Job Discussion Forums

[CharlieBaloney]

Hi!

My Intermedio 3 class at CEPE was cancelled this term because I was the only student registered. I had been planning on a break between Intermedio 3 and Advanced, but I'm happy to take it now. In the meantime, I really want to improve my auditory comprehension and speaking.

Does anyone know where I can find leveled books and (especially) audio books in Spanish? My impression is that the American Book Store only has ESL resources, but maybe I'm wrong.

Any advice would be appreciated. The primary reason I'm here is to learn Spanish.

Charlie

[MO39]

From personal experience, I'm convinced that once you've got the basics under your linguistics belt, the best way to improve speaking and listening skills in any language is to spend time with chatting with native speakers, especially those who wouldn't mind helping correct you when you make mistakes.

[Guy Courchesne]

I think the American Book Store is by far the best resource for both ESL and Spanish language learning materials in this city. Right next door to it is the New Option bookstore, but I doubt they have anything different from ABS.

[MikeySaid]

why not look for a mexican teacher who teaches ESL and offer them a fair price per hour to teach you?

they should have a good understanding of their own language (since they're teaching yours) and hopefully can push you along.

For comprehension: listen more.

For improved speaking: drink tequila.

[MO39]

[TheLongWayHome]

Audio comprehension: telenovelas - easy contextual vocab, not complicated to follow, plenty of choice.

If you really can learn from books why not just read in Spanish? My experience with Spanish teachers here is that they are crap and obsessed with naming all 15 tenses, only 3 of which you need to speak Mexican Spanish.

Above all, don't worry about it. You're here, you'll pick it up, you have the desire to learn it. I found that as soon as I stopped trying to learn, things were much easier, ironically.

Best conversational partners are kids, speak to them whenever you can. They are also the best at correcting you.

[notamiss]

To supplement the resources suggested above, you can also find many series of free lessons on the internet, both written and podcasts. A search will find more than enough; you can try a few to choose the one(s) that suit you best.

Telenovelas, as mentioned already, are great. The ideal is to get hooked on one so that you are motivated and interested to watch it every night.

With movies on DVD, you can watch a given movie over again several times, working your way through different combinations of subtitles and sound, until you are watching it in just Spanish with no English cues either in the subtitles or the sound track.

[El Gallo]

Interactive exercises in learning English:

http://www2.cambridge.org/interchangearcade/main.do

[MO39]

[notamiss]

There is a certain kind of person I have trouble understanding. They speak with very few definite nouns; it is almost all pronouns and allusions. I understand every word they are saying but I have little or no idea what they are talking about. I guess I lack the cultural background to fill in between the lines.

[MO39]

[MO39]

[notamiss]

[jillford64]

I agree with others about watching telenovelas, which are far better than American soap operas because they actually have a plot and they wrap up after about 6 to 8 months. I love them. I don't know what the stations in Mexico do, but the Univisi�n channel here in the US has a website/forum for the current telenovelas where you can get the basic plot and who the main characters are if you don't start at the beginning. And sometimes volunteers post a synopsis of each episode (often with the conversations word for word), so you can figure out what is going on that way too. If you watch them long enough, you'll find a few actors/actress you like and you'll follow them from one telenovela to the next. It helps to have a VCR so you can rewind and watch them on your own schedule. My name is Jill and I am a telenovela addict. I don't have a TV so for now I can lead a relatively normal life. My all time favorite is "Entre el Amor y el Odio." If anyone knows where I can purchase this one on DVD, please let me know.

More podcasts than a person can realistically ever listen to are available at iTunes with levels ranging from total beginner through advanced. Almost all offer a transcript or exercises for a price, but the podcasts themselves are free. Two non-grammar podcasts that have short, interesting segments are Personalidades de la Cultura Hispanica and Voices en Espa�ol.

Audible.com has many audiobooks and language learning programs in Spanish, but they are not cheap, especially if you don't join their club. I do believe Audible to be cheaper and to have a better selection than iTunes, however. The audiobooks labeled "dramatizations" have different voices for different characters and sound effects, just like you were listening to a radio program. They are shorter, easier, and more fun to listen to than the "abridged" or "unabridged" audiobooks. If you really want to get carried away, with a lot of diligence it is possible to find Spanish audiobooks (listen in Spanish) that are exact readings of books in Spanish (check your comprehension or listen/read at the same time) that were translated from English (check the English version if you are totally stumped and don't want to drag out your dictionary or if you want to look at the nuances of how one language translates to the other). Vice versa for books originally written in Spanish and translated into English. For this kind of silliness, you must purchase the "unabridged" audiobook.

[jillford64]

A couple of good websites with exercises:

http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php

http://users.ipfw.edu/JEHLE/S210.HTM

http://www.studyspanish.com/verbs/index.htm