Technology Tools For Spanish Language Teachers

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Technology Tools For Spanish Language Teachers
Click on photo for a video introduction

• Tom DeCree
• EDUC. 504
• Fall 2006

Visit my homepage at http//www.angelfire.com/pla
net/tdecree/index.html
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Introduction

• Spanish is considered by many to be the most
  common foreign language spoken in the U.S.
• The Hispanic population in the United States is
  growing at a rapid pace.
• In this presentation, you will see
• Useful websites and software for Spanish
  educators and anyone interested in learning
  Spanish
• An introduction to the culture, history, and
  grammar of the Spanish language

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Summary Findings

• Spanish is the official language of Spain and the
  native language of over 300 million people in the
  world.
• It is also the official language of Mexico, every
  country in Central America except Belize, whose
  official language is English, and every country
  in South America except Brazil, whose official
  language is Portuguese.
• Other countries in which Spanish is the official
  language are Cuba, Puerto Rico (shared with
  English), and The Dominican Republic, which are
  located in the Caribbean. Also, Spanish is the
  official language of Equatorial Guinea, which is
  located in Africa.
• With the growing use of technology in society and
  in the classroom, learning Spanish has become
  easier than ever.
• People can use CD-ROMS, online tutorials, and
  other software to teach and learn Spanish.

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Detailed Findings Using Technology To Learn
Spanish

• In past years, people would have to take Spanish
  classes or use books in order to learn Spanish.
• Now, with the growing use of technology in our
  society, online tutorials and CD-software are
  available for anyone interested in learning
  Spanish. http//www.studyspanish.com/
  http//www.spanish.bz/tutorial.htm
• Technology has allowed people to practically
  teach themselves Spanish, with the help of the
  Spanish CDs, videos, and other software.
  http//www.worldwidelearn.com/language-courses/lea
  rn-spanish.htm

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Detailed findings- Using Technology To Learn
Spanish

• Hundreds of websites provide links that people
  can use to learn Spanish. http//www.aspira.org/sp
  anish.htm
• As educators we can use software to teach various
  aspects of the Spanish language, such as grammar,
  culture, history, and how to speak and write in
  Spanish.
• http//www.spanishprograms.com/store.htm?link5
• http//www.spanishprograms.com/learn_spanish.htm?l
  ink2

Click on icons to view a Spanish dictionary and a
Spanish online tutorial
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Detailed Findings-Using Technology To Learn
Spanish

• Learn Spanish free online studying with
  interactive Spanish lessons that really teach you
  to speak Spanish. Learning Spanish on the
  internet can now be fun and easy! With Visual
  Link Spanish software lessons, you will learn to
  speak Spanish - Guaranteed. Study with the free
  online beginner's Spanish lesson to learn how to
  speak in complete sentences and actually
  communicate. Sound impossible? Download a free
  online lesson to tour the first of 201 lessons
  from the interactive software course. If you are
  looking for more intensive training in learning
  conversational Spanish language, order The
  Complete Visual Link Audio Spanish CD / CD-ROM
  course today!Visual Link Spanish lessons and
  Spanish learning software make learning to speak
  a foreign language easier than ever. This
  interactive course teaches you to start speaking
  Spanish by focusing on sentence structure, not
  just vocabulary. You learn Spanish words in
  context, along with other complimentary words, to
  form complete sentences and phrases. You don't
  just learn the words, you learn to speak and
  communicate in Spanish.

  Free Spanish Lessons
  Free CD-ROM!
  About Course
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Detailed findings-Using Technology To Learn
Spanish

• The language you learn with the Visual Link
  Spanish learning software is language you will
  use everyday. Learn Spanish quickly for your
  travels to Spain or Latin American countries,
  your job, home, school, and to for speaking
  Spanish with your friends and neighbors. Visual
  Link students love this course because it is the
  best way to learn Spanish it is easy to use,
  interactive and most importantly, it really
  works! If you want to learn to speak Spanish
  today, order the Complete Visual Link Spanish
  Software Course. http//www.spanishprograms.com/le
  arn_spanish.htm?link5

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Detailed Findings Population Trends

• In the United States, Spanish is spoken by
  three-quarters of its 41.3 million Hispanic
  population. The continuous arrival of new
  immigrants enables it to resist the assimilation
  experienced by the languages of most previous
  immigrants. It is also being learned and spoken
  by a small, though slowly growing, proportion of
  its non-Hispanic population for its increasing
  use in business, commerce, and both domestic and
  international politics. Spanish holds co-official
  status with English in the unincorporated U.S.
  territory of Puerto Rico. See Spanish in the
  United States for further information
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_languageComp
  arisons_between_Spanish_and_other_languages

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Detailed Findings- The Use of Spanish in the U.S.

• In the United States, Spanish is spoken by
  three-quarters of its 41.3 million Hispanic
  population.
• It is also being learned and spoken by a small,
  though slowly growing, proportion of its
  non-Hispanic population for its increasing use in
  business, commerce, and both domestic and
  international politics. Spanish holds co-official
  status with English in the unincorporated U.S.
  territory of Puerto Rico. See Spanish in the
  United States for further information.

