Spanish Teaching

Communication between Spanish Teachers

Lauris — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Well, today I discovered something very frightening; what’s more, I am still shocked to my core from the moment I heard a voice uttering the words:

“Después de 10 años juntas descubro que no hay comunicación entre nosotras” (After 10 years together, I have just discovered that there is no communication between us).

After the initial state of surprise had passed, I went through a phase of confusion: "But if I'm not talking to my husband, the lips that uttered this statement cannot belong to my husband, nor can this room be the living room of my house, nor can this conversation be typical of two people in a long and happy marriage." Thanks to my extensive knowledge of grammar, I received the first clue: the phrase refers to female subjects (juntas, nosotras) and since I am married to a male individual, the statement spoken does not refer to my married life. That and we were in the staff room. Through the midday haze, I traced the outline of my colleague from the language department. My colleague, my fellow-sufferer, my faithful companion in this adventure of teaching Spanish was telling me that after 10 years together, she was discovering that there was no communication between us? And she seemed depressed about it.

I almost said something like: “But I love you as I always have, ever since the day I arrived lost, disoriented and new and you welcomed me with a smile and offered me a cup of coffee and helped me find my groups. I learned so many things from you.” Or something more definitive like: “There’s no one else, only you.” But then I thought that instead of sticking my foot in my mouth, it’d be better to ask a question: “B b b b but why do you say that?”

And she told me.

It turns out that she’d discovered quite by accident, one day when she was substituting for me, that we were teaching the same things but using rules that were not only different, they were even contradictory. After all these years thinking we were in agreement on teaching grammar her way and here I’ve not only been explaining it differently, I was even discrediting her method, mocking the theory principles that supported it, discrediting her.

But, darling, I still love you, I don’t have eyes for anyone else, I respect and admire you in the same way I did on the first day I met you, that day that you explained the school’s curriculum to me in the staff room as if you’d written it yourself. And then, in the cafeteria when no one was listening, you told me that things could get tough, that I should just try to make it to Friday alive. And with that simple phrase, you summed up all the knowledge of one hundred curriculums. How could I discredit your teachings?

Well, I did.

It turns out that she followed the Francisco Matte Bonn model, which explains the indicative / subjunctive opposition in terms of new / shared information, the same model that I (apparently) agreed to follow when I began teaching at our school. But I had adopted the criteria of José Plácido Ruiz without having first discussed, reviewed and evaluated it with my colleagues; logical steps when deciding to take new teaching approaches.

But I did tell you, I even showed you the article and I sent you an email with the activities I prepared to teach it. We’ve talked about it many times…

And here we are, tomorrow we have an appointment with the school counselor to try to come to a joint decision on how to, first and foremost, respect the consistency of grammar and secondly, explain the subjunctive in such a way that students understand how and when to use it. So we’ll see, if we can work this out like adults, we may not need the intervention of the mediator and we can go back to having coffee together while criticizing the curriculum, the other departments, the head of studies, the school director and the gardener’s mother in law…

How a conference about applied linguistics changed my life

Salomé Torres — Thu, 9 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A Conference about Applied Linguistics

I don’t really give it too much thought when I make up my mind: an international conference is happening near my town, a place where I don’t get many chances to gain professional or academic training. Alright, so the conference is on applied linguistics, which is pretty general. What about all those great Spanish as a foreign language courses going on out there right now! But it’s better than nothing, so okay, I decide to go.

The conference starts with plenty of interesting communication going on. By the end of the afternoon, a plenary lecture sounds informative, but I’ve been up since seven in the morning and I’m so drained after six previous lectures that I’m not going to follow any of it. Well, I guess I’ll sit in the back, and if I can’t focus or if it’s not very interesting, I can always just quietly slip out.

The conference is however very interesting, from start to finish. I walk out of there with my head abuzz with ideas, and all the way to the bus stop and while riding home, thoughts and concepts flash through my mind, ideas that are giving me a richer, deeper perspective. It’s like when you see a movie and even days later you keep discovering parallel messages, deeper meanings, and new implications. Like the constant flow of water that gushes from a spring.

There’s still a day left of the conference, more communication, another plenary lecture… more new ideas. The ideas are buzzing. I spend Sunday with family and friends and then on Monday it’s back to the daily grind. I’m asked how the conference went. It was good, interesting. Anything new? Yeah, I attended a very interesting lecture, I just have to go over my notes because I’ve got so many ideas all mixed together.

I look at my notes and they are a disaster, an unintelligible mess, I can barely read my own handwriting; it’s okay, relax, it’ll work out.

I was in class today correcting an exercise on the chalk board when suddenly everything just came together like a jigsaw puzzle. Of course, that was it! As I wrote on the board, everything started making sense, and not only did I understand, I began changing my way of looking at it all, changing the idea I’d always had on how to focus my classes. As I wrote, I felt the way my beliefs were changing about Spanish teaching. I’ve had plenty of important influences in my life, too many to mention here, including teachers whom I greatly admire, but it had never seemed so clear to me before, so obvious. Teresa Cadiero’s lecture was on the notion of “thinking to talk” (pensar para hablar). She talked about how cognition determines languages and the way in which, for example, the resources for expression in different languages differ. So language acquisition requires learning certain ways of thinking, or certain patterns that are specific to the target language.

Until today, I’d always thought that my students wouldn’t be able to use past tenses correctly until they had reached a certain level of Spanish, assuming that the ability to narrate actions in the past was a phenomenon reserved for telling stories. Today however, as I wrote short texts on the board created by my students, I realized that what I called coherence not only had to do with the way we organize texts and speeches, it also had to do with how we think, how we organize an experience.

That’s how after 25 years of teaching, I’ve found another mountain to climb, because I want to see the horizon on the other side, that other horizon that’s been shown to me in the form of vague sketches, but which has occupied my thoughts for the last 6 hours, filling me with questions and motivation.

Gracias, profesora Cadierno.

Spanish in the US. The Cervantes Institute at Harvard

Lauris — Fri, 3 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Spanish-speaking nations

When talking about Spanish-speaking nations, people often make the big mistake of overlooking the United States. The US is one of the countries with the largest number of Spanish speakers. Moreover, it has been predicted that by 2050, the number of Americans who speak Spanish as their first language will exceed that of the inhabitants of Mexico, which it is still the country with the largest number of Spanish speakers.

According to the Cervantes Institute, there are more than thirty million Americans who speak Spanish as their first language today, and this number is increasing rapidly. In addition, nearly one million American undergrads study Spanish, which places it as the most studied foreign language at the university level in the US.

A New Cervantes Institute Center

Given these facts, the Cervantes Institute will launch a new center in Massachusetts, and more specifically in the "heart" of Harvard University, one of the world’s most prestigious institutions and the oldest university in the United States.

The official name of this center will be “Instituto Cervantes en la Universidad de Harvard” (Cervantes Institute at Harvard University). It is the result of an agreement between the Spanish institution, whose general director is Victor Gª de la Concha, and the president of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust, which will allow the Cervantes Institute to establish a center in Harvard’s department of arts and sciences, a center that will serve as an observatory for the study and expansion of the Spanish language in the U.S.

The Cervantes Institute at Harvard University will be made possible with the sponsorship of Grupo Santander, which will help the center get started and fund it with a million Euros over a four year period. Plans for the project include a soon-to-be-ready website where users will be able to access all the material created by the center for its different activities. Reports will also be given on Spanish in the US and the status of Spanish-language literature there, including the linguistic contact and influences that implicates, etc. The new Cervantes Institute center also plans to implement cultural initiatives that will promote Spanish language and Hispanic identity at universities. Lectures are also planned to be given by Latino writers that are active in the US, and visits will be made by authors that have won the prestigious Cervantes Institute.

The director of the new center will be the Spanish language professor Francisco Moreno Fernández., who was also responsible for the Cervantes Institute in Chicago and Sao Paulo. Since 2008, he has been the academic director of the Institute. Although the Harvard center’s operation period is initially scheduled to last four years, Mr. Moreno optimistically stated on RNE (Spanish National Radio), that “something would have to go very wrong for the four year operation period at Harvard not to be automatically renewed”.

The opening of the Cervantes Institute at Harvard University is a promising event for the future of the Spanish language in the US and for a vision of Spanish as a prestigious, international, unifying language. For many years, those that work within the field of promoting Spanish-speaking language and culture in the world today have been working to achieve that vision.

Spanish in Latin America. El Voseo

Lauris — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

When we are teaching a language like Spanish, there are a series of topics that we should keep in mind. The interculturality, wealth and diversity of the language are fundamental elements that we have to include in our program of courses and classes.

Interestingly, teachers often “skip over” the topic of “EL VOSEO”. If at any moment in your teaching career you have turned to a story about the famous Mafalda or if you have prepared a classroom activity with music by Calamaro, Jorge Drexler or any of the great musicians of the Cono Sur (Southern Cone) region; if you've shown in the classroom an Argentinean, Uruguayan or Paraguayan movie or short film, then you have surely encountered this phenomenon.

A linguistic phenomenon in Latin America

When our students are interested in the culture of the South American continent, or if they go and travel there, or simply as an important linguistic phenomenon that marks the accent of many millions of speakers and that the Royal Spanish Academy includes in their dictionary (consult the Academy’s online dictionary and you will see how the conjugation of the verbs offers “vos” as an alternative to “tú”); it’s important that this phenomenon doesn’t transform into yet another tense to memorize, but that we try to see a certain logic behind the phenomenon, which additionally will help with our understanding and will strengthen the sentiment in the memory of the student better than if it is simply a matter of he or she thinking, well if the teacher says so, I’ll repeat it but I don’t understand it.

The impact on the tense of the verb

It’s fundamentally important to remember that “EL VOSEO” is a phenomenon that consists of the exchange of the pronoun TÚ for VOS, but it doesn’t stop there: “EL VOSEO” also affects the tense of the verb, in the Present Indicative and the Imperative.

I like to take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone when the question of “EL VOSEO” presents itself. Then, we reflect on the subject as a group – the students and I, with some discrete manipulation on my part to ensure that the conversation is steered in the direction that I wish it to go – The situation usually goes a little something like this:

When the Spaniards colonized South America, respect for indigenous languages was not very important. The colonizers simply imposed their own language upon the enslaved (who already had their own languages). In this way, we can extract an idea that, historically correct or not, helps us to understand why and how we use “EL VOSEO”. For centuries, Americans had to use Castilian to talk with Spanish people. Evidently, this was a relationship built upon subservience. In this way, the “TÚ” form was practically unused by the Americans as they did not utilize the Castilian language to communicate with their own people, but their own indigenous language, whatever it was. In this way, the “TÚ” form in the singular and the “VOSOTROS” form in the plural were forgotten about. In fact, in almost all of Latin America, “VOSOTROS” is hardly ever used. “USTEDES” is used in the second and third person plural and in formal situations.

In the case of the second person singular, we can imagine that, with the passing of the centuries, many Americans, in many regions of their respective countries, stopped using their own original languages and decided to speak Spanish instead. In this case, yes, they would need to utilize the “TÚ” form, but we say that they had forgotten because of a lack of practice. This is what Alex Grijelmo calls “EL GENIO DE LA LENGUA”, this unconscious collective use of language based on common sense that leads speakers to unconsciously repeat language as it is used around them. They observe that the only apparent difference between “ÉL” and “ELLOS” is the presence of the letter “N”. Equally, the difference between “TÚ” and “VOSOTROS” is that the plural form has an “I” and the singular form does not. So, they adopted a new form that wasn’t “TÚ” but “VOS” (in memory of the obligatory courteousness with jefes españoles).

What they didn’t notice is that the form of “VOSOTROS”, in present indicative and in imperative, has an accent on the last syllable, while the singular forms of the same verbs carry the accent on the root.

In this way, we can understand how the “TÚ HABLAS” turns into “VOS HABLÁS” through the art of “EL VOSEO” (and in this case, the accent is necessary). We can also understand that the order: “¡VEN!” logically transforms into “¡VENÍ!” in that the “D” that characterizes the imperative of “VOSOTROS” disappears and we obtain an imperative of the perfectly regular “VOS” that we hear in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and many other zones over the entire length and breadth of Central and Southern America.

The Secret of the Past in Spanish Revealed

Lauris — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Last week we were talking about finding simple and efficient ways to help our students understand the hidden secrets of Spanish grammar. We spoke about “the Occam’s knife” and the importance of finding easy solutions to big problems.

I certainly don’t want to brag, but I am going to explain how I’ve figured out a way to effectively handle a classroom full of A2 students that have all flown into a panic because they’ve just discovered that on top of having to learn the morphology of THREE past tense forms (the native language of many students has just two at most), they’ve also got to know when to use each one, they can’t of course just guess and hope to get it right.

We’ll start by talking about how the names for grammatical elements are often arbitrary, although at times they do suggest their meaning to a certain degree. If you’re working with the three preterits in Spanish for example, Perfecto, Indefinido and Imperfecto, look for some type of logic behind the names. What does PERFECTO mean? Something perfect is something that can’t be improved upon, so we can consider it completed. When forming the perfecto, we use the auxiliary verb in the present, together with the participle of the conjugated verb. From here we can easily conclude that: Perfecto = completed action in the present /or related in some way to the present.

Secondly, if something perfect is completed than something imperfect is not. This is one of the keys to the usage of the Imperfect: Imperfecto = unfinished action in the past, unlimited action in the past (there’s also the descriptive use of the Imperfecto which is pretty straight forward).

The indefinido is one of those cases in which its name doesn’t suggest its meaning any more than the name patata or obelisco would. Here, I play with the phonetic imagery of the Pretérito Indefinido: it’s the only form of the past tenses that is conjugated in the aguda form, with the stress on the final syllable. This rhythm, which is so common in French, sounds slightly aggressive in Spanish, like something hitting a table… and this is where my idea comes in: if the Indefinido is “trabajó”, then this aggressive sound corresponds with an aggressive point of view chronologically speaking. In other words, Indefinido = action at a specific time in the past, or at least a LIMITED action, completed in the past but which doesn’t continue to the present.

Beginning with these three basic ideas, I guide my students along a path of learning that’s composed of three basic questions.

It’s all based on the following premise: when you want to talk about something that happened in the past, the idea, the story, is clear to you. So, the first thing you have to think about is, can I picture what I’m saying as a photo? If you can, then it’s a description of something, and you use the Imperfecto. If the answer is no, then you’ll have to ask yourself a second question: does what I’m saying have to do with the present? If the answer is yes, then you’ll need to use the Perfecto. If the answer is no again, you just have to ask one final question: Is there a limit? If there is, then use the Indefindo, if not, use the Imperfect.

This all may sound a little confusing, but by using an example, you can help make it clearer. To illustrate this, we’ll use a story that has the following elements: Andrés, last Saturday, walking on the beach, finding a five euro bill.

We’ll start by putting these elements through the system. Andrés is the subject of the story, that’s clear. The context is in the past, so we have to ask: is pasear por la playa like a photo? If the students says yes, then use the Imperfect (paseaba por la playa), but even if the student says no, because he or she thinks of going for a walk as more of an action than a description, just ask the second question: is it related to the present? The answer is NO, because we’re talking about last Saturday, so we ask the next question: is there a limit? How long did Andrés spend walking? The answer is clearly “we don’t know” or “that’s not relevant”, in which case, we end up again with the Imperfecto, which somehow guarantees that this system works because it produces “paseaba por la playa” or “estaba paseando por la playa”. Next, “Encontrar un billete de cinco €” is not a photo, it’s the representation of the moment in which Andrés bends down to pick up the bill. The meaning itself of the verb encontrar refers to a specific time, so we can answer yes to the question of whether or not this refers to a limited action, and that means that we need to use the Indefinite.

We finally end up with a sentence like “El sábado pasado Andrés estaba paseando por la playa y encontró un billete de cinco euros”, which is a correct way to explain an event that happened in the past.

I think that this is a good system for navigating the stormy waters of the past tenses and avoiding any unnecessary trauma. It may not be enough to greatly expand your student’s knowledge of grammar, but it works as a way to get started.

The secret of the past tenses in Spanish

Lauris — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Telling a story in the past

When we teachers enter into a classroom of A2 level students with whom we have been working on the past tenses in Spanish, we usually find a room full of anxious faces desperately searching for the magic recipe to be able to comfortably communicate in Spanish. They want to be able to talk about their memories, to tell a story in the past, and that perhaps a Spanish speaker would be able to understand.

I had said before “estamos trabajando con los pasados del español” (We are working on the past tense in Spanish) but now I think that the sentence doesn’t really do my cause justice. Perhaps it would be better to say “estamos luchando contra los pasados” (we are fighting against the past tenses) or “estamos sufriendo el ataque indiscriminado y masivo de los pasados” (we are suffering an indiscriminate and massive attack of the past tenses). I have to admit that more than once I have fought the urge to put on a helmet to shield me from the shocked, panicked and pale faces (from the terror, or what may be worse, the acceptance of pure defeat and inability to understand it) staring at me with evil eyes.

The Occam’s Knife

Gradually, as the years have gone by and I have accumulated more and more experience in this vast sea of grammar, I have come to the conclusion that we should not forget a rule of physics known as “The Occam’s Knife” or “The Occam’s Razor”, depending on where you look. What it basically means is that among all of the possible solutions, the simplest one that produces the least amount of complications, is normally the correct one.

When we find ourselves in a class with a group of diverse students with different interests we shouldn’t, in my opinion, forget the fact that we are teaching communicative abilities, NOT theoretical grammar, even if a dose or two of grammar is necessary to get the point across. We should be able to put ourselves in the students’ shoes and give explanations using simple, but fair, language. (Can you remember the face of the 50 or-so-year-old Dutch student that works in a bank in Rotterdam as we try to help her understand and accept the pasivas reflejas verb structures in Spanish?)

In the environment I have been working in for almost 30 years now, I can count on one hand the amount of class groups that actually needed to be able to explain the technicalities of grammar.

We are not in the same business as a university or any other type of official education, for us, the goal is different. We are transmitters of a passion for interpersonal and intercultural communication and our goal that our students become self-sufficient and independent speakers in their daily interactions; not that they are able to explain the grammatical technicalities of why or how they do it. So, we should teach them using simple (but not simplistic) but correct explanations.

This is the true challenge.

I leave you now to mull over these ideas. Next week I will leave you with a small example of how, in my opinion, you can help students who are starting to work with the past tenses to get a feel for how it works, even if they aren’t able to explain in an orthodox way for what and how each of the past tenses are used.

Until next week!

The Spanish Verbs IR & VENIR

Lauris — Fri, 5 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Earlier this week, I was chatting with a colleague, when we started discussing a problem experienced by non-Hispanics with the verbs IR & VENIR (GO& COME). While Spanish speakers understand the difference perfectly, non-natives seem to be totally confused.

"¿Vienes esta noche?"

Have you ever had a conversation with a French, Italian or even an Iranian student when suddenly the following question arises: “¿Vienes esta noche?” (Are you coming out tonight?) A simple reply of “Sí vengo”(Yes, I’m coming) causes teachers to experience feelings of frustration and hopelessness. We think to ourselves (we don´t say it, but we think it): “Darn it! Why didn’t I dedicate myself to something other than teaching?” And frustrated, you think that it is just useless.

But later, after composing ourselves, a light appears at the end of the tunnel as we think of a way to overcome the problem.

The next day, you stand next to the chalkboard and draw two 3D arrow shapes; one pointing towards the class (coming) and the other pointing away (going). Satisfied with your artistic skills, after having spent two hours perfecting the picture at home, you return and ask the class the following question: “What do you see here?”… Silence, faces of bewilderment and panic as the students begin to think that their teacher has gone mad! You then explain to the class: “MOVEMENT! Two similar movements, but different… One leaves from where I am and the other comes towards me. Understand?” Suddenly, smiles, heads begin to nod, sighs of relief, the feeling that the students have realized that they aren’t going to need to commit their teacher to a mental home today fills the room.

Your point of view is important

With the total self-confidence of a performer who has the undivided attention of the audience, you take a piece of red chalk and write in letters the size of watermelons the verb IR (TO GO) above the “going arrow” and the verb VENIR (TO COME) above the “coming arrow”. Then comes the axiom, the perfect sentence, the idea, as Aldous Huxley would say, that you hope to open “The Doors of Perception” (of the students understanding) and you realize that your POINT OF VIEW IS IMPORTANT when learning Spanish.

You explain that the only difference that Spanish speakers see between the two verbs is 180° and for a second that song by Julio Iglesias, that almost unknown guy living in Miami, crosses your mind: “Unos que vienen, otros que se vaaaaannn…” (“Some that come, others that gooooo…”) but in a moment of clarity, you decide that it is better to leave it for another time. You do a little role play with your students to help them understand that for Spaniards, repeating the verb that appears in the question is not as important as respecting the location of the speaker and the listener. With the pendulum-like flow of the conversation coming in and coming out, the word IR becomes VENIR and visa-versa depending on your position during the conversation.

If you are lucky, there will be smiles and maybe even an “Ach Sooo!” (Oh yea!) as that one German student in the class figures it out.

You think this ends here? Dream on!

