community practice #8

I taught my siblings how to use location and question words in Spanish

Community Practice #7

I DANCED THE BACHATA ! after class, Alyssa & I practiced until we nailed it lol

Community Practice #10

For this community practice I read a news article on Fox News Latino. I chose to do it on this article about Cuba. It had to do with the bad weather they are having. They are having bad flooding and thunderstorms much like a hurricane. Some people were even injured in the storm. I tried to understand what I could and used a translator for some parts. Here is the article.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/espanol/2015/04/30/cuba-cuba-lluvias-y-tormenta-electrica-causan-dos-muertes-y-derrumbes/

Community Practice #10

One of my fellow OAs Jodie is a part of a Latin sorority named Sigma Iota Alpha. I am very familiar with the Divine Nine which is historically black sororities and fraternities but, I was curious about Latin greek life so I looked up more about it. There website information is in spanish but its easy to understand. 

community Practice # 7

I love going to the Spanish neighborhood in New haven around Grand ave.  I love the way they season there pork. I just starting acquiring a certain love for tacos and fajitas. I all ways go to the taco trucks on long Wharf in New haven to get tacos and fajitas from the food trucks. I all ways say Gracias after I get my order.

Community Practice #6

I was looking at t.v. one night on the spanish channel and it was talking about the riots  that was in Baltimore Maryland in spanish. it was very interesting to see it on the spanish channel.

Community Practice # 5

I attended the spanish class down by the couches and it was all presented in spanish. There were tables that were dealing with things of a medical perspective. There was a table that was checking blood pressures while speaking spanish;. There was another table that was dealing with broken bones and fractures. And it was all presented in spanish , it was all very interesting.

community practice #10

For my final community practice as you can see, my friend and I texted each other in Spanish, asking how was our day and then responded to each other at the end.

Community practice #9

How Hispanics celebrate Thanksgiving:

http://tudecidesmedia.com/traditions-comidaa-thanksgiving-history-in-spanish-p2828-128.htm

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving, so I did some research on how Hispanics celebrate Thanksgiving for my community practice.

Thanksgiving is not usually celebrated in Latin American countries, immigrants to the United States from Spanish-speaking countries tend to quickly embrace the holiday once they have a better understanding of it.
For many Latinos, the religious tone of the holiday is something that they can relate to. The importance of family among Hispanics also plays a key role in the acceptance of the date –due to the idea of having the entire family come together dancing, laughing, eating, and just having a good time.
When it comes to food, Hispanic families tend to prepare many of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, but with a Latino twist. Stuffing made with jalapeño peppers, chorizo and adobo, or the addition of tamales, tortillas or other foods from their homelands also sometimes make their dinner table.

Community Practice #9

For this community practice I watched a soccer (futbol) game on the Spanish Channel. A team called the Pumas won the match. They are based in Mexico. The game was pretty intense and I actually got into it. I'm not a big soccer fan but it was fun to watch. The announcers went crazy when they scored a goal. I would recommend it to any sports fan looking for something different to watch.

Community Practice #8

For this community practice I switched the language on my iPhone to Spanish. I was able to understand some of  the words in my settings and displays. I also played a game on my phone in Spanish. I found this too be very challenging. I knew what some of the words were, but the app read the text fast so it was hard for me to keep up. It was interesting to try and figure out my phone in Spanish incase I ever had to live in a Spanish Speaking country.

Community Practice #7

For my 7th community practice I had a conversation in Spanish with my friend who is a high school Spanish teacher. He really knew the language well and was a great experience for me. He asked me some basic questions in Spanish such as where I was from, and what I enjoyed doing. If I pronouced something incorrect he was able to tell me the right pronunciation. This was very helpful and he is a great resource to have if I ever have a question about Spanish.

Community Practice 6

For this community practice I decided to watch the Lego movie with my nephew in Spanish. This is one of his favorite movies so it was interesting watching it in Spanish. He was trying to follow the subtitles and I was able to understand some parts of the movie. This was interesting for me because I’ve seen parts of the movie with him before in English and it was different. It was a good experience for him and myself. He worked on reading and I tried improving my Spanish. 

Community Practice #5

For my fifth community practice, I decided to listen to a Spanish radio station on my commute home from class. The station is 97.5, La Bomba, based out of Hartford. I initially found out about the station from a billboard in Waterbury that I pass on my way to class each day. The station, while the radio hosts did speak at a pace much faster than my ears could keep up with, I did understand the topic of new music from an artist featuring Shakira. The music, still contemporary, was fun to listen to, and had very catchy choruses.

Community Practice #4

For this practice, I used the self checkout at Stop and Shop in my hometown in Spanish. While using the self checkout, the first few steps were fairly easy to understand with the verbs and vocabulary we have learned this far in the course. When it became time to actually pay at the end, it became more confusing, though I was using cash so I did have the use of the photos to fall back on when making a payment.

community practice #8

For my eighth community practice I changed my settings to Espanol for at least 30 minutes. At first I was never confused after changing everything to Espanol because I knew where everything is located in my phone. But after the 30 minutes, I've gotten a little confused on how to set it back to English, but eventually I got it.

community practice #7

For my seventh community practice, I decided to watch The Lion King in Spanish. The Lion King is one of my favorite Disney movies ever, so I know every word to the movie, but actually watching the movie is spanish, it was very interesting. It was interesting because while was listening, the person who was speaking the Spanish was speaking fast at times, but I was still able to hear recognizing words that were said in the movie. I enjoyed it.

community practice #6

Last week Thursday, I was at my register, cashing out a couple who spoke spanish. I decided to say what they owed in espanol. They seem surprise and loved the fact that I was telling what they owed in Spanish, so they continued and spoke back to me in Spanish as well, they simply responded "muy buen hablar in espanol!". Then I responded with a smile saying "gracias".

community practice #5

For my fifth community practice, a couple of days ago when I went to stop & shop, I decided to self checkout in Spanish. While I was scanning each of my items, the monitor was saying everything I scanned and its price in Spanish as well.

Community Practice #10

For another community practice I sat through an episode of Dora the Explorer with my niece. It was fun to hear the words Dora was saying and understand them and also to help teach my niece some of the words too. Her and I were both able to learn something new from the episode.

Community Practice #9

http://youtu.be/OZAEgmpXdaU
I watched this YouTube video with lyrics of the popular Disney song "Let It Go". I am a big fan of the movie in English so I thought it would be fun to hear the song in Spanish. It was interesting to see how they changed some of the lyrics to flow better in Spanish and to maintain the rhyme scheme. I liked how they had the Spanish lyrics and the English lyrics on the screen because it made the words easier to follow.

Community Practice #8

For this community practice I watched the movie Selena with Jennifer Lopez. It is a great movie that I have seen many times. This time when I watched it I payed special attention to the culture in the movie and the way that Selena was raised. Her father was very protective of her by the way she dressed and the things she did and that says a lot about their culture. She was taught at a very young age to love music and to love the Spanish language.

Community Practice #7

For my seventh community practice I downloaded the app Duolingo. This app is so much fun and turns learning Spanish into a game. I have been addicted to the app ever since I downloaded it. Whenever I have free time i play it. It helps a lot because it mixes speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish in each category. It starts with the basics and gradually gets harder the higher the level.

Community Practice #6

For my sixth community practice I spoke to a Spanish speaking person at the student center. I used context clues and vocabulary that I learned in class. I was able to maintain a conversation. I was very proud of myself and where I have gotten in Spanish. I look forward to speaking to more Spanish people and one day completely knowing Spanish.

Community practice #6

I thought it would be fun to learn how to dance the Rumba, so my little sister found this video on youtube and we tried it !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5SNxRKzPow

Community practice #5

Me Becca and Alyssa watched this video and tried to memorize it ! we got about half way through it lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j25tkxg5Vws

Community practice #4

Last night my friend and i went to On the border for margaritas and enchiladas, i told the server as part of my class assignment i had to order in spanish which i did ! The food was delish, and i didn't mess up the order tooooo badly. Over all it was a great environment and welcoming atmosphere.

Community Practice #7&8

For my seventh community practice I decided to watch one of the Championship League soccer games in spanish. The two teams that played each other were Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. I did not think that watching the game with spanish announcers would make a big difference, but it turned out that it did. I ended up enjoying the game and the energy that the announcers brought far more than the english speaking announcers even though I could not understand everything that they were saying. The truth is that in native spanish speaking countries soccer is a passion felt by entire countries and not just certain individuals and groups like it is in the United States. When Javier Hernandez scored giving Real Madrid a 1-0 lead the announcers went wild and yelled "GOALASO!" While I learned certain words and phases like "Chicharito tubo un buen partido y hizo el gol para ganar el partido al ultimo minuto;" I mainly learned that I enjoy watching soccer on the spanish channel now because it makes me feel much closer to the culture, fans, and players.

Community Practice 5

For my 5th community practice I went to an authentic Mexican  restaurant called Azteca. This was a very enjoyable. When I went there I told my waitress Maria that I was there for a Spanish class. She gave me some recommendations about what I should order. They had a nice Mexican environment and even had a mariachi band playing. They had all Spanish beers on tap like Dos Equies, Corona and Sol. The menu had tons to offer but I decided to just get a Dos Equies and later on I ordered some Churros. Overall It was a good experience and I look forward to going back there.

Community Practice # 9 and 10

For my last two Community Practices, I watched Te Presento a Laura on Netflix. I watched the movie in Spanish with English subtitles. Te Presento a Laura means "Introducing Laura" in English. The movie is about a girl who is told she only has 30 days left to live. During this time, she meets a suicidal man and saves his life and they become very good friends and start doing things on her bucket list. I thought this movie was interesting.

Community Practice #9

                                  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix3O4Kx4pHY

I used to watch the show Mucha Lucha when I was younger. I remember that throughout the show they would speak spanish and had spanish accents. I'm pretty sure the ethnicity of the characters were Mexican. The show is very humorous and I watch a full episode in spanish. Right above I provided the link for anyone to watch.

Community Practice #6

My sixth community practice was something that I had completed earlier on in the course. As extra credit a few students, such as myself, were asked to bring in a video that could give the other students of the class insight into the history of the Dominican Republic. The video I chose was informational in just a short time because it was as if it was live footage of students and people of the country and their lifestyle. The most important message that students could take away from my video was the importance of music to the native people of the Dominican no matter their age. It also gave a condensed explanation to how the DR was colonized and the struggles the people were forced to endure during the time period. Although the video was just a brief history of the Dominican Republic, it was simple enough to understand and it was the beginning to a basic appreciation I was able to attain for a native spanish speaking country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdaWtKkCxAE

Community Practice #8

Today I played random people in a challenge game of trivia crack. It is an app about random facts but it helps you gain knowledge. Before I played I switched the language to Spanish. I was playing other people from around the world who are actual spanish speakers.

Community Practice #5

For my fifth community practice I listened to the song feliz navidad. I always liked the song and knew majority of the lyrics. I never actually knew what the lyrics translated to. I printed a translated and non-translated version of the song.

Antoinette Community Practice #10

My family and I are going to be throwing my little cousin a surprise party so I decided to write a list of what we would need in spanish.

Antoinette Community Practice #9

My spanish friend and I went to a spanish club in Bridgeport, CT called Sazon Y Mambo. We had a very good time. Majority of the people were spanish and they played different types of spanish music.   My friend told and showed me the different types of spanish dances including salsa, bachata, and mambo. It was  avery fun experience, I learned new dances and met new people.
Also, my friend was teaching me how to order drinks in spanish. The whole night I was using spanish phrases to communicate with the bar tender.

Mi amigo y yo fuimos a un club español en Bridgeport, CT llamado Sazón Y Mambo. Nos lo pasamos muy bien. Mayoría de la gente era español y que han desempeñado diferentes tipos de la música española. Mi amigo le dijo y me mostró los diferentes tipos de bailes españoles incluyendo salsa, bachata y mambo. Es adela experiencia divertida, aprendí nuevos bailes y se reunió gente nueva. También, mi amigo me estaba enseñando cómo pedir bebidas en español. Toda la noche yo estaba usando frases en español para comunicarse con el encargado del bar.

Community Practice #7

My teammate Nicki needed help with a color wheel she had to create for her Interdisciplinary Studies class. So i decided that we should both make a color wheel but, I would write my colors in spanish. The colors on the wheel starting from amarillo, amarillo-verde, verde, azul-verde, azul, azul-marado, marado, rojo-marado, rojo, rojo-anaranjado, anaranajdo, and anaranjado-amarillo. 

Community Practice #6

One of my fellow Orientation Ambassador Jose has a relative that owns a Dominican Restaurant. He took me to the place which isn't to far from Southern. I ordered in Spanish. My order was a medium size dinner, with pork and both white and yellow rice with two empanadas and a pineapple soda. In Spanish my order was, "Cena Medio. Carne de cerdo con arroz amarillo y blanco con dos empanadas.  Tambien a refresco de piña." 

Community Practice #5

During the day I decided to listen to a spanish song with my teammate Nicki. She chose the song Suavemente by Elvis Crespo. After we finished listening to it I left a comment in spanish. It says, "I like the song a lot because it is lively. Elvis Crespo has a very loud voice. The song is good for the holidays."

Community Practice #4

On Friday April 17th I attended a literature conference. The focus was on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's work, translation, and criticism. When I walked in the 12pm session started. Professor Elena Schmitt was speaking about the different translation of a passage from How and Where I Enter: The World of One Hundred Years of Solitude. She was comparing the diction of the two passages. One made you want to read more while the other made you want to put the book down.

Community Practice #3

I decided to send out a tweet about my day on twitter. To my surprise my best friend's brother replied! My tweet stated "Today was a good day but it was raining. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day."

