Spanish Summer Guide for Students Going Onto Intermediate Spanish

Spanish Summer Guide for Students going onto Intermediate Spanish

How do I avoid forgetting everything I’ve learned? How do I learn more?

·  Review one chapter per week (1A-5A). Re-read notes and re-do some online activities from my website. Go to my website and review all the major notes and practice activities form this year.

·  Use your etext to review old chapters. Remember your username is your full last name followed by your first name. Your password is rtm then your lunch code. Some of you may have different usernames.

·  Curious about next year? Look ahead for next year’s content in your etext. Next year, we’ll cover chapters 5B-9B. Feel free to look ahead at the GramActivas, Videohistorias, etc.

·  On my website, you can start looking ahead to the Intermediate notes and activities organized by chapter.

·  As you are out and about, take note of any signs in Spanish and English. Try reading and saying these words to increase your vocabulary.

·  Read labels written in Spanish and English (i.e. toothpaste, shampoo, cooking instructions, etc.

·  Try watching a DVD you know by heart. Go to the audio options and put the audio in Spanish and add Spanish subtitles also. Watch it!

·  If you cannot get Spanish subtitles and audio, try at least one or the other. You can sometimes do this in youtube, Netflix or Hulu also.

·  Any website you visit, change it to Spanish if you can.

·  Change your phone to Spanish.

·  Try texting and talking to your friends and family in Spanish with the Spanish keyboard.

·  Change your social media to Spanish.

·  Play video games in Spanish if you have the option. Some students even play with Spanish-speakers from around the world.

·  If you like sports, go to ESPN in Spanish to check scores http://espndeportes.espn.go.com

·  When checking the weather, do so in Spanish. http://espanol.weather.com/

·  Go to google.com/es to search in Spanish.

·  Reads the news at google.com/es and click “noticias”

·  Visit http://www.univision.com/

·  Visit http://msnlatino.telemundo.com/

·  Visit http://www2.esmas.com/usa/

·  Visit http://www.hulu.com/latino

·  Get hooked on a soap opera in Spanish like Extra en Español: There are 13 episodes. You can put on the captions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfb9-ZTCA-E

·  Watch one of the Spanish channels and get hooked on a telenovela. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414766/

·  If you have on demand, there are MANY shows/movies available in Spanish. You can see some on youtube. WARNING! Some contain content some may find offensive. Check the rating.

·  Go to http://www.wordreference.com/ whenever you want to look up a word. There is a great mobile app available.

·  Duo Lingo is a fun app to compete with your friends while learning Spanish

·  iHeartRADIO app is a free way to listen to radio stations in Spanish from all

·  Go to my website’s “Useful Links” section and explore.

·  Complete the interactive soap opera online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/

·  If you know someone who speaks Spanish or is an advanced Spanish student, ask them to speak with you.

·  Read Wikipedia articles in Spanish at http://es.wikipedia.org

·  Read or watch what interests you in Spanish

·  Use www.pandora.com to search out music in Spanish. Listen to some of the other songs by the artists we listened to in class.

·  Try watching movies in Spanish on Netflix or your cable provider.

The power of motivation

What is your motivation? Do you want to be able to communicate with people? Travel or live abroad? Think or dream in Spanish? If you are not genuinely interested in learning another language, you will probably forget everything you learn after you take your next test. If your only motivation is “I need to take Spanish to graduate or to get into X college,” you will have a difficult time retaining what you have learned.

The power of your personal interests and expertise

When you are looking for ways to communicate in Spanish, pick something that interests you and something that you already know a lot about. For example, if you are interested in the Phillies, read about the Phillies in Spanish. You will already be familiar with the topic and will have an easier time understanding what you are listening to/reading. If you are really into a certain hobby, read about it in Spanish.

Caution

Do not get discouraged if you feel like you do not understand what you read or hear in Spanish. Remember, you are new to learning another language and it takes years of study and immersion experiences to develop fluency. Try to comprehend what you can and celebrate the small victories.