Mainly Spanish.
My greatest frustration is not being able to recall the right verb and conjugation so the plan is to write out all the verbs I use regularly and figure out the most used conjugations and drill on them until they are THERE.In.My.Head.
That's not my only frustration but it's the greatest one. Increasing my vocabulary is also critical. Again, drill, drill, drill. I need to be reviewing my little self-made dictionary more frequently.
And then finally, just get out there and talk, talk, talk. Something I love to do (normally) and need to do more of, in this case. Marcela has suggested I join a group of some kind with folks who don't speak English. So the search is on! We have a couple of ideas and need to follow up on them.
We took a lot of pictures on our trip but I've just selected two to share with you today. The only time most Americans ever see a poinsettia plant is in a pot at Christmas. We had a poinsettia bush by our house in Uganda and the thing was five feet tall! It was also a little scrawny since that was a pretty dry climate. Well, in Resistencia where it's humid just about all the time, they grow up big and lush. Isn't this gorgeous?!
Although we took a number of group shots, they're all so posed. So I decided to share a photo the hubby snapped during one of our times-around-the-table. This is how we really were most of the time. We were pretty much always around a table that had food on it. I'm not in the photo, I was off to the side by the kitchen counter, right in front of the chocolate scones. Of course I made chocolate scones. In this culture it is expected that you bring a gift of food when you are invited somewhere. In this case, it was perfectly acceptable to make it on site. Our hostess is a fellow chocolate fiend and gladly turned over her kitchen for the Cause :-) 
It was only 47 degrees yesterday. And it rained all day. Which was good because we needed the rain, but between the cold and the rain I sure didn't want to go anywhere. So I didn't. Except upstairs for Spanish. It's going to be cold over the weekend (down in the 30s even!) but should warm up into the 70s by the end of the week. I am SO ready for Spring!!!We're off to YPF for some great coffee and a little headline homework. I'll be posting more later today or tomorrow. Y'all have a great weekend!
1 comment:
I suspected you were physically drained and maybe had caught a cold, so prayed.
About vocabulary. Alan and I, in the Reality Spanish training course we took, were exposed to creative ways to associate vocab and provide enough repetitions (takes 80 at least to stick!)--TPR (total physical response, i.e. using actions), mnemonic devices of any kind, drawing...
I was struck with the responsibility as a teacher/trainer to emphasize vocab acquisition and recycling, which may explain why some of my students were frustrated because I didn't do enough of that.
I wrote you an e-mail but later realized it did not send.
You asked how to remember that 'ayudar' means 'to help'. I thought up something very silly.
The 'd' is taller so reaches out to help the 'a', the 'y' is them holding hands. Don't know what to do with the 'u' :)
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