Spanish Arriba vidcast

[Ben]

Just came across this and a) thought it might be useful for lower level learners, and b) wondered what you lot thougt: are videocasts useful for? (Marina has no plans to get in front of a video camera, yet... just curious!! ;) )

Direct video link (http://media.libsyn.com/media/spanisharriba/Spanish_Arriba_Videocast_Lesson.m4v)

[Marbella]

Just came across this and a) thought it might be useful for lower level learners, and b) wondered what you lot thougt: are videocasts useful for? (Marina has no plans to get in front of a video camera, yet... just curious!! ;) )

Direct video link (http://media.libsyn.com/media/spanisharriba/Spanish_Arriba_Videocast_Lesson.m4v)

To use your phrase, that was a crime against bandwidth. I liked your video of the market but to have someone on a video putting word cards on a table really is criminal.

[Ben]

Hm, that was my main impression as well... :D

[Marbella]

I think the level on which this could work is either:

1) to bring to life short interviews in Spanish so you can see the face and body language of the interviewee

2) like the market clip - strong visuals of the scene that you've described in your podcast (I like these!)

From a classroom perspective, Larry Keim (http://www.rollingrs.com/) probably makes the most professional stab at it. They still seem amusing to me but I can see what he is trying to achieve.

[Ben]

Yup he is a lot better. Mexican Spanish though, so he leaves out the vosotros form and uses manejar for drive, which would sound very wierd over here!

[greytop]

I agree with Marbella but also think the video clips are best when they tell a story. Good examples to be found here (http://www.encounterswithspain.org/). Try the "Bar in the Market" clip.
IMHO: Just watching someone effectively reading what could be a written exercise is of little added value.
Another use would be to reinforce words with visuals. Maybe a shot in the bar for example of different types of coffee served with their names (titles and audio?), cold drinks etc. Much as recipe writers provide a photo of the finished dish.
Having seen Larry Keim's site we await Marina rolling her RRRs with bated breath. >:D

[Ben]

Some pursuasion me be necessary... :D

Great vids, much more interesting. How fast does this girl talk:
http://www.wku.edu/encuentros/jovenes_preocupa.html
?!

[Marbella]

Good examples to be found here (http://www.encounterswithspain.org/). Try the "Bar in the Market" clip.


Indeed, that works.

[Marbella]

Some pursuasion me be necessary... :D

Great vids, much more interesting. How fast does this girl talk:
http://www.wku.edu/encuentros/jovenes_preocupa.html
?!

And that but a bit dry. I know I'll never get to grips with someone talking that quickly. My brain just doesn't function quickly enough to assimilate that information in a second language. Holds head in hands and weeps:'(.

[Ben]

Nonsense, you'll get there in the end! Although I was left floundering by an opthalmologist who tested my eyes yesterday. She spoke soooo fast, and coupled with a mild case off too much tinto the night before, I was left floundering... Eyes were fine, but an interesting self-realisation occured when she asked me how long I spent a day in front of the computer screen. About 12. Sometimes 14 :eek: (my reaction, not hers) Have to cut down!!!!!

[Brian]

And that but a bit dry. I know I'll never get to grips with someone talking that quickly. My brain just doesn't function quickly enough to assimilate that information in a second language. Holds head in hands and weeps:'(.

I picked up about 85%, but I'm with you. I just trip over a word, and then before you know it, I've lost context of the conversation.

Ben, that video link is from the University that I attended. Well done! WKU has done quite well in bringing native speakers into their faculty.

[Marbella]

Kind of you to say so Ben but I guess the older I get the harder it will get.

What do you guys do when you are listening to Spanish. To break the process down, I suppose I hear a word convert it into English, store it, convert the next word, store it...and so on. And then build my reply reversing the process. By this time the Spaniard has either fallen asleep or wandered off:D. I'm pretty good at reading and writing in Spanish because I treat it like a computer programming language with a set of words, syntax and rules. That doesn't work in listening and speaking. I guess fluency comes when you do no conversion at all, all phrases 'mean' something in Spanish, no need for an English translation. I think I over analyse!

Staring into a screen all day has wrecked my eye-sight. I also had cause to go to a consultant at the hospital recently. She was a really funny German lady. I had a pain in my side and she asked me what I do for a living. I said IT, and she asked how long I spend each day at my desk. I told her that it was anything from 12 to 15 hours. She said, "Ah! No wonder you have aches and pains! You men, you are supposed to be hunters, running through the forest getting food for your family, not sitting at a desk all day!"

[Edith]

Some pursuasion me be necessary... :D

Great vids, much more interesting. How fast does this girl talk:
http://www.wku.edu/encuentros/jovenes_preocupa.html
?!