In another moment of creativeness, you turn your back to the “audience” and draw one stick man next to the Spanish verb IR and another next to the Spanish verb VENIR. Then you draw a small box in the hands of each figure. Then using the yellow chalk, you add the Spanish verbs, LLEVAR & TRAER.

You explain that these verbs also appear in lots of periphrasis, expressions and Spanish idioms, but there are special uses which belong to pure and simple lexicon.

When you sit down, breathing deeply, you almost expect a round of applause. You sit like Moses, with The Ten Commandments in your hands, spilling your knowledge left and right.

Later, reality puts you in your place when, you come across two of your students conversing in Spanish and one asks, “¿Vienes a cenar con nosotros a la Tapa Loca?” (Are you coming to dinner with us at the Tapa Loca?) and the other responds: ¡Sí, vengo! (Yes, I’m coming)!

And you realize that being a Spanish teacher is a “Never Ending Story”… Long may it last…

Cross Cultural Communication

Salomé Torres — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

As Fray Luis de León once said: “as we were saying yesterday”… A few weeks ago, I finished my post with: “Today I’m at the bookshop, and I don’t see any popular new methods. Everything I do see however contains something interesting, and that tells me that ours is a multi-dimensional profession, one that ranges from the emotional to the coldest of intellectual sciences. We hit on a little of everything, and luckily for us, we don’t get hit back too hard!”

Interculturality

I hit on a little of everything, but I don’t do it all at the same time. I organize myself and I usually only touch on one or two things at once, and here I’m going to discuss “interculturality”, or cross-cultural communication for cognitive speech development and for effective grammar teaching (or something like that). In other words, that’s where I’ll get started, letting myself get worked up about it and launching into the subject with the first person who, by a nervous and generous tic slightly raises one eyebrow, unconsciously displaying the most subtle of gestures that indicates interest in my words. It really doesn’t matter that my listener’s level of interest will soon be pulverized by my ability to bore to death, I’m still fascinated. I’m likely already losing readers, and if I keep this up, I’ll have no volunteers left to hear my winded discourse.

Interculturality is not so much a topic related to teaching, as it is a matter of chauvinist obstinacy. I just think that somehow the need to defend the image many have of Spaniards has fallen on my shoulders, although I must confess that sometimes I think I unconsciously want to convince the folks that run the financial markets more than the students. I think of myself as a champion of patriotic honor as I organize cultural activities designed to help students value Spanish traditions, single handedly saving Spain’s tourist appeal, which will pull the country out of the economic crisis and create six million jobs in the process. And all this because I’m going to make the Spanish lack of punctuality be seen as a mere mode of conceiving time elastically to allow friends to relax a bit, something they need to do in these stressful times. My husband says that nobody’s going to buy that, but it all seems quite clear to me. As soon as the financial markets understand that Spaniards work more hours than anyone else in Europe and that we effectively raise the rate of happiness with our concept of flexible time, the warmth of our relationships and the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, then they’ll start really investing in this country, a place where vegetarians can eat jamón, because a great tapa transcends any notion of what’s right and wrong. At times, I feel like I’m the queen of excess, but the sin of excess is really not that bad, the sin of defect is worse, and the truth is I really don’t have many defects, alright I may be a little bit passionate, but as far as defects go, like real defects, I’m, not very guilty.

Living in times of crisis

When I think about it seriously, what’s really behind this recent obsession is a sharp little pain that’s been cutting from my heart to my liver and then back to my heart after it’s been loaded with bile. Living in times of crisis is painful, especially when you hear with your own ears how the excited praise that students lavished on Spaniards just a few years ago has suddenly turned into scathing criticism, at times plain contempt. Just as the enthusiastic admiration often seemed like hasty conclusions made from a knowledge of Spanish culture that was based more on stereotypes and wild fiestas drenched in Spanish wine than it was on reality and personal experience, today’s negative criticism including generalized notions that Spaniards don’t work hard, are lacking in discipline, and that the country lacks fiscal and political honesty, also seem inspired by prejudices, this time created by the media for unclear reasons. So I think that Spaniards may have a universal destiny that we’ve been unaware of: to serve as an example for the world. In these times of uncontrolled consumerism, we’re a model for joyful living, and a scape goat chosen by economic analysts to represent everything they don’t know how to explain. So it seems that what we Spaniards have to offer is that we’re good for everything, “valemos pa’ to’” in other words, we can be used for that which is broken and for that which has come unraveled.

Dare to speak Spanish

Lauris — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Subtitles on Youtube

I recently watched a YouTube video that, although not directly related to the teaching of Spanish, could form the basis for an interesting lesson. YouTube provides us with the option to turn on subtitles. Given that these subtitles are automatic, they are often grammatically incorrect. A useful exercise for Spanish students would be to listen to the spoken Spanish and compare it with the written subtitles. Then, using their existing Spanish language skills, they could make the appropriate changes to the text. Alternatively, this video may prove a useful tool for teachers of unmotivated teens. Often, when students reach B2 level, they feel as if they can’t learn anymore and simply stop trying. This video may help to renew student self-confidence.

As a Spanish teacher, I often encounter students suffering from “B2 syndrome”. As a student acquires more and more information, it is necessary for their brain to do some restructuring in order to fit everything in. Students that are unaware of how their brain processes information may be led to believe that they are forgetting all their old knowledge. This is a scary thought and can cause the student to lapse into a state of panic. It is vital that the teacher helps the student to overcome this panic as quickly as possible. If not, then the student may experience a “blockage” whereby they struggle to absorb any new information.

