Thursday, October 27, 2011

OLLI Class, 26 de octubre de 2011

Palabras del día:
Notice that these are past tense forms of verbs we have used in the present.

 
past tense (imperfect)
English
present tense form
past tense (preterite)
English
present tense form
quería tener
s/he wanted to have
quiere tener
fue
s/he went
va
se llamaba
s/he was called, his name was
se llama
buscó
s/he looked for, searched for
busca
era
s/he was
es
encontró
s/he found
encuentra
tenía
s/he had
tiene
compró
s/he bought
compra



puso
s/he put, put on
pone
había
there was, there were
hay
miró
s/he looked at
mira


Monday, October 24, 2011

OLLI class, 24 de octubre

LIBROS!!  We got the books today!  If you didn't get what you wanted, or want to order more, we can do so on Wednesday.

FOOD:  Las horas de las comidas en España (aproximadamente):
7-9 am el desayuno
(café, pan, churros, leche con chocolate caliente)
2-4 pm (14-16 horas) la comida
(main meal of the day)
6-9 pm (18-21 h) la merienda
(a little snack, could be tapas* and a drink, café, some yogurt and fruit,,)
9 - 12 pm (21 - 24 h) la cena
(usually a lighter meal, more like an American lunch, but if you go out, it could be full meal)

*Tapas are appetizers, anything from olives to potato salad to oysters, etc. that are usually served in bars to accompany your drink.  Some US restaurants seem to call this "small plates".  If you're hungry and the restaurants are not open yet, find a pleasant bar and see what they have displayed.  Incidentally, sherry (jerez) and other wines are most commonly enjoyed with tapas, rather than mixed cocktails like martinis.


We reviewed and re-told in pairs the story about Arturo and the romantic nose.  Then we started looking at how we would tell the story in the past tenses.  Here's a chart:

La nariz romántica de Arturo
Here are some critical sentences from this story.  The verbs on the left are in the present tense; the ones on the right are in past tenses.  Notice the differences.
Hay un hombre. 

Había

Se llama Arturo.
Se llamaba

Tiene un problema.
Tenía

Quiere tener una nariz romántica. 

Quería tener
Busca por todas partes.

Buscó
No encuentra una nariz.    

No encontró
Va a Granada. 

Fue
(Espera encontrar) He hopes to find
(Esperaba encontrar)
He hoped to find

Encuentra una tienda de narices.

Encontró
Mira la nariz de A. Banderas.

Miró

Le gusta. 

Le gustaba
Compra la nariz. 

Compró
Se la pone.
Se la puso.

Está contento
Estaba contento.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

OLLI Class, 19 de octubre de 2011

¡Bienvenidos a los estudiantes nuevos!

We ordered books, Pobre Ana and some others, from Blaine Ray Workshops.  They should be here on Monday and we'll start reading then.

We reviewed work from last class and read the story about Arturo aloud.

 Palabras nuevas:  
grita - s/he shouts, yells.
también - also, too
tampoco - neither, not either
hacia - toward
la tumba - the tomb
el rey, la reina, real - the king, queen, royal (or real)
por fin - finally
abre - s/he opens
entra -s/he enters
compra - s/he buys
se la pone - s/he puts it on

We also played a game, La búsqueda, and found out new things about people in the class.

Monday, October 17, 2011

OLLI class, 17 octubre 2011

List of TPR words: (Total Physical Response)
We often use commands like these to practice words whose meaning is concrete and clear.
1. mira - look at: mira a la profesora, mira la puerta, mira a un hombre, mira a una mujer
2. señala-- point to, signal, indicate: señala la ventana
3. toca--touch: toca la silla, toca la cabeza
4. la nariz -- the nose: toca la nariz
5. levanta la mano-- raise your hand: levanta la mano lentamente
6. la puerta-- the door: señala la puerta, abre la puerta
7. la ventana-- the window: mira la ventana, abre la ventana
8. la oreja-- the ear: toca la oreja, mueve la oreja
9. lentamente-- slowly (despacio- slow, slowly). Levanta la mano lentamente
10. rapidamente--quickly, rapidly, fast: toca la silla rapidamente

Palabras del día:

1. quiere tener una nariz romántica : s/he wants to have a romantic nose
2. busca por todas partes: s/he looks all over, everywhere
3. va: s/he goes
4. encuentra: s/he finds

El cuento de la clase (class story)
Arturo es un hombre que tiene una nariz maravillosa, excelente, masculina, y magnífica. Pero Arturo tiene un problema--él quiere tener una nariz romántica. Arturo vive en Madrid, la capital de España, y habla español. Busca una nariz romántica por todas partes de Madrid. Busca en la Gran Vía, busca en la Puerta del Sol, busca en el Banco de España, y busca en el palacio del rey de España, el Palacio Real. El rey se llama Juan Carlos y la reina se llama Sofía, pero ellos no tienen narices románticas: tienen narices reales.

