On Line Practice Guide

All that we do in this course can be put under one or more of the five national standards for learning foreign languages. These standards, called “the 5 C’s,” posted in the classroom, guide state standards, which frame the curriculum for each level of each language taught in the school district. The activities in which we engage in class and the tasks that you are assigned for practice will reflect these standards.

The first three standards reflect foreign language learning. Since we use most of our time in speaking Spanish, Communication is the main goal of the course and the highest-ranking standard. When we discuss why and how people observe holidays, how they greet their friends versus their friends’ grandparents, how and what they play, when and what they eat, music, dance, etc, we’ll be dealing with Culture. As we go along, we contrast Spanish expressions and structures with English as we go along: we make Comparisons.

The final two standards deal with how you use your learning. You make Connections when you find that you already know something (numbers and shapes, continents and capitals, football versus fútbol) because you learned it in another class or when you find that what you learn here helps you in another class. Ultimately, something that you learn here may allow you to enjoy music, a television program, books or a local activity that you would have skipped otherwise; you broaden your Community.

What “practice” is

Absolute #1: when you practice, always speak Spanish. When you practice, speak aloud the Spanish you see and what you write on your recording sheet. Read silently if you wish, but do speak it aloud. When you practice alone or with someone else, do everything you can to stay in Spanish without saying, writing, or pointing to written English. You can’t learn to play an instrument by thinking about playing it, nor can you run faster or more efficiently by thinking about doing so. Practice is using the language. http://www.schoolnotes.com This is our base site for practice. The sites here will always include what we’re working on in class. For now, go there, put in our zip code, click on the name of this course, and on your recording sheet write the URL that is showing when you first see this course’s websites listed. http://www.quia.com/pages/ireland.html Remember, practicing basic Spanish vocabulary with games works only when you speak the Spanish. For now, click on the link numbers 1-10 and write the three practice formats from which you can choose. Then go back and write on your folder the ALT codes for the letters you need to use in Spanish. http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/exercises/?redirect Great for structures practice, this site also has a cultural focus. Write the titles of the two songs that have to do with problems that children face. Next to the titles, write the name of its singer(s). http://anacleta.homestead.com/learninganewlanguage.html Click on the flashcards link to practice alphabet. Then go about halfway down to the fruit game. Click on the fruits to hear its name (say each) and check them from the board. On your recording sheet, write the Spanish fruit name (the one we use in class) that is different from what you hear the speaker say. http://www.semda.org/info/pyramid.asp?ID=27 (Mexican Food Pyramid w/recipes) Is this site from Mexico? Write why it is called the “Mexican Food Pyramid.” http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/feature/daydeadindex.html The Day of the Dead celebrates what Memorial Day does in the U.S. Write which link you can ignore. http://www.clta.net/lessons/spanish/level1/latinos.html This deals with Latinos in the US. We will be using this material during Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins September 15, to investigate whether the two terms are the same and why each is used. For now, write “Latino versus Hispanic” (without the quotation marks) on your recording sheet. http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Language_Lab/accentspc.htm Get you folder and write the CTRL codes for the Spanish letters and symbols. On your recording sheet write which letters/symbols for which you got CTRL codes but not ALT codes. http://www.xe.net/ucc (universal currency converter) Write the following exchange rates: U.S. dollars to Mexican pesos, Mexican pesos to U.S. dollars. http://www.x-rates.com/d/MXN/table.html Write how many ( number) countries use the dollar? ... the peso? http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld Not all of the countries on this Americas site are Spanish-speaking. Guyana, formerly British Guiana, is officially English-speaking. Write which other countries are not Spanish-speaking. http://www.bilingualamerica.com/htrls_minisite/htrls_forward.htm (How to Really Learn Spanish) Read the author’s “Eight Reasons Why Telephone Tutoring Is Better Than Face to Face Tutoring.” Write down a maximum of three with which you agree. http://web.stcloudstate.edu/jeoneill First, click on “football” on the left. From the A-B page find and write 2 NFL team names that are completely different in Spanish. Also, explain why in Spanish the word for “bye” is the word for “rest.” Click on the “foods.” In English “como dos gotas de agua” means “like two drops of water” but that isn’t what we really say: write to what English saying this corresponds. Also explain why people of Chile call a fanny pack a “banano”? What group of Latinos now in this country controls most of U.S. Spanish language television? (You’ll go there when you Click on “cultural notes.”) http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/ninos/songsrhymes.html “Las mañanitas” is the song for birthdays, saint’s days, celebrations. Write the name of the children’s song that goes with a circle game dealing with a maggot-filled frog. http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site_regular.htm Scroll down the left to Treviño (U.S.) and look at “La Raspa” and “Dolores Treviño.” Write whether these are realistic or idealized representations of everyday people. Do the same with Diego Rivera’s “The Flower Carrier (Mexico) and Velázquez’s “Old Woman Frying Eggs” (Spain). http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/feature/ethnic/ethnicindex.html (Ethnic diversity in Mexico) Write the two religion-based groups mentioned separate from other people? What Asian group is mentioned? What two areas of Mexico have the most Afro-Mexicans? http://media.phillyburbs.com/2005/06/29/MEXICO_BLACKS_STAMP.jpg (Mexico’s new stamps) Take a look at the stamps. They are the second series to commemorate Mexico’s comic books. Read either MSN’s or the NY Beacon’s report: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8410111 http://newyorkbeacon.com/News/article/article.asp? NewsID=59046&sID=13 Then read the Los Angeles article, which contains opinions from Black Mexicans: http://ktla.trb.com/news/nationworld/world/ktla-fg-stamp30jun30-lat,0,6069870.story?coll=ktla-news- 1 Finally, read what happened with the stamps: http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html? siteSect=143&sid=5915632&cKey=1120248328000 Imagine that you just walking in the hall here in school and saw a Mexican student wearing a t-shirt that has a huge picture of one of the Memín stamps on it. Should the school’s dress code policy be applied so that that person go change the shirt? Write a paragraph telling why or why not? (People have changed shirts with the Buckwheat character and with Redneck jokes.) http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm http://www.mexonline.com/cinco.htm These cites explain the Cinco de Mayo holiday. Write what event it commemorates. http://www.latinworld.com/radio Click on the URL of the Salsoul site from Puerto Rico. Which program would you be listening to at the time of this class? http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/hello.htm (Greeting in many languages) Spanish is the official language of most of the countries of the Americas, but several of those countries have more than one official language and many other languages besides. Write any seven of the following languages, and write the country next to it, but make sure that you have at least four different countries represented in your list: Aymará, Basque, Catalán, Galician, Garífuna, Guaraní, Huaorani, Ixcateco, Kekchi, Kikongo, Kuna, Lacandón, Mam, Mapadungun, Mixe, Náhuatll, Phorhépecha, Pipil, Quechua, Quiche, Quichua, Shipibo, Shuar, Totonaco, Tzotzil, Ulwa, Yaqui, Yucateco, Zapotec http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/animals (animals sounds in different languages) Of the cat and the dog, which animal’s sound is represented much the same in more languages. http://www.studioporto.com/fontcolorredwelcometomygalleryfont Puerto Rico’s capital and patron saint is San Juan (St. John), but each town has its own patron saint. In the Puerto Rican village Loíza Aldea where African tradition holds strong, they have special St. James Day celebrations. Scroll down the left and click on “Vegigantes.” Write what group they represent. St. James is also Spain’s patron saint. Write what name St. James is in Spanish? (His name was the rallying cry as the Christians who refused to live under Moslem rule fought their way south trying to push all non-Christians out of what would, 660 years later, become one country.) http://www.soygaucho.com (impressive site on the Argentine gaucho in both English and Spanish) Write the English for the name of the site. Have fun with the music as you click on the picture showing the face of a girl, and write the title of the legend you read in the “movie.” http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/welcome.htm ('welcome' in 175 languages) Pick any three of the languages you recorded as being spoken in Spanish-speaking countries (from the multilingual greetings site). Write the languages and to the right how to say “welcome” in them. http://www.songsforteaching.com/spanishsongs.htm Listen to all three of the alphabet songs. Write which of them you like most. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/specials/2004/cuentos_de_espanto_y_brinco/default.stm In English we call them “jump tales” because they’re so scary! Write which you recognize (if any)? http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson023.shtml (Hispanic Heritage) Write to what indigenous people Puerto Rico traces its routes. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/hispanic/index.htm Click on Hispanic history in the Americas and explore that area of the site. Then explain on your recording sheet (enrichment opportunity): Why is Hispanic Heritage Month over parts of two months instead of in only one whole month? http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/spanish.shtml Check out the Spanish-English illustrated children’s dictionary. Check every letter and on your recording sheet write it and Sí or No to tell whether or not our classroom alphabet chart uses that same word. http://spanish.about.com/cs/forbeginners/a/beg_lessons.htm?t9=1 Go to Greetings. Read the first paragraph before you start looking at the chart. Then, find and practice two greetings that you find to your liking, one for use with older people, the other, casual. On your recording sheet, write the two greetings you chose. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/lj/itinerary.shtml Do the taxi ride and its activities. Remember to speak, and get ready: we’re going places next week.

Meanwhile, write on your recording sheet each country in the order to which it is referred in the mnemonic: To remember North American countries (other than Canada and the U.S). My Goodness, but Eating Hot Nachos Causes Pain! To remember South American countries: Vince Carter Eats Plain Baked Chicken Usually After Playing.

Remember to practice the mnemonic, then practice the countries as you look at a map of the areas. ¡Pura vida!