14 Marzo 2005 (lunes)

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Tarea

No hay tara para miércoles, pero ¡estudia!

WebCT Exercises: April 13 (Wednesday)

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Examenes

Our next test is on Wednesday, April 13.
We have a quiz on this Friday, March 18.
Our next written composition is on Friday, March 25.

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Notas

I hope that you enjoyed Spring Break. It was WAY too short, wasn't it?

Today, we received our written composition re-writes back. The past couple of classes have been pretty straight-forward. We've studied the vocabulary related to health and body parts on page 331 of ¡Arriba!, and today, we started covering the nosotros form of imperative verbs.

The imperative tense is a command. For example, if you say Let's go to the store, you are issuing a command and the word go is in the imperative tense.

In Spanish, the nosotros form and an imