Julión Álvarez Y Su Norteño Banda
Ayer Y Hoy — Banda El Recodo De Cruz Lizárraga
Momentos — Alex Campos
Arriero Somos Versiones Acústicas — Aida Cuevas -- WINNER
Zapateando En El Norte — Humberto Novoa, producer (Various Artists)

Best Tropical Latin Album:
Albita — Albita
Art of the Arrangement — Doug Beavers
Salsa Big Band — Rubén Blades Con Roberto Delgado & Orquesta -- WINNER
Gente Valiente — Silvestre Dangond
Indestructible — Diego El Cigala

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Beginning Spanish at OLLI, Winter 2018

Today's the first day of this class. 3:30-5:30 at Campbell Center, SOU, Ashland.
Stay tuned, come on back tomorrow to see notes from this class, right here. Hasta luego.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

El Día de los Reyes Magos

https://amordeimagenes.es/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/imagenes-de-dia-de-reyes-magos-caricatura-pequenos.jpg

Hoy es un día festivo en muchos países hispanos. Es el 6 de enero, el Día de los Reyes Magos, el Epifanía.

En la tradición cristiana los Reyes Magos del este llegaron a Belén para adorar al bebé Jesús Cristo después de su nacimiento el 25 de diciembre. Ellos llevaron regalos de mirra, incienso y oro. Entonces en muchos países se dan regalos en el día 6 de enero y se supone que los regalos vienen de los Reyes Magos.

En España el día más importante para los niños no es el 24 ni el 25 de diciembre. Es el 6 de enero. Oficialmente las fiestas empiezan el día 5, en que las familias españolas esperan la Cabalgata (parade) de Los Reyes Magos. Los Reyes montan a camello o van en carrozas (floats), tirando dulces a los niños. Más tarde en casa los niños dejan en un lugar prominente sus zapatos y también unos platillos de dulces o comida para los Reyes y los camellos. En la mañana del día 6, los niños “buenos” encuentran sus regalos de los Reyes.

Otra tradición importante es la comida. El Roscón de Reyes es una torta redonda, con fruta confitada encima. Dentro del roscón (o rosca) se encuentra una figura miniatura de un rey y también un haba (fava bean). Las familias y amigos comen el roscón en el desayuno o como postre. La persona que encuentra el rey es el rey de la fiesta y va a tener buena suerte durante el año, pero la persona que encuentra el haba tiene que pagar el roscón.

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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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