Using animation and graphics, the video illustrates to the viewer the various zones that we find ourselves in. Firstly, there is the “comfort zone”. When we are doing normal, day-to-day activities like driving to work or walking the dog, we are inside our “comfort zone”. These are activities that are familiar to us. Then we have our “learning zone”, it is necessary to step outside of our “comfort zone” in order to expand our knowledge of the outside world. The “panic zone” is when we try to expand our knowledge so far that we feel like we are running the risk of forgetting old information. Arguably, the “panic zone” and the “magic zone” are one of the same thing: both represent us as learners venturing into “yet to be discovered” territory.

Spanish Conversation

A2 level students are capable of engaging in a basic conversation in Spanish. When a student is still at a beginners level, there is not much point in the teacher pointing out every little mistake he/she makes. This is because, the teenager is still learning the basics and trying to build up the confidence to speak aloud in a foreign language. At this stage in the learning process, it may be said that the language learner is in his/her “comfort zone”. However, unfortunately, many more advanced language learners choose to stay in this zone of comfort rather than venturing out into either the “learning zone” or the “panic zone”. Language students fear the “panic zone”. This is where we risk making fools of ourselves or having people correct us. The video explains that, it is virtually impossible to master a foreign language without encountering some constructive criticism.

However, if we take this feedback and learn from it then we as language learners can produce some satisfying results. The video teaches us that the best way to learn is to “throw ourselves in the deep end”. For example, a baby learns to talk so that it gets what it wants, an immigrant learns the language of their new home-country so that he/she can find work. In other words, the fastest way to learn a language is through necessity; by venturing out of our comfort zones into the unknown (panic zone), we are forced to speak the foreign language. In other words, in order to expand our comfort zones; we need to make ourlselves feel comfortable in previously ”scary” situations.

Photo by Anaïs Nannini

Soldiers and Cops Learning Spanish in Brazil

Dilek — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

It is a well-known fact that Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world after Chinese. In countries like the USA and Brazil, Spanish is the most widely spoken language. Knowing how to speak Spanish is highly advantageous and Spanish students are motivated by a variety of different stimuli. Without a doubt, the best way to learn a language is to go and live in a country where that language is spoken. As a country, Brazil integrates Spanish into almost all sectors. The Cervantes Institute is currently endeavoring to teach Spanish to the Brazilian Army. Spanish teachers at a branch of the Cervantes Institute located in Rio de Janeiro are teaching military officers the basics of Spanish so that they can impart their knowledge to Brazilian soldiers.

The institute is embarking on this project by giving 40 hours worth of classes about the methodology of Spanish teaching. If the project is fruitful, the Cervantes Institute has plans to continue the training program with other military groups in other regions. Members of the Brazilian army have been notified that a basic knowledge of Spanish is vital in order to create a relationship of respect and understanding with the citizens of the ten Spanish speaking countries surrounding Brazil. Additionally, 40,000 police officers are being asked to take part in Spanish courses in preparation for the 2014 Soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Since these events create work opportunities, it is essential that members of the host country have the ability to converse in a language which is fast becoming the most highly recognized language in the world.

The Facts and Importance of Spanish in Brazil

The first Cervantes Institute’s in Brazil were built in Sao Paulo in 1998 and Rio de Janeiro in 2001. In 2007, four new centers were added and expansion will continue with institutions being constructed in different location across Brazil. A law was passed recently which obligates all secondary school students in Brazil to study Spanish as a second language. In recent years Brazilian companies have begun to expand their operations through neighboring, Spanish speaking countries such as Uruguay and Argentina, a popular tourist destination with Brazilian holiday-makers. Nowadays, employees of Spanish companies located in Brazil are required to know Spanish.

Spanish Film Academy awards: Goyas 2013

Lauren Simmonds — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A few weeks ago we spoke about different “lotteries” that were being done in relation to the Spanish Film Academy awards. We also mentioned some of the favorites to win the bronze Francisco de Goya bust statuette, modeled after an original sculture by José Luis Fernández often referred to in the film industry as “el cabezón” (the big head).

The 2013 Goya Award Ceremony

Very well, anyways… On Sunday night the 2013 Goya award ceremony was broadcasted on public television.

It is important to remember that the voting is closed, meaning that only members of the Spanish Film Academy have the right to vote. There is no option for the general public to express their opinions or preferences by voting, as they can in some film festivals that feature the “Audience Award”. This is an important award because often the views of general audiences do not coincide with the opinions of the Film Academy members.

On this occasion however, the Academy and the public did seem to coincide, although there were some small differences of opinion. We’ve already mentioned J.A. Bayona’s film "The Impossible", a box office sensation and Spanish film phenomenon for which Naomi Watts lead performance may still earn her an Oscar for best actress. Bayona picked up the Goya award for best director and his move earned four more “big heads”; even if they were all technical awards: best editing, production, sound and, of course, special effects.

This year’s Goya Awards had a clear winner that followed the trend of one of last year’s Oscar winners: The Artist. It is a silent movie with a majestic soundtrack. One song in particular, “No te puedo encontrar” (I can’t find you) will give you goose bumps. This black and white movie won this year’s “Best Picture” award. It is a fairytale set in Andalusia’s flamenco and bullfighting scenery that deserved the best script award. The movie is called “Blancanieves” (Snow White) and is a great example of creativity and elegance. The movie took away the most important awards including: best movie, original music, best actress and casting, best art direction, best make-up and costume design… a whole sack of Goya heads with 10 in total!

