Tuesday, January 6, 2015

CAPÍTULO 3 - "Mi Ciudad"

We already started Chapter 3 (before our Christmas Break), learning the "Commands." Please start working on the vocabulary on pages 98 and 99, and 106 and 107. I also need you to know the following verbs: "buscar, poder, querer" and others in this chapter to be able to understand questions like: "¿Qué busca Alicia en el mapa? ¿Qué quiere ver Pedro? ¿Qué puede hacer Pedro?" etc. (page 100); and be able to create your own questions using these verbs.

Review (learn) the following prepositions: "a, al lado de, cerca de, lejos de, con, de, desde, para, por, sobre," and others on page 86 (Chapter 2). You will have to know how to use these in sentences. Examples: Mi casa está al lado del parque; su oficina está al lado de la estación de buses (autobuses); yo vivo cerca de la escuela, etc.

Para: ¿Para qué tienes que ir a la estación de autobuses? Para pedir información sobre los horarios para ir (page 100). Another example: ¿Para quién es ese regalo? Este regalo es para mi mamá...

Commands: I gave you several handouts on "Tú" Commands and "Usted & Ustedes" Commands (Affirmative & Negative Commands) of regular and irregular verbs. Make sure you understand these for the Test on Thursday, January 8, 2015. You can also review/study pages 102 and 110, and check: Quiz/Review on Commands (click link).

I will explain how to use commands with Reflexive Verbs (like afeitarse, levantarse, maquillarse, bañarse, ducharse, peinarse, cepillarse, etc.). We will also work on exercises No. 24 & 25 (pages 112 and 113). You will also learn the "nosotros" commands on page 114; and I will explain how to add pronouns (reflexive, direct object and indirect objects) to different commands. Examples: limpien las ventanas - límpienlas; abran los libros - ábranlos; limpia tu cuarto - límpialo; abre tu libro - ábrelo, etc. Check: Object Pronouns with Commands and Quiz/Review (click links). Also: "Nosotros" Commands and Quiz/Review. Quiz on Thursday, January 15, 2015.

Later on you will review the verbs "saber" and "conocer" and learn how to use these verbs, page 124. You will do exercises No. 7-11. Also the verbs "conocer" and "conducir" and learn how to use these verbs as well (with exercises No. 12-14.

Other important vocab you will learn: pages 120 and 121. Goal: to complete Chapter 3 in February.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Second Quarter - Demonstrative & Possessive Pronouns

Our goal this month of November is to complete Chapter 2. As you know the ¡Aventura! chapters are very long and I like to go out of the book to explain the many different grammatical rules and grammar complexities of the Spanish language. By now you should be proficient in understanding the use of direct, indirect and reflexive pronouns; also the use of reflexive verbs in Spanish.

These are the verbs you already worked with and will continue working with for a while:

Verbos vestirse, acostarse, llamarse, afeitarse, maquillarse, bañarse, ducharse, peinarse, cepillarse, lavarse, ponerse, despertarse (pages 50 and 51) – Conjugate verbs and learn how to use them in the Present and Preterite Tense.

Vocabulario II verbs: sentarse, quemarse, preocuparse, esperar, calmarse, acostarse, llamarse, quedarse.

You are also learning the Demonstrative Pronouns right now, please check this link to read more about these pronouns and understand how to use them in Spanish.

Many times you use these demonstrative pronouns with words like aquí, acá, allí and allá. Usually aquí and acá are synonymous (aquí means here and acá over here); and allí means there and allá over there). So it's important to remember that if you see the words aquí or acá in a sentence, you should use the DPs éste, ésta, éstos or éstas (Ex: ¿Quieres éstos de aquí? for ¿Quieres estos libros de aquí?); and you use the DPs ése, ésa, ésos, ésas for allí and aquél, aquélla, aquéllos, aquéllos for allá (even though this may vary depending on the country, but that's the general rule).

Demonstrative Pronouns:

Singular masculine
  • éste (this)
  • ése (that)
  • aquél (that over there)

Plural masculine
  • éstos (these)
  • ésos (those)
  • aquéllos (those over there)

Singular feminine
  • ésta (this)
  • ésa (that)
  • aquélla (that over there)

Plural feminine
  • éstas (these)
  • ésas (those)
  • aquéllas (those over there)

Singular neuter
  • esto (this)
  • eso (that)
  • aquello (that over there)

Remember an "adjective" describes a noun and a "pronoun" takes the place of a noun.

Besides learning the "demonstrative pronouns" and reviewing the "demonstrative adjectives," I need you to review the "possessive adjectives" and learn the "possessive pronouns." You can check this link to review and learn: POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES & PRONOUNS and POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. Señor Jordan videos here: POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Practice using the proper "Possessive Pronouns" here: POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.

In Lección B, Vocabulario I "Con la doctora" you will review the parts of the body and learn many new ones. Please start working on this vocab ASAP, pages 70 and 71. Work on exercises No. 2 and 3, read the Diálogo I on page 72 and answer the questions on exercises No. 4 and 5. You will learn expressions like: me importa, no me importa, me hace falta, no me hace falta, me duele, no me duele, me parece, no me parece, me gusta, no me gusta (read Estructura on page 74 and complete exercise No. 9).

You will also learn the prepositions on page 86 (please write them down in your notebooks). You will complete exercises No. 29 and 30.

Monday, November 3, 2014

CAPÍTULO 2 - "El cuerpo y la salud"

This week we are officially starting Capítulo 2, página 48. Please start working on the vocab on pages 50 and 51. You MUST understand the Reflexive Verbs in Spanish. Check: Reflexive Verbs (this link) to review them. You learned the Reflexive Verb "llamarse" last year, when you learned how to ask for someone's name, or when answering "what is your name" (¿Cómo te llamas? Me llamo María).