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Flag of Spain
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Detailed Findings-Spanish Grammar

• In order to understand and speak Spanish, one
  must master Spanish grammar, sounds, and writing
  system.
• Spanish is a relatively inflected language, with
  a two-gender system and about fifty conjugated
  forms per verb, but no noun declension and
  limited pronominal declension. http//en.wikipedia
  .org/wiki/Spanish_grammar
• Verbs are one of the trickiest areas of Spanish
  for foreigners as they are fairly complex, with
  over fifty conjugated forms per verb.
  Fortunately, verb conjugation patterns are quite
  regular, and Spanish has fewer irregular verbs
  than the other Romance languages.
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_verbs

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Detailed Findings-Spanish Grammar

• Spanish has nouns that express concrete objects,
  groups and classes of objects, qualities,
  feelings and other abstractions. As in English,
  all nouns are either countable or uncountable
  (not to imply that the distinction is always
  clear-cut) and, unlike English, also have a
  conventional grammatical gender (masculine or
  feminine). Countable nouns inflect for number
  (singular and plural). http//en.wikipedia.org/wik
  i/Spanish_nouns
• Generally speaking, Spanish uses adjectives in a
  similar way to English and most other
  Indo-European languages. Unlike in English,
  Spanish adjectives usually go after the noun they
  modify, and they agree with what they refer to in
  terms of both number (singular/plural) and gender
  (masculine/feminine). http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki
  /Spanish_adjectives
• Spanish uses determiners in a similar way to
  English. The main difference is that they "agree"
  with what they refer to in terms of both number
  (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine).
  
• Here are some determiners este (esta, estos,
  estas) ese (esa, esos, esas) aquel (aquella,
  aquellos, aquellas) el (la, los, las, lo) un
  (una, unos, unas) mi (mis), tu (tus), su (sus),
  nuestro (nuestra, nuestros, nuestras), vuestro
  (vuestra, vuestros, vuestras) mucho (mucha,
  muchos http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_determ
  iners

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Detailed Findings-Spanish Grammar

• Spanish has a range of pronouns that in some ways
  work quite differently from English ones. They
  include yo, tú, vos, usted, él, ella, ello,
  nosotros, vosotros, ustedes, ellos, ellas, esto,
  eso, aquello etc http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Span
  ish_pronouns
• The Spanish language has a relatively large
  number of prepositions, and does not use
  postpositions. The following list is
  traditionally recited
• A, ante, bajo, cabe, con, contra, de, desde,
  durante, en, entre, hacia, hasta, mediante, para,
  por, según, sin, so, sobre, tras.
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_prepositions

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Detailed Findings-Spanish Culture

• Primarily Spain is a wine drinking country with
  each region producing its own special wines,
  however there are several large breweries within
  Spain producing the light, lager-like beers
  popular everywhere. (http//www.idealspain.com/Pa
  ges/Information/Culture.htm )
• All Spanish towns and cities have their own
  special celebrations, as well as the national
  holidays such as Christmas, Easter Week, All
  Saints Day etc. The way in which the national
  events are celebrated also varies from place to
  place. Most festivities are of religious base,
  mainly Catholic. See our full listing of holidays
  (http//www.idealspain.com/Pages/Information/Cultu
  re.htm )
• Bullfighting is a popular attraction in the
  Spanish culture.
• Dancing is a common social activity for people in
  Spanish-speaking countries.

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Detailed Findings-Spanish Culture
Café in Seville, Spain
Bull Fight
Dancing in Seville, Spain
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Detailed Findings-Sports

• The biggest sport of Latin America and Spain is
  soccer. In many countries soccer is such a big
  sport, fans from opposing teams will engage in
  fighting in the streets after the game. More than
  a few people have died due to fights after soccer
  games.

Soccer
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Detailed Findings-Sports
Baseball

• Baseball is also very popular in Spanish-speaking
  countries.
• Many professional baseball players in the United
  States come from Spanish-speaking countries, such
  as Sammy Sosa, Bobby Abreu, and Alex Rodriguez.

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Detailed Findings-Food

• Paella is one of the most famous Spanish dishes.
  If you ever find yourself in a Spanish restaurant
  that serves paella give it a try. You'll love it.
  The pictures above show the Paella in its cooking
  dish, then served in a plate ready to eat.
• In researching paella recipes I found that there
  was no one-way of making paella. Every chef has
  his own way of making it and the list of
  ingredients is different as well. The recipe here
  is inspired by the others I read and customized
  for simplicity. Feel free to experiment with the
  ingredients by adding your own favorites.
• Paella is cooked in a wide and short pan where
  the sides go up 4 to 5 inches, the more surface
  the better. Many of the toppings are added as a
  last step at the top of the paella.

Paella
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Conclusion

• From my research, I became more familiar with the
  Spanish language, history, and culture.
• I have realized that, with the use of technology,
  it is much easier to learn Spanish today than in
  the past.
• I also learned how easy it is to incorporate
  technology into a Spanish classroom.
• Hopefully, from my research and presentation, I
  encouraged you to learn Spanish or to incorporate
  Spanish into your classroom.

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Appendix

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_languageComp
  arisons_between_Spanish_and_other_languages
• Click here to view my research paper
• Click here to view my internet address book
• http//www.angelfire.com/planet/tdecree/index.html
  
• Click here to view my closing audio file
• Click here to view a scan page from my research
  paper