Community Practice #2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S51xo-295BY

Listening to this song brings back memories of my bestfriends' quinceanera. She tried to teach me how to dance to bachata. Xtreme is singing about their love and where it went wrong. They just want to feel the same passion that the relationship had when it started.

Community Practice 4&5

For these community practices I decided to do something outside of my comfort zone. I decided to watch a Netflix movie in spanish since I spend so much meaningless time watching other Netflix movies and shows to begin with. The name of the movie was "Biutiful" and I chose it being it was a highly rated drama with actors Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, and Hanaa Bouchaib. The movie takes place in Barcelona where the main character, Uxbal, raises his two kids Ana and Mateo while pursuing an illegal line of business. The movie really held my interest even though it was in spanish considering Uxbal can communicate with the dead and his wife, Marambra, is an alcoholic prostitute. Although, the plot is really all about Uxbal trying to find the right person to raise his children once he finds out that he is dying of prostate cancer. And despite the events and struggles that he endures throughout the movie, it is not until the end when he meets an African immigrant by the name of Ige that he believes he has found the suitable person to raise his two children once he dies. I actually enjoyed watching a movie in a different language considering it is probably the least difficult way to learn and understand spanish since there are pictures and people constantly conveying the messages. I would definitely recommend this movie to a native english or spanish speaking person.

Community Practice #3

For my third community practice, I found the original recipe that my group and I had used to make cookies for our last project. The main food in the cookies was a native spanish ingredient called "dulce de leche;" even though it is also sold in stores in the U.S. When I searched this ingredient online I was able to find a recipe to make the cookies in Spanish. While it originally seemed as though the steps would be difficult to follow, I found that understanding them came relatively naturally once I was able to break them down into words and phrases that I already know. I enjoyed this process because it is realistic and relative to the spanish culture so it gave me a sense of understanding through a different set of eyes.

Ingredients for Dulche de Leche Cookies:

Azúcar Mezcla
1/3 taza de azúcar
3/4 cucharadita de sal
1/2 cucharadita de canela molida
1/8 cucharadita de cardamomo molido
Galleta
3/4 taza de azúcar morena bien compacta
1/2 taza de Land O LAKES® mantequilla, suavizada
1 Land O LAKES® Huevo Todo-Natural
1 cucharadita de vainilla
1 1/4 tazas de harina para todo uso
1 cucharadita de canela molida
1/2 cucharadita de polvo de hornear
1/2 cucharadita de sal
Relleno
1/4 taza de dulce de leche en lata

Antoinette Community practice #8

For my community practice #8, I thought it would be a good idea to learn a spanish dance. I decided to gather a group of my friends to learn a spanish dance we found on youtube. The video broke down several steps on how to do salsa. This was fun because we are going to Don Coqui soon, a spanish restaurant that usually plays spanish music. We thought that this would be fun to learn salsa before we get there.

I was also thinking this may be a good thing to do for my final project :)

This is the video we used to learn salsa:
https://youtu.be/aVtWSZOttC0

community practice #2

For my second community practice I was able to go on youtube and find a lesson taught by a native spanish woman whom is also a teacher. In the past I have been unclear on how to pronounce the alphabet in spanish; especially since some letters have multiple sounds depending on the word. for example the letter "C" has the "s" sound in the male name "Cesar," but the pronunciation differs in the word "Casa" which is actually spoken with a "k" sound. Throughout the video I was able to hear all the letters be pronounced by an indigenous spanish woman and I learned that there are various contexts in which other letters like "g" have multiple pronunciations too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsLYD1Jyf3A

Community Practice #8

For community practice #8, I decided to learn how to pronounce and say the year in Spanish. When we were playing a game in class last week, I realized that I had forgotten how to pronounce years in Spanish. I learned that the year 2015 in Spanish is dos mil quince and 2007 would be dos mil siete. I also watched a short Youtube video of someone explaining how to say different years. This short video reminded me how to say the year in Spanish. The link to the video is posted below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQRpIaTeUAU

Community practice 3 & 4

I watched the documentary "Las Muchachas" with the class. I stayed for the whole movie. the movie was really dry and I didn't find it that interesting. 

Community Practice #3 & #4

I watched the documentary Las Muchachas with the class. This counts as two community practices. Honestly in my opinion this documentary was boring.

