Mil grullas y un libro de haikus a Unamuno

Mil grullas y un libro de haikus a Unamuno: El poeta Alfredo Pérez Alencart y el pintor Miguel Elías dedican poemas e ilustraciones al escritor y pensador salmantino de adopción en el libro 'La piedra en la lengua'.
Compuesto de 40 poemas breves y uno largo titulado Unamuno - leído en cinco idiomas durante el acto de presentación -, la obra pretende acercar al lector a los rincones más íntimos del pensador. Ver mas!

How to Resurrect Your High School Spanish…

How can you possibly maintain fluency in two foreign languages — let alone five or six — if the opportunities to use them are months or years apart?

 

In 20 minutes, I leave from JFK for Iceland, then Scotland, and then a circle in Europe that will include Oktoberfest in Munich. Germany is strategic, as I want to “reactivate” my German before the media tour there.

Few topics provoke more anxiety and depression in language lovers than the prospect of forgetting a hard-earned language. After you return to your English-dominated homeland, how do you maintain your newfound skills, which seem to have yogurt-like expiration dates? Having juggled close to a dozen languages — keeping some and losing others — and having suffered the interference that goes it all, my answer now is simple: you don’t.

It is easier, and much more time-efficient, to catch up versus keep up.

Why struggle to maintain a foreign tongue in the US, for example, when you most often gain nothing more than bad habits? If you acquire the language in a native environment and attain an intermediate or advanced level of fluency, you can reactivate your language skills in four weeks or less when approached methodically. Would you rather spend four hours per week on your new language, only to see it get sick and bloated with a distinctly foreign-sounding twang, or spend two hours per day for 1-3 weeks and be right back at your fluency level from years prior?

I began reactivation of irretrievable German just over a week ago and can already hold a decent conversation. This is not a testament to my ability, but to the efficacy of a process that begins with massive passive exposure and avoids time-consuming review from square one:

1. Days 1-7: German films with English subtitles for at least two hours each evening for one week.

2. Days 3+: 10-20 pages of dialogue-rich manga (Japanese comics, here translated into German, that can be ordered in most languages from comic stores in your target country) for 30 minutes each morning and prior to bed. I’m a big fan of One Piece.

3. On the plane: Read a phrasebook in its entirety for active recall practice of common phrases (45 minutes of study alternated with 15 minutes of rest – this takes advantage of what is called the “primacy and recency” effect).

4. Upon arrival: Continue with manga and grammar reference checks as needed, using an electronic dictionary to reactivate vocabulary from conversation that is familiar but not understood.

5. Weeks 2-3: Thirty to sixty Vis-Ed flashcards daily. This seems like a lot, but most will have been covered in steps 1-3 – using active recall (English to German). Vis-Ed compiles its sets of flashcards from word frequency lists and includes sample phrases for usage. I begin flashcards after three or four days in-country.

The sooner you decide to reactivate languages when needed, instead of maintaining them for an unspecified time in the future, the more leisure time you will have and the less diluted your language abilities will be when you need them.

Don’t fear losing languages if you’ve attained real fluency. They’re just in temporary storage with the covers pulled over them.

Thanks to Tim Ferriss for this interesting article.

Music Research in the Colombian Plains

by Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Se the video here: http://www.festival.si.edu/2011/music-research-in-the-colombian-plains/

In 2011, researchers for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival traveled to the Orinoco Plains of Colombia. Their van broke down, leading to a filming opportunity involving Felix Chaparro Rivas, Victor Espinel Sanchez, and Carlos Rojas. Here, Espinel sings trovas, impromptu verses, in the joropo style.

Video produced by Cristina Diaz-Carrera and Mariana Alvarez-Heitzge

2011 Festival Video - Colombia

Yipao Festival in Colombia

Our friend Carlos Alberto Beltrán R. won’t be coming to the Festival, but his tradition will. He sent us this

June 24, 2011   No Comments

2011 Festival Introduction

Introduction to the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and overview of Festival history.

June 17, 2011   1 Comment

Colombia Program Introduction

This video features Olivia Cadaval, the curator of the 2011 Folklife Festival program Colombia: The Nature of Culture. She has

June 17, 2011   14 Comments

Music Research in the Colombian Plains

In 2011, researchers for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival traveled to the Orinoco Plains of Colombia. Their van broke down, leading

Spanish Vowels For Dummies

Spanish Consonants For Dummies

Learning better spanish language

Mind Map

Hi, Im sharing this interesting article from the blog Smile-be-positive.

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind Mapping is an important technique that improves the way you record information, and supports and enhances your creative problem solving. It also, used to, visualize, structure, and classify ideas. The way to use mind map is that start with the main idea, and then figure out the “branches”.

Uses of mind mapping are Note taking, Brainstorming, Problem solving, Studying, memorization, Planning, your creativity.

How to use it ?

for a meeting/note taking:

1. Write the main idea in the center box.

2. Write each agenda item in the circles linked to the outside of the main idea.

3. As the meeting progresses, draw lines pointing to sub-thoughts, ideas, facts and figures.

4. Draw pictures and interlink items with or without arrows.

For Problem Solving, see the below picture.

 
there is no wrong or right process to use to draw, you can start to draw mind map on a piece of paper.
to suggest you start with a "How to make your mother in law happy", may be u can share it with us, once ur done.


Check th the blog of f IQ MATRIX with many of cool mind map examples :

http://blog.iqmatrix.com/mind-map-image-gallery

 

Try free online software :
SPCIY NODOES http://www.spicynodes.org/
Bubbl us :Brainstorm online with bubbl.us. Easily create colorful mindmaps to print or share with others

Tony Buzan wrote a very good book about mind mapping. called

The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's U…

Comments from Tony Buzan
Start in the centre with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colours.

Use images, symbols, codes and dimensions throughout your Mind Map.
Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.
Each word/image must be alone and sitting on its own line.
The lines must be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker, organic and flowing, becoming thinner as they radiate out from the centre.
Make the lines the same length as the word/image.
Use colours – your own code – throughout the Mind Map.
Develop your own personal style of Mind Mapping.
Use emphasis and show associations in your Mind Map.
Keep the Mind Map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.

Juanes le enseñó español a Elmo

AP | El cantante antioqueño se divirtió enseñando español al famoso personaje Elmo 

y su inseparable amiga Rosita, a quienes visitó en los estudios de grabación 

de Plaza Sésamo en Nueva York.

El cantante colombiano Juanes se divirtió este lunes enseñando español al famoso personaje Elmo y su inseparable amiga Rosita, a quienes visitó en los estudios de grabación de Plaza Sésamo en Nueva York.

"Cabeza, manos, pies", repitió Juanes al son de la música, mientras su nuevo amigo Elmo prestaba atención a la estrella latina, que se mostró encantado de participar en el programa con el que, según dijo, muchos han crecido y que ahora ven sus hijos.
See more in: http://www.elcolombiano.com

Movie in Washington DC

Hi friends and spanish languaje students, I want to share this information that  I have received by mail.  This is a Movie from Argentina that is call "Salvation Poem".  A good opportunity to practice some spanish. Enjoy it all! i will keep looking for more spanish speakers movies... See you at class!  Hasta pronto!...