Arturo no encuentra una nariz romántica en Madrid. Entonces, él va a Granada, una ciudad muy romántica en el sur de España. Arturo no va en avión, no va en bicicleta. Va en el tren super-rápido que se llama AVE. En Granada el hombre busca una nariz romántica en la Capilla Real, donde se encuentra la tumba de los Reyes Católicos, Fernando e Isabel, pero no la encuentra allí. También busca en la Alhambra, un lugar fantástico de los moros. Pero no encuentra una nariz romántica en la Alhambra tampoco. Por fin Arturo encuentra una tienda especial que se llama "La casa de las narices." Está muy contento y grita,--¡Ay, ay, ay!

El hombre abre la puerta y entra en la tienda de narices. Mira todas las narices y encuentra la nariz de Penelope Cruz. Es una nariz muy bonita y romántica, pero es muy femenina. Por fin Arturo encuentra la nariz de Antonio Banderas. Mira la nariz. Es masculina y muy romántica. Arturo compra la nariz y se la pone. Ahora está muy contento.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Syllabus, OLLI Fall term, 2011


Speedy Spanish 2
Profesora Teri Coppedge

Goal:
Students will be able to understand basic spoken and written Spanish, with limited vocabulary, in common situations. They will be able to ask simple questions, narrate short stories, and manage basic conversations. Students will acquire the most commonly used words of Spanish.
Methodology:
The methodology of this class is based largely on second language acquisition research by Dr. Stephen Krashen, Dr. Tracy Terrell and Dr. James Asher, among others, and on practical language teaching practices developed by Mr. Blaine Ray and continually refined and expanded by numerous other instructors in daily classroom learning situations.

Terrell and Krashen first developed the Natural Approach in 1977, and Krashen is still exploring and expanding his research. Essentially, the centerpiece of this theory is the Comprehension Hypothesis: that we acquire language only when we understand messages – and when we are “ready” to acquire the language.

Thus, in this class I will give you “comprehensible input”--that is, you will understand everything I say and write. If you do not understand, your job as a student is to let me know and I will make it comprehensible to you. I will use translation, gestures, props, context clues and pictures.

Dr. James Asher developed TPR (Total Physical Response), which involves learning another language through actions. This can be great fun and is very effective when the meaning of the gestures and actions is clear. We will use this often. The game “Simon Says” is similar to TPR.

Mr. Blaine Ray, a Spanish teacher, developed TPRS (Total Physical Response Storytelling) as an expansion of TPR in the early 1990´s, when I first heard about it. TPRS takes the physical actions and incorporates them into more complex contexts such as stories, narratives and dramas. TPRS provides context, comprehensible input, natural language, and lots of repetition to help everyone learn quickly. (Other practitioners refer to TPRS as Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling.)

Plan of the class:
Each day I will introduce a few new words or phrases, we will incorporate them into telling a story with your help and ideas, and then we will read a story that uses the same words. You will have ample opportunity to hear and see each word many times so that you can acquire it. Our stories will be based in the Spanish-speaking world. We will also enjoy music, play games and watch videos. We may start reading a short novel, but will probably not finish it in class. Rather than studying a traditional grammar textbook, you will be acquiring grammar structures and vocabulary every day.
We will be combining many aspects of the language in each lesson. It is difficult to separate these and tell you exactly what we will be doing every single day. Student interests and abilities will influence the course of study.

Since this class is intended for those with at least some knowledge of Spanish, we will tell the stories in the present tense and read them in the past tense(s), as needed for the sense of the story.

Please attempt to follow this approach: it works and it’s fun! Of course, it does require paying attention, asking for help, and being willing to volunteer! Don’t worry – I am here to help you, you can help each other, we’re all in this together, there are no grades, and you WILL acquire some Spanish.

More information:
If you are interested in learning more about language acquisition theory, you may visit Dr. Krashen’s site at http://www.sdkrashen.com/
The following two sites are designed mostly for teachers, but other materials and information are available.
http://www.blaineraytprs.com/ (Blaine Ray’s site)
www.tprstorytelling.com (Carol Gaab’s site)
If you are interested in other Spanish-study opportunities, you might try:
and many more.

¡Bienvenidos a la clase de español!
I look forward to working with you.
- Teri Coppedge (also called “miss Teri”, “maestra”, “profesora”, or “profe”)