ESPAÑOL: RESOURCES
Each individual learns at different rates and paces. Think about the number of classmates that you have. There are about as many different ways to learn and rates of learning as there are students in each class. It is impossible to tailor the course to everyone’s pace and needs, which is why I have put together a short list of places that you can go or things that you can do to get extra practice when you are not in the classroom.

Remember ¡paciencia! and perseverance. Most of you have been learning English your entire lives and you are still working on it. You will continue to improve throughout your entire lives. That is the nature of language… The more effort that you put into learning any language the faster and greater the results. So here are some suggestions:

 
Step 1: Get used to the rhythm and pronunciation - Escuchar y acostumbrarte
  1. Put the Spanish channel on in the background if you have cable (possibly: channel 18) or the many other TV viewing options that have become more available.
  2. Listen to music in Spanish. Just let it sink in, little by little you may feel comfortable singing.
  3. Use the internet and practice listening to Spanish speakers: (here are some websites)

http://members.aol.com/alvareze/spanish/frame.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/lj/

Step 2:

Speaking - Hablar

(Try, make mistakes, fix and learn from them, help each other).
  1. In class repeat and participate in speaking activities when you are asked to do so.
  2. Go to Internet sites in Step 1 part 3 and repeat.
  3. When you make flashcards or write assignments practice the words out loud.
  4. Call a classmate on the phone and practice speaking together.

  5. When you are ready, sing/ read along with Spanish music that you listen to.

Step 3:

Reading - Leer

(Find any topic/ theme that you like and read about it.)
  1. Start small: Look first at any visuals or illustrations for clues of what you are reading.
  2. Read titles, and look for words that you know.
  3. In Spanish there are a lot of cognates (words that look like English and mean the same thing). Use that to your advantage. Train yourself to look at those words and context and guess.
  4. Here are some common themes and websites.
  La astronomía:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2346/
   

http://www.astronomia.com
   

http://w3.cnice.mec.es/eos/MaterialesEducativos/mem2000/astronomia/chicos/index.html

  Los animales: http://web.jet.es/simonmarti/index.html
    http://www.animales.cl/
  Los deportes: http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/
    http://www.solodeportes.com.ve/
  Las noticias (the news): http://cnnenespanol.com/
    http://periodicos.ws/ (newspapers from various countries)
  La poesía:

http://luis.salas.net/
    http://www.poesia-castellana.com/

Step 4:

Writing - Escribir
  1. Start a journal. start small in Spanish and gradually write more and more (i.e. write about the weather and a few things that you did that day and little by little start adding more detail.)
  2. Write a poem, short stories, songs or raps.
  3. Write emails to your classmates and friends in Spanish.
  4. Get a pen-pal in one of the many Spanish speaking countries.
    5.

Step 5:

Sharpen your grammatical accuracy -

Afina tu conocimiento de la gramática
  1. Your textbook has exercises that you can use to practice.
  2. Various verb and grammar drills: www.studyspanish.com (left hand margin: verb drills / grammar drills)
  3. AMSCO year 3 Spanish book (your blue books.)
  4. There are more sites on the internet if you do a Google search i.e.
    1. Practice conjugations: http://www.spaleon.com/index.php

Fun Spanish Resources:

The BBC has a fun learning Spanish website that's interactive and has you go all over Spain learning how to order food, get a taxi, ask for and give directions, all under the alias of "Jamie Blonde". At the end of each lesson there is a "quiz" if you get an 80% or above they give you a clue. At the end you take the six clues and use them to form a message in Spanish. It's really fun (in my opinion). The web site is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/lj/.

There are other Spanish resources offered there and they are in Castilian Spanish (from Spain).That URL is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/.

Look for your topics of interest on sites like

http://www.google.es

http://www.yahoo.es

 

Also, the Centro Nacional de Información y Comunicación Educativa (The National Center for Information and Educational Communication of Spain) has some great interactive resources as well as fun activities. Check it out at: http://www.cnice.mec.es/. **The two links that are especially helpful/interesting are  http://www.cnice.mec.es/jovenes/ and http://www.cnice.mec.es/ninos/.

 Finally, Don’t worry everybody makes mistake. You can read some funny stories about using the wrong vocab in Spanish. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/lost_for_words.shtml#spanish.