scottthornburyblog.com
Why Spanish? | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/10/20/why-spanish
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. October 20, 2013. Why I have I chosen to crank up my Spanish. As opposed to any other language? The question might seem baladí,. So, why Spanish? But how often do I go to ‘greater Spain’, let alone Latin America? In the last three years I’ve spent a mere five days in the latter). And how often, indeed, do I read poetry or fiction? Wouldn’t my time be better spent learning a language that is more closely identified with ‘home’? 121013, p. 7),. The history ...
scottthornburyblog.com
What are classrooms good for? | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/09/22/what-are-classrooms-good-for
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. September 22, 2013. What are classrooms good for? So, what follows is not so much a critique of the classes themselves, nor of the teachers, nor of the materials that we used, but more a critique of the current orthodoxy, in the sense that I have described it above. I should also stress that, since the classes were experienced as if refracted through the lens of my own specific needs and dispositions (some would say. So, what was the class good for? Plann...
scottthornburyblog.com
Confidence tricks | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/11/10/confidence-tricks
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. November 10, 2013. Language learning is often a case of taking two steps forward, then one step back. For instance: we are invited to a friend’s birthday party. There are lots of people we don’t know, and we are the only non-native speakers, a situation that I would normally have avoided at all costs, but which I am feeling less apprehensive about than usual, thanks to my recent Spanish ‘growth spurt’. Will we understand one another? The incapacity to ini...
scottthornburyblog.com
Back to School | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/09/15/back-to-school/comment-page-1
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. September 15, 2013. It’s been a long time since I’ve sat in a language classroom in the role of student. But, as a way of improving my Spanish, it seems as good a place to start as any. (And I might even discover some things about classrooms that I didn’t know). How will instruction help? I have to say that I was a little nonplussed by the prospect of ‘ almost. Private lessons’. I’m planning to enlist a private teacher later on, but in the meantime I’...
scottthornburyblog.com
Fatal attractors | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/10/27/fatal-attractors
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. October 27, 2013. Ese pastel, allí. Y aquella aquí Qué lleva? Si, quiero una de este. Which translates, more or less, as:. This cake, over there. And that one here, what’s in it? Yes, I want of one of this. The translation is meant to convey the fact that the demonstratives ( eso, ese, aquella,. This is as good an instance as any of how my Spanish, or pockets of it, functions in a state of ‘free variation’. And so the system (or lack of system) became ent...
scottthornburyblog.com
Formulae for success? | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/10/06/formulae-for-success
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. October 6, 2013. I am compulsively devouring phrases. I gobble up expressions like. It upsets me) and. Qué buen rollo tiene. How nice he is). It’s not just my reading of the literature on phraseology that impels me. It’s a gut-feeling that these phrases offer a shortcut to fluency, accuracy and idiomaticity. As a youngster I was a nerd avant la lettre,. This is true for first language acquisition and, arguably, for a second language too. ‘From the per...
scottthornburyblog.com
So, just how bad is it? | The (De-)Fossilization Diaries
https://scottthornburyblog.com/2013/09/08/so-just-how-bad-is-it
A language teacher tries to crank up his Spanish. September 8, 2013. So, just how bad is it? 8216;Me Tarzan, you Jane’. Is this me? By citing the cases of Alberto and Wes in my last post, I may have given the impression that my Spanish is irremediably bad: that it has either pidginized to a similar degree as had Alberto’s English, or is only minimally grammatically inflected, like Wes’s. I should’ve said. Ie the capacity to cope with production and reception in real time): 5/10 (although this varies wide...
spanishconversationonline.blogspot.com
Spanish Conversation online: Ser and estar
http://spanishconversationonline.blogspot.com/2012/07/ser-and-estar.html
This blog is for all of you, learners of Spanish. A simple site to put your Spanish skills into practice. Wednesday, 4 July 2012. Will help you to understand their usage and what's more important for you: plenty of language practice. Then, all you need to do is. And test yourself every day, not only by TESTS. But also speaking, listening, writing, reading and turning your Spanish. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). View my complete profile. There was an error in this gadget. Q and A Spanish.
spanishconversationonline.blogspot.com
Spanish Conversation online: Standard Spanish
http://spanishconversationonline.blogspot.com/2012/08/standard-spanish.html
This blog is for all of you, learners of Spanish. A simple site to put your Spanish skills into practice. Tuesday, 7 August 2012. Whenever we talk about accents using our own language, we normally feel proud of them, simply because they represent our own idendity, origin and culture and it's always a great pleasure to talk about one's town, city and language accent. However, what about Spanish as a second language? How do you feel about your own Spanish accent? Is it from Spain or Mexico? En cuanto a mi ...
