Practice Your Listening Skills- Mafalda

Mafalda is from Argentina. However, the voices do not have the Argentinian accent. Also, the books are much better than the cartoon but in this instance it is more for training your ear to the Spanish sounds on TV and mini movies.

Simon Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

El Vocabulario -El Barco 1

1. El muelle
2. La pasarela
3. La portilla
4. La cubierta inferior
5. La cubierta alta
6. La proa

More Airplane Vocabulary-Vocabulario del Avión

1. La pasajera/el pasajero
2. La aeromoza/azafata de aviación
3. El piloto
4. El pasillo
5. El asiento de pasillo
6. El asiento de ventanilla
7. El pasaje o el billete
8.El compartimiento/compartimento de arriba
9. El cinturón de seguridad

Airplane Vocabulary -Vocabulario del Avion

1.La ala
2.La máquina
3.El equipaje
4.La cabina

Learning is a Science

Left Brain (Analytic)	Right Brain (Global)
1. Is a verbal/auditory learner	1. Is a visual learner
2. Responds to word meaning	2. Responds to tone of voice
3. Prefers sequential presentations	3. Prefers random or simultaneous presentations
4. Processes information linearly	4. Processes information in varied order
5. Responds primarily to logic	5. Responds primarily to emotion
6. Plans ahead	6. Is more likely to be impulsive
7. Recalls people’s names	7. Recalls people’s faces
8. Speaks with few gestures	8. Gestures when speaking
9. Is punctual	9. May be less punctual
10. Prefers traditional study methods	10. Prefers sound/music background while studying
11. Prefers bright lights while studying	11. Prefers variety/mobility in learning environment

Uso de las Mayúsculas-When to Capitalized Part 1

The normal writing uses lower case letters, however, on certain occasions, words, phrases and entire texts can be written entirely in capital letters (as shown below); but the usual use of the capital letters is to be used at the beginning of the word and only modified depending on different factors.Now, let's go and learn when we use capital letters in Spanish.

1. Use capital letters when it follows the rules of accent marks: ÁFRICA, África.  Only when the abbreviation , that are written entirely in capital letters do not use an accent mark like in CIA, FBI, IBM, USA,etc.

2. When the letters ch, gu, ll and qu  are used in capital letters at the beginning of the word for the first letter and the rest in lower case like in  Chillida, Guinea, Llerena, Quevedo; but if the letters are part of a word which have been written in capital letters, then all the letters should be written in capital letters: CHILLIDA, GUINEA, LLERENA, QUEVEDO. When the letters are part of an acronym, then it is written with a capital letter the first letter of the word: PCCh (Partido Comunista de China). 

3. When writing the capital form of the letters  i and j do not place dots on top of them as in the lower case: Inés, Javier.

2. Using Capitals in Words and Complete Phrases

                           

                        a. Written in its entirety in capital letters  abbreviations and some acronyms: ISBN, OTI, ONG. Written in lower case, on the other hand, all the acronyms that by usage have become substantives like láser, radar, uvi. When the acronyms are proper nouns and have more than four letters, it is only written with a capital letter the first letter: Unicef, Unesco. 

                         b. Use the capital letters when you want to point out certain phrases or words in a writing. 

                             1)  Words or phrases that appear on the covers of books and the titles inside the books indicating parts, chapters and scenes. .

                             2) Newspaper and magazine headings: EL UNIVERSAL, LA NACIÓN, TIEMPO.

                             3) Monuments and tombstones inscriptions.

                             4) Administrative and judicial writings —decrees, sentences, proclamation, edicts, certificates or instances—, verb or verbs which present the main objective of the document: CERTIFICA, EXPONE, SOLICITA.

c) In texts with informative content, the phrases contained express the main message of the document:  Por orden expresa de la dirección, se comunica a todos los empleados que, a partir de ahora, ESTÁ PROHIBIDO FUMAR DENTRO DE LAS DEPENDENCIAS DE LA EMPRESA. (Orders from the administration states to all employees that from now on, IT IS FORBIDDEN TO SMOKE INSIDE THE COMPANY'S PREMISES.)

d) The words in signs to ensure visibility: SE RUEGA NO FUMAR; PROHIBIDO EL PASO.

More about the usage of Capital Letters in Spanish in future posts. In the meantime, have fun learning Spanish!!!

Study Hint-Learning New Vocabulary

I always remind my students that learning vocabulary is one of the most important tools for communicating in any language you decide to study. In order to learn vocabulary, you must follow several steps:
First, you must memorize the words accompanied with the corresponding article. One example is la mesa (table). The article will help you remember gender and quantity of the noun or nouns you are learning for later use.

Second, you need to use the words you memorized in conversation, making sentences or in situations. One example could be "yo quiero ir a la tienda a comprar la mesa redonda que vi ayer." The translation to the sentence is "I want to go to the store to buy the round table I saw yesterday." As you can see the word "la mesa" helps you with gender and quantity when using redonda (round) to describe the shape of the table you want to buy.

Third,remember to pay attention to words that are cognates so you can learn to spell them correctly. Note that the word la clase has only one s and not two like in English (class). Also pay attention to spelling of words as to not create misunderstandings by confusing el libro (book) con la libra (pound) or la mesa (table) con el mes (month).

Fourth, try to study using the best method for you. When I studied French I made lists of words in English on one side of a page folded lengthwise in half and on the other half the corresponding french word. Later, I could look at the french word and be able to say its English meaning or look at the English word and say the french word. For other vocabulary, I used cards with a word on one side and its meaning on the other or make flashcards using software available for that purpose.

I hope that the above tips help you in your quest to learn more vocabulary and in doing so speaking better the language you love. Above all remember to have fun while learning and do not worry to much about making mistakes since mistakes provide us with opportunities to learn from them.