Community practice # 4

Every Time I recognize a Spanish person or family at my workplace I always try to acknowledge them in Spanish by saying buenos dias.  And when I'm checking a customer out who is Spanish I always try to say the numbers in Spanish to let them know that I understand Spanish in some ways.  I have a certain list at my wokrplace that I have to state the days of the week and when I do this I do it in English and in Spanish.
Monday-Lunes
Tuesday- martes
Wednesday- miercoles
Thursday - jueves
Friday- viernes
Saturday- sabado
Sunday- domingo

Community Practice #2

For my second community practice I used the self checkout at the super market over the weekend. I chose to use the spanish option. It was kind of difficult for me at first but, eventually I got through it. It was interesting to do and was a lot of fun. I might ry it again one day. when I go again I bet I will go through the process easily.

Community Practice #7

For community practice #7, I decided to look up the lyrics to children's songs in Spanish. Listening to these songs in Spanish was interesting to me because I want to be an elementary school teacher. I think that it is important for young children to be exposed to various languages. One of the songs I listened to was Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. The lyrics for this song are posted below in both English and Spanish!

Cabeza y Hombros, Pierna y Pies

Spanish Lyrics

Cabeza y hombros, pierna y pies

Pierna y pies, pierna y pies

Cabeza y hombros, pierna y pies

Pierna y pies, pierna y pies

Cara, ojos,boca, nariz

Cabeza y hombros, pierna y pies

Pierna y pies

Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

English Lyrics

Head and shoulders knees and toes (Spanish version: Head and shoulder, legs and feet)

Knees and toes

Head shoulders knees and toes

Knees and toes

Eyes and ears and mouth and nose (Spanish version: face and eyes and mouth and nose)

Head and shoulders knees and toes

Knees and toes

community practice #1

        For my activity I decided to listen to some common Spanish music.  I listened to songs such as, Danza Kuduro, Vivir La Vida Letra, and Suavemente.  Since Suavemente by Elvis Crespo was the most unknown song to me I decided to look up the lyrics.  A few words that I learned from the song were Besa (kiss), labios (lips), and da`melo (give it to me). From this activity I learned that are multiple varieties of Spanish music that I enjoy.  I also learned that listening to Spanish music is a great way to learn Spanish with out really realizing that you are.  When you enjoy listening to the music and start to sing along to it this is when it helps with not only general learning, but how to pronounce certain words.

*lyrics attached*

Suavemente Lyrics by Elvis Crespo:

Suavemente, bésame 
Que yo quiero sentir tus labios 
Besándome otra vez 

Suavemente, bésame 
Que yo quiero sentir tus labios 
Besándome otra vez 

(Suave) bésame, bésame 
(Suave) bésame otra vez 
(Suave) que yo quiero sentir tus labios 
(Suave) besándome otra vez 
(Suave) besa, besa 
(Suave) bésame un poquito 
(Suave) besa, besa, besa, 
(Suave) bésame otro ratito 

(Pequeña, hechate pa' 'ca) 

Cuando tu me besas 
Me siento en el aire 
Por eso cuando te veo 
Comienzo a besarte 
Y si te despegas, 
Yo me despierto 
De ese rico sueño, 
Que me dan tus besos 
Suavemente 
(Bésame, que yo quiero sentir tus labios) 
Besando me otra vez 
Suavemente ese coro! 
(Bésame) 
Es la cosa (que yo quiero sentir tus labios) 
Besando me otra vez 
Bésame suavecito, 
Sin prisa y con calma 
Dame un beso bien profundo, que me llegue al alma 
Dame un beso mas, que en mi boca cabe 
Dame un beso despacito, dame un beso suave 

Suavemente 
(Bésame, que yo quiero sentir tus labios) 
Besándome otra vez 
Suavemente ese coro 
(Bésame) es la cosa (que yo quiero sentir tus labios) 
Besando me otra vez 

(Suave) tus labios tienen 
(Suave) ese secreto 
(Suave) yo beso y beso 
(Suave) y no lo encuentro 
(Suave) un beso suave 
(Suave) es lo que anhelo 
(Suave) un beso tuyo 
(Suave) es lo que quiero 
Dámelo 

(Suave) yo me pregunto 
(Suave) que tienen tus besos 
(Suave) trato de escaparme 
(Suave) y me siento preso 
(Suave) besa, besa, bésame un poquito 
(Suave) besa, besa, besa, bésame otro ratito 
Dámelo 

(Suave) bésame, bésame 
(Suave) bésame otra vez 
(Suave) que yo quiero sentir tus labios 
(Suave) besándome suavemente, 
(Suave) tiernamente 
(Suave) cariñosamente 
(Suave) dulcemente, 
(Suave) bésame mucho 
Sin prisa y con calma 
Dame un beso hondo que me llegue al alma 
Acércate, acércate no tengas miedo 
Solamente yo te digo, una cosa quiero 
(Suave) bésame 
Pequeña, cógelo (suave)