Occasionally, academy members hit the nail on the head with awards, and that was what happened with Jose Sacristan, one of the best actors in Spanish cinema of the last forty years. He starred in “El muerto y ser feliz”, (The Dead and be Happy), a marvelous fantasies that earnt him his much deserved first Goya award.

Spanish animation also received much needed recognition from the Goya Awards for the best new director award. The award went to Enrique Gato for “Las aventuras de Tadeo Jones” (The Adventures of Tadeo Jones), which also won best adapted screenplay and best animated film.

For a long time, they have been talking about the crisis in the Spanish film industry, but it doesn’t seem like it’s really a big deal. Spaniards continue watching films. Films need to be good to continue attracting the public.

Is there a better or more interesting to immerse yourself in a language than by experiencing the magic of film? It’s a good moment to find the closest theatre where one of these films is playing, or any other film with fewer awards, and allow yourself to get lost in the magic of this “seventh art”.

The Difference Between Ser & Estar

Dilek — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

At first, Spanish may seem like a difficult language to learn for beginner-level language students due to all the grammar rules. Perhaps the most confusing of all the rules, is the distinction between the verbs ser and estar. The two main reasons why language students experience such frustration when trying to learn this rule are that a) there are so many exceptions and b) ser and estar and such commonly occurring verbs in everyday speech that it is impossible to avoid using them. Both Spanish verbs mean “to be” and, generally speaking, ser is used to describe a situation that is permanent while estar is used to imply transience. Below are some examples that should help erase some of the confusion surrounding this particular grammar rule:

•   Pablo es desesperado (Pablo is a desperate person)
•   Pablo está desesperado (Pablo is desperate at this specific moment time)

Examples of when to use the verb ser …

1.   NATIONALITY: Martin es Alemán
2.   ORIGIN: Las naranjas son de Cordoba
3.   IDENTITY: Este es Carlos
4.   DESCRIBING A PERSON OR A THING: La chaqueta es de color azul
5.   MATERIAL: El reloj es de oro
6.   POSSESSION: Esa casa es de Juan
7.   PROFESSION: Alberto es abogado
8.   DATE: Hoy es jueves
9.   TIME: Son las seis y media
10. PRICE: ¿Cuanto es eso?
11. PLACE: La conferencia es en el aula magna
12. EXPRESSING QUANTITY: Esta habitación es demasiada pequeña

Examples of when to use the verb estar …

1.   EXPRESSING PHYSICAL CONDITION: La puerta está rota
2.   TEMPORARY WORK: Raúl está de camarero en un restaurante mientras termina de estudiar
3.   LOCATION: El libro está sobre la mesa
4.   EVALUATING SOMETHING: Está claro que no tienes razón
5.   EXPRESSING CURRENT ACTIONS: Pilar está hablando por teléfono
6.   DESCRIBING SOMEONE OR SOMETHING: Laura está muy alegre hoy

According to Wikilengua, the meaning of some words changes depending on whether they are paired with ser or estar …

SER	APAÑADO	= To be skillful	ESTAR	APAÑADO	= To be in a tricky situation
	BUENO	= To be kind		BUENO	= To be good looking
	EDUCADO	= To be polite		EDUCADO	= To be educated
	GRANDE	= To be large		GRANDE	= To be fully grown
	IGUAL	= To be indifferent		IGUAL	= To be the same
	LISTO	= To be intelligent		LISTO	= To be ready
	MALO	= To be evil		MALO	= To be ill
	OSCURO	= To be nighttime		OSCURO	= To be cloudy

Fears to become a Spanish Teacher

Lauris — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

When deciding on a career path, it is important to think carefully. It is important to enjoy your job given that it will dominate a huge chunk of your life. It is not enough that a job simply pays the bills, it must bring you happiness.

Teachers of Spanish as a foreign language have it covered: our students love us. But not everybody thinks the same way. This is where the issue of “self-confidence” comes into play (here we would need a drum roll and a bang on the cymbals). As long as we are university graduates – wow – how good does that sound – we should feel a little superior – but this is not the case. Every time a friend, neighbor or even a member of the family, Auntie Gertrude for example, says: “Ok, you’re a teacher, of maths, of physics…? Of Spanish! If the people can learn to speak Spanish in the street, what use is a Spanish teacher? After a while, comments like this begin to do damage to our ego. Later, you realize that a doctor, for the soul reason that he/she is a doctor, gains the respect of everybody, at least in Spain.

Teaching the Spanish language

The crisis limits how fussy we can be about which career path we choose to take. The doctor ultimately has the lives of patients at his finger tips; the maths teacher teaches us things that we couldn’t learn alone and sometimes we can’t even learn with a teacher. Even humble trash collectors… what would we be without them? Every profession plays an important part in society.

But a Spanish teacher that works in Spain or Latin America… What purpose do they serve exactly? An abyss of depression is hidden in this question. And so, to avoid this abyss, we decide to create an image: “professional, magical and dark”. We start to fabricate a special language: we fill our speech with subordinate clauses and words that make us look more important than we are.