Fast!!! I got about 90% of it, but now I'm a bit exhausted! In some of the Spanish soaps I watch (Amor en tiempos revueltos, for example) they talk this way, and my attention span wavers all the time so sometimes I can keep up, sometimes not.

[Brian]

Kind of you to say so Ben but I guess the older I get the harder it will get.

What do you guys do when you are listening to Spanish. To break the process down, I suppose I hear a word convert it into English, store it, convert the next word, store it...and so on.

She said, "Ah! No wonder you have aches and pains! You men, you are supposed to be hunters, running through the forest getting food for your family, not sitting at a desk all day!"

My eyesight has gone wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy downhill over the last few years working in IT, but it's mitigated somewhat by looking at a variety of PC screens, rather than staring at the same one all day.

As for me, when I'm listening, I try not to translate it into English- that's too much work. I've heard that it's much easier to blaze a new path of brain synapses toward recognition of foreign words, rather than force them down the same path of English recognition. That kind of makes sense to me. I don't have enough bandwidth on my English T1 to process both English and Spanish! ;D

[Brian]

Fast!!! I got about 90% of it

You're better than us all, Edith! :D

I agree that it's very mentally exhausting to listen to a foreign language, and much harder to understand when you're tired.

Sometimes, I just turn on TVE and let it play in the background without really listening to it. Do you think that the subconscious picks up on what's being said? Learning by osmosis!

[Edith]

What do you guys do when you are listening to Spanish.

Repetition is the clue! Listen to them, listen to them again, and again if necessary. ;)

[Edith]

You're better than us all, Edith! :D

But my grammar still sucks at times... ;D

[Brian]

But my grammar still sucks at times... ;D

For me it's vocabulary. I was chatting with my mother in law the other day about my CV being descargado, and she laughed at me, and said, "you mean descartado."

:rolleyes:

It's a lifelong process, I'm afraid.

[Edith]

It's a lifelong process, I'm afraid.

I'm afraid so, too. Spending a couple of years in a Spanish-speaking country would be a great opportunity, though. Meanwhile, we are doing our best and we are doing all we can! ;)

Sometimes, I just turn on TVE and let it play in the background without really listening to it. Do you think that the subconscious picks up on what's being said? Learning by osmosis!

Possibly, yes. They have done some experiments on that in the past I believe.

At the moment, I'm watching a TV series, 'Adios Familie Gunneweg', about a Dutch family which decided to move to Extremadura last year. Dad is the main driving force behind it all, and he is very motivated to learn Spanish. Mom, on the other hand, spends much of her time indoors watching Dutch TV channels instead of socializing with the natives. She even hates going to the local supermarket. The two kids are not doing too well either although I haven't heard them say anything in Spanish yet. People are so different, and some of them are much more affected by culture shock and homesickness than others! I'm sure this will also affect their ability to pick up and learn a new language.

[ValenciaSon]

Nonsense, you'll get there in the end! Although I was left floundering by an opthalmologist who tested my eyes yesterday. She spoke soooo fast, and coupled with a mild case off too much tinto the night before, I was left floundering... Eyes were fine, but an interesting self-realisation occured when she asked me how long I spent a day in front of the computer screen. About 12. Sometimes 14 :eek: (my reaction, not hers) Have to cut down!!!!!




Or maybe bring the bottle of tinto with you for your next opthalmology appointment:rolleyes:

[Ben]

Ben, that video link is from the University that I attended. Well done!Thank Greytop, he found it!

[Ben]

Or maybe bring the bottle of tinto with you for your next opthalmology appointment:rolleyes:
What a good idea! That way I'll definitely walk out with a prescription for some new glasses!

[Brian]

What a good idea! That way I'll definitely walk out with a prescription for some new glasses!

You may end up with TINTED lenses, though.

And thanks to Greytop!

[Edith]

I don't know how to provide a direct link to the videos from Encuentros con España, but this one is interesting and easy to follow: an interview with Adelina Sánchez Espinosa, professor of English at the University of Granada. Choose Entrevistas, scroll down to La Educación and then choose El Estudio del inglés y otras idiomas:

http://www.encounterswithspain.org/

She has got some interesting things to say about education in general and about language acquisition.

[timg]

Just came across this and a) thought it might be useful for lower level learners, and b) wondered what you lot thougt: are videocasts useful for? (Marina has no plans to get in front of a video camera, yet... just curious!! ;) )

Direct video link (http://media.libsyn.com/media/spanisharriba/Spanish_Arriba_Videocast_Lesson.m4v)

Something I heard on another podcast where the presenter had tried producing videocasts was that it took around 6 times the total time it would have to produce a podcast (what with planning, preparation, setup, editing, reshooting, etc)! I suspect you spend enough time making the podcasts, let alone allowing 6 times longer.