TIPS FOR LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Spanish 211, 212, 213
If you are looking for extra practice with grammar or vocabulary, there
are numerous websites that offer such activities:
www.studyspanish.com targets a variety of skills
WRITING
In Spanish 211, 212, and 213, you will have many opportunities to
improve
your writing proficiency in Spanish: in class, on daily homework
assignments, on exams, and on three formal compositions each
quarter.
In all contexts, this general principle applies:
- Learn to write within your means as a 200-level student:
Don't write first in English and then translate into Spanish.
Consult the textbook often for vocabulary and structures. Try
to use what you have recently learned when you write.
Don't depend on the dictionary. Look up an occasional word, but
try more often to use vocabulary you have learned.
Don't depend on electronic translation tools such as
Babblefish.com.
They don't work. Click here for a
sample
Babblefish translation illustrating the absurdities generated by
these
tools.
Develop a sensitivity to words that probably don't translate from
English
into Spanish. When in doubt, use the most literal word in
Spanish.
(example: English "to have lunch" does not work in Spanish
as tener. Use comer or, even better, almorzar.)
- For suggestions on errors to avoid in writing, see the "top
10 composition errors."
BACK TO HOME
LISTENING
In Spanish 211, 212, and 213, listening comprehension activities will
help
you learn to listen for specific information. You are not
expected
to understand every word in the listening selections on the CDs and on
video so do not get frustrated when you do not understand. The
goal
of each listening activity is completion of a set of exercises that
target
information in the selection. In order to complete successfully
the
listening comprehension activitites, you should read through the
exercises
first so you know what you are listening for. Such preparation
will
give you a focus as you listen. In order to complete the
exercises,
you will have to listen to the selections on CD or video multiple
times.
You may have to listen once for each exercise. This repetition
will
help you become a better listener in Spanish and should not be a source
of frustration.
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READING
The Más allá de las palabras text and activities
manual
contain many reading selections designed to help you become a better
reader
in Spanish while you learn more about the Hispanic world. Reading
in Spanish is not a question of translating word for word.
Instead,
readers need to acquire a set of strategies that help them comprehend a
text in Spanish without resorting to a dictionary. The reading
activities
in the text and manual will guide you in the acquisition of these
strategies.
For example, most of the reading selections contain photos or other
illustrations,
which will provide you valuable information about the content before
you
even read a word. Also, the exercises that appear before a
reading
selection will help you learn important vocabulary and might ask you to
anticipate or predict content or intended audience (is the text a
letter?
an advertisement? a magazine article?). Such predictions
give
you a context for understanding the content of the text as you read
through
it the first time, skimming the entire selection without stopping to
puzzle
over words and phrases you don't recognize. Skimming will give
you
a general idea of the gist of the text. After skimming, you
should
read through the exercises that follow the selection and scan the text
for answers to the questions. Those questions will help you focus
on the important points in the reading. One final reading, again
straight through without pausing, will give you the big picture - the
relationship
between the theme and various supporting details. Much like
during
the listening process, you will avoid frustration while reading in
Spanish
if you learn to skim for the gist and scan for particular pieces of
information
without focusing on what you don't understand.
For an entertaining practice exercise in reading in a foreign
language,
click
here.
BACK TO HOME
SPEAKING
You will have many opportunities to speak Spanish each day in class
with
classmates and with your instructor. You are expected to address
both your instructor and your classmates exclusively in Spanish.
Most students find it difficult to use Spanish when informally
addressing
their classmates; it's just too easy to slip back into English.
However,
if you attempt to express even the most informal ideas in Spanish
throughout
each class session, you will improve as a speaker. More formal
expression
of ideas will occur in the context of activities that ask you
to compare your ideas orally with those of a
classmate.
If you conscientiously perform these activities using
only Spanish in class, you will improve your speaking skills.