This need to feel important (and useful) leads to a situation we have all experienced at some point in our lives: you’re in the classroom, with a nice group of motivated people when, all of a sudden, like a panther on a gazelle, the question arises. I remember when an Austrian boy asked me: “if the verb SER expresses something permanent and the verb ESTAR something transient, why do we say ESTAR MUERTO?” I was so surprised but I gave the following reply without leaving a pause: “because Spain is a catholic country and for a catholic, death is simply a step that one has to make on the path towards paradise”. I was so proud.

Crikey... doesn’t ignorance make you daring?

The fear of saying "I don't know"

Nowadays I feel ashamed of my answer; I’ve learnt that it is important to overcome the fear of saying I DON’T KNOW. Sometimes we have the sensation that we should be living encyclopedias to serve our students. In a multidisciplinary world, with all the visions of language, grammar and teaching that exist, it is unrealistic to know everything… but I remember an anecdote about a mechanic that opened the hood of a car, rummaged for five minutes, pulled his head out smiling and said “all done!” The customer complained when the mechanic demanded 60 Euros for his labor. Faced with an unhappy customer, the mechanic said: “I am charging you 5 Euros for my time and 55 Euros for the 15 years it took me to learn where and how to repair the damage.”

As teachers, let us not forget that there is no problem in saying I DON’T KNOW if we can guarantee that we are going to find the solution and give it to our student. Remember to keep an open mind about teaching, picking here and there at different methodological approaches as we overcome our fears and become teachers, in the full and wonderful sense of the word.

The Spanish Language in Russia

Lauris — Thu, 7 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The economy in Russia is growing at levels unknown to the rest of Europe as an interest there in the Spanish language is also growing.

Interest in Spanish first emerged in Russia during the period of The Soviet Union, perhaps motivated by the proletariat revolutions of Latin America. The interest was particularly notable in the friendly relationship and cultural ties the USSR shared with Cuba, which encouraged Spanish study among Soviets and Russian language study in the Caribbean republic.

Some bilingual public schools have existed in Moscow since 1973, such as the Colegio Miguel de Cervantes, one of four schools that offer education in both Russian and Spanish. It awards its students with the Russian and the Spanish high school diploma at the same time.

The growing importance of Spanish

St Petersburg also has a Russian-Spanish bilingual school and two more are scheduled to open, demonstrating the growing importance of Spanish in the country of Tolstoy.

The International University of La Rioja has just signed a collaboration agreement with the State University of Moscow to encourage and include the Spanish language in their curriculum. The universities plan to create cultural exchange programs in which each year increasing amounts of Russian university students will travel to Spain to pursue graduate studies at different universities.

With a 5.2% unemployment rate (a figure considered "normal" within the context the Russian economic environment) Russia needs nearly 1.75 million foreign skilled workers willing to immigrate there. The country needs workers like qualified Spanish teachers, as Spanish is studied in 165 different Russian universities.

Russia’s economy is clearly growing, and the economic elite is increasingly looking towards Spain. Spain is seen by Russia as the homeland of Don Quixote, a character that connects well with the idealism that characterizes Russian culture. Spain also offers the sun and the beach, which turns the country into something of a “paradise”. Finally, the importance of the Spanish language not only in Europe but also in Latin America is evident. We are in the early stages of a phenomenon that is about to take off: Spanish is positioning itself in Russia as a top foreign language of focus right alongside English.

Russia Today carried the following statements made by Spanish education inspector Jesus Redomero on his evaluation of Russian students studying at the Cervantes Institute (one of Moscow’s bilingual Russian-Spanish schools that fill us with hope about the future of Spanish among the Russian elite): “the Russian students display above average skills and competency […] Think young people only think about videogames? Think they don’t have values? […] Go to Moscow’s public school # 1,252 “Cervantes” and they’ll shatter all those stereotypes”.

The Cervantes Institute and Latin America to strengthen Spanish

Dilek — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Cervantes Institute is the principal organization which promotes and spreads the teaching of the Spanish language in the world. It cooperates with Latin American countries to strengthen Spanish in the Americas.

The Cervantes Institute was established as a non-profit governmental organization with the aim of introducing Spanish language. It promotes Spanish education and the culture of Spanish speaking countries. The director of the institute, Victor García de la Concha, recently announced that they will work with Latin American countries to become an organization of all Spanish speaking countries. The director also emphasized that the institution is not only a Spanish organization. It embraces other Spanish speaking countries and their cultures as well Spain and Spanish culture.

Currently the Spanish language is taught by 77 institutions of the organization in the world. Español (language spoken in Latin America) is promoted as well as Castilian (official language of Spain). Spanish has integrated into American culture in recent decades due to the culture and language of the Hispanic community. The institute has liaised with Mexican; Chilean and Colombian authorities to open the next Cervantes Institute in a prestigious university in the US which will serve as an observatory of Spanish culture in the country.

Dating back to Roman times, Spanish is one of the oldest languages in the world, spoken by almost 500 million people. In the USA, the number of Spanish speakers has reached 45 million. The Cervantes Institute is not only a union of Spanish Speaking countries. The institute also introduces and explains the importance of teaching Spanish as a second language on a worldwide scale. Undoubtedly, the USA will soon be a bilingual nation and learning Spanish is the best way to know and understand the Spanish culture. Spanish is an important commercial language, vital for creating business ties with other countries.

Only Latin American countries can help the Cervantes Institute to make Spanish a worldwide language. The organization has incorporated Spanish programs based in Mexico with its language courses in the USA. The institute has signed an agreement with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to offer online Spanish diplomas and to provide training for Spanish teachers.