Reflexive Pronouns (Pronombres Reflexivos): ME TE SE NOS OS SE.
Try to conjugate other verbs like: bañarse, peinarse, cepillarse (on page 54 - LIBRO), maquillarse, vestirse, afeitarse, quitarse, ponerse, levantarse, ducharse, despertarse. All except vestirse and ponerse are conjugated like regular -AR verbs; vestirse (from vestir is an -IR verb) and ponerse (from poner, an -ER verb). Also try the verb dormirse (from dormir, a stem-changing verb O:UE).

Monday, October 13, 2014

End of CAPÍTULO 1 & Beginning of CAPÍTULO 2

This month you will complete Chapter 1, "Empieza un Año Nuevo" and start with Chapter 2, "El Cuerpo y la Salud." Please make sure you understand this long Chapter. We spent some extra time on The Preterite, since these verbs can be tricky; especially the irregular verbs. Make sure that you study The Preterite of regular and irregular verbs for the Quiz, October 16 and the Test, the end of October (the 24th or the 30th - we'll decide in class).

Make sure you copy the "Estructura" on page 29 in your cuadernos - on "Negative and Affirmative Expressions." Work on exercises No. 14, 15 and 16. We will review in class. I won't drive you too crazy with these words, because you need a lot of practice to master them; but you must have a general idea of how we use these words in Spanish.

You can start working on the new vocab Vocabulario II "De compras" on pages 32 and 33. Make sure that you write the new nouns with their respective definite articles. Can you understand the Diálogo II on page 34? You should be able to answer Exercises No. 21 and 22.

We will review again the Indirect and the Direct Object Pronouns - the second and third songs, remember? (¿recuerdas?)

In Chapter 2 you will learn some Reflexive Verbs using the Reflexive Pronouns (me te se nos os se) - the first song. Check page 54 ("Estructura" on Reflexive Verbs). You will also learn the Demonstrative Pronouns, page 66. My goal is to complete Chapter 2 in November.

Check: Señor Jordan's Videos to practice the Preterite of Regular and Irregular Verbs, the Affirmative and Negative Words & Expressions and many others! ¡Que viva el señor Jordan! Sus videos son muy buenos... ¡FABULOSOS!

Test (EXAMEN): el 13 de noviembre del 2014 ustedes van a tener un examen de español (ustedes van a tenerlo - ustedes lo van a tener).

Monday, June 30, 2014

CAPÍTULO 1 - "Empieza un Nuevo Año"

¡Bienvenidas a un año nuevo! Comenzaremos con la Lección A del libro ¡Aventura! Español 2. La Lección A, Vocabulario I, se llama "La Tecnología." La Lección A, Vocabulario II, se llama "De Compras."

We will start (empezaremos/comenzaremos) with Vocabulario I on page 2: el e-mail, el celular (o teléfono celular), el vínculo, el cuarto de charla, el motor de búsqueda, el programa, el mundo, el fax, Marta escribe un e-mail y navega en la internet, a Marta le gusta mucho la tecnología; and the following vocabulary from this lesson: la tecnología, la internet, la información, la comunicación, siempre, mucho, a veces, muy poco, nunca, pronto, navegar, la red, la información, la página de internet (o sitio Web), la página Web, conectados, conectado(a), punto, arroba, aburridos, aburrido(a), ocupados, ocupado(a), bueno(a), malo(a). Please translate these vocabulario. You will also translate all the Diálogos from each chapter and must be able to understand and complete most of the exercises from each chapter.

You will also learn, and in some cases review, the following verbs: tener, hacer, ir, preguntar, usar, enviar, mandar, navegar, hablar, conseguir, seguir, buscar, leer, comprar, viajar, escribir, aprender, recibir, encontrar, ayudar (you MUST know their meanings). Also the verbs on pages 6 and 7 (LIBRO). It's important to review the endings of -AR, -ER and -IR verbs, and also review the Stem-Changing verbs. You MUST already know very well the verbs Ser and Estar.

You will learn gerunds (present participles) in Spanish and the present progressive (page 9). We will practice this for a while, I need to make sure that you understand it very well. You use the present progressive tense to say what is happening RIGHT NOW (the present progressive is used to emphasize that an action is in progress at the time of speaking). It is formed by combining the present tense of the verbo estar and the present participle (gerund) of a verb: ESTAR + GERUNDIO (so please review the "verbo estar"). The following are the present progressive forms of some Stem-Changing Verbs. For verbs whose stem ends in a vowel the ending is "yendo." Examples of these verbs are: leer, oír, traer. For leer the present participle is leyendo (le- + yendo), for oír is oyendo (o- + yen do), for traer, trayendo (tra- + yen do), and for ir (to go), which is a very irregular verb, yendo. Study the Repaso Rápido on page 9.

You will also have to review the Direct Object Pronouns - me te lo/la nos os los/las. You can attach these to the end of the ING- forms in Spanish. Examples: Estoy tendiéndola; Sí, estoy pasándola muy bien; Él está lavándolo, Ella está leyéndolo, etc. If someone. The asks: ¿Están lavando el carro? You may want to respond: Sí, están lavándolo. Another example: ¿Están leyendo revistas? Sí, están leyéndolas.

Assignment 1: Go to Present Progressive (click link) and listen to Señor Jordan carefully,  take notes. Try to understand this video. Any questions, please ask Señora Feld.
Assignment 2: Go to Present Progressive 2 (click link) and study the Web page on this topic (Present Progressive). Then take the Basic Quiz 49a (link on the left side of page), the Mini-Test 49b, and review the Oral exercises 49c (translating sentences). You need to know this material for the first Quiz and first Test you are having this quarter.