Martes, 28 de enero: Don Quijote

On Tuesday we played bingo in class, ate "worms" (gusanos) and "bears" (osos) and reviewed our homework assignment together.

While doing so we got to talk about Don Quijote (Quixote). To my surprise not many students had heard of this story which is considered a classic in Spanish literature.

If you could, for your homework, please take a look at the claymation videos below so we can discuss and share our thoughts on this BBC/HBO adaptation of the story in class next Tuesday. Please notice that this playlist has three videos of a about ten minutes each. So, yes, watching them will take about half an hour of your time. I know, right? ;)

¡Hasta el martes!

Martes, 21 de enero: Marionetas

Hola

Today we reviewed noun-adjective agreement (number and gender) and I was very pleased to see how well prepared everybody was. For our next couple of classes we will continue practicing that concept.

Next Tuesday we are going to start working on a little play with puppets (las marionetas). We will work in small groups and if we get some good stories, we may even perform during our spring festival!

For starters, I would like for you to create some basic list of sentences (five to seven) that your puppets may say:

Hello, my name is.... and I am a .... (frog, rabbit, dragon, rat, butterfly, dog) Please looks those words up in a dictionary.
I am from....(Guatemala, Syracuse, Nueva York)
I am  (soy)....(big, small, tall, short, green, blue, etc.)
I am (soy) a (un/una)....(teacher, doctor, firefighter, etc.)
I am (estoy)...(happy, sad, tired, sick) Remember Sr. Howard?
I like....(remember the prince who disliked everything?)
I want ... (remember our video with the little Chihuahua dog?)
Good Bye!

And of course, The end (El fin).

PLEASE REMEMBER:

Depending on the gender of your puppet the adjectives will have to agree in gender (masculine or feminine) with the noun:

Hola, me llamo Roberto y soy guapo (handsome)
Hola, me llamo Roberta y soy guapa (beautiful)

Also, depending on the number of puppets described, the adjectives may also need to agree in number (as well as gender) with the nouns they are referring to:

Hola, somos Roberto y Julio y somos mexicanos
Hola, somos Roberta y Julia y somos mexicanas
Hola, somos Roberto y Julia y somos mexicanos (masculine + feminine = masculine)


Thanks and see you on Tuesday/Gracias y hasta el martes.

Martes, 14 de enero: colores y adjetivos.

Hi, today we got to review numbers and dates (months) in class.

If you have a basic Spanish-English dictionary please bring it to class. If you prefer you can get free apps from the web. The Ascendo Spanish-English dictionary (free version) is more than enough for our beginners class. It is easy to search and provides the pronunciation of most words we will need in class this year. You can find it in both the Android market and iOS store. I will have some extra dictionaries in class for those who forget them, but you should try to make a habit of bringing your own dictionary to class from now on.

Next Tuesday I will pick up the list of words and expressions I distributed today: hola, gracias, por favor, etc. Try your best at completing it but please do not stress if there is something you don't know as we will work on it in class. We will also get to review adjectives and how they agree with nouns in gender and number. For example, el gato (cat) blanco becomes los gatos blancos in the plural while la gata blanca becomes las gatas blancas in the plural

white: singular: blanco (masculine) or blanca (feminine)
           plural:    blancos                   or blancas

Don't worry if it looks complicated at first, just watch the video below in preparation for class.

Gracias y hasta el martes.

Martes 7 de enero: Cumpleaños Feliz

Today I had fun in class. I hope you enjoyed our little taste of Spanish cuisine. We will have to do this again, sometime. I was thinking some paella and gazpacho next. Maybe even some churros con chocolate (like the ones we did last year)... we will see.

For the next few weeks we are going to be reviewing and build on what we have learned so far. Please watch the video below (American Cancer Association) and see if you can understand what Ricky Martin is saying.  I will give you a clue, after the song he says: "mi deseo es por un mundo con menos cáncer y con más cumpleaños".



Afterwards, and in preparation for class, please think of four (4) dates that are important to you (it could be birthdays, festivities, memorable events, etc.) and be ready to say them in Spanish and explain (in either Spanish or English) to other students in class why they are important to you.

Examples:

My birthday is July 2nd, so... Mi cumpleaños es el dos de julio

The 4th of July is an important celebration....El Cuatro de Julio es una celebración importante.

¡Gracias y  hasta el martes!