Will Slade's Language Teaching Blog

Several people have asked me for recommendations for studying Spanish in other countries.  I tell them that my first recommendation comes from my own personal experience; CPI or Centro Panamericano de Idiomas did an amazing job teaching conversational Spanish with well-organized units based around grammatical topics and interesting content.  The locations are spectacular, the teachers competent, interested, and friendly, and the host families became my second and third families! Another school that I would love to visit is Cetlalic or Centro Tlahuica de Lengua e Intercambio Culutural in Cuernavaca, Mexico.  They teach with a focus on social justice and Mexican cultures that is unique among the programs that I have heard of.  My friend and professor, Deborah Palmer, studied there and has taken students and her family there; she recommends it very highly! Another program that friends have recommended is in Antigua, Guatemala. Ixchel Spanish School  receive...

Many thanks to Vera Dugardsyrenova, a fellow language teacher and education researcher, for introducing me to  Mi Vida Loca, a cool, interactive BBC Spanish series .  I am really impressed with it!  The scenes of Spain are beautiful and interesting; the plot of the series seems engaging, and they manage to expose you to really useful vocabulary in meaningful contexts.  As you watch the episodes, there are opportunities for you to participate as a character and practice some of the phrases they have introduced.  Mi VidaLoca is designed for beginners, but I think someone who is a little more advanced could still get a lot out of listening to the native speakers in the videos.  I came across some vocabulary that was new to me in episode 19, la inmobiliaria (the real estate office), either because a different word is used in Latin America, or just because I have never bought real estate, furniture, or even appliances in Spanish. Check it out and let me know ...

Siempre se dice que entender las noticias en español puede ser difícil por que los reportes pueden ser muy rápidos y siguen sin pausas... pero de todas formas, ¡se puede tratar! En serio, creo que es una buena práctica.  Si se te dificulta mucho, escucha solo una pequeña parte y escucharla varias veces.  Vea si con repetición puedes entender más. In other words, listen to short chunks, play them back several times repeatedly, and listen for the gist.  Don't worry if you're not getting every word.  Also, if you watch a video and have no idea what it was about, try googling a key word or a newspaper article from that country and see if you can learn more. Para ver: Noticias de Argentina : Todo Noticias (even though I don't speak Argentine Spanish, I find the news on this channel slower and easier to follow than others). Televisión de Costa Rica : Teletica Noticias del Ecuador : TeleAmazonas Noticias de Guatemala : Guatevisión Noticias de Honduras : Tele...

My friend Suzanne Mateus writes a blog that deals with challenges and opportunities of bilingual parenting in the United States (and more specifically in Austin).  Check out Interpretations of a Bilingual Life !

Cuando visité a Denton la semana pasada, me contó un amigo que usa mucho este blog para sacar práctica en el español.  Me inspiró meter otros sitios para que practiquemos todos: Encontré algunos videos que se tratan de la educación temprana (por profesores en Harvard) . También este video en Youtube me interesó:   educación y teatro del oprimido (las ideas de Boal y Freire aplicadas en Bolivia)  . BrainPop  es un sitio educacional que me parece chido.  Es fácil inscribir para accesarlo gratis, aunque sea temporal.  Tiene videos interesante; acabo de ver uno que se trata de "bullying." Un estudiante de Arabia Saudita me preguntó de las influencias arabes en el lenguaje español .  Encontramos este árticulo en Wikipedia. Por favor, comparte cualquier corrección u oportunidades adicionales para practicar.  Puede usarw la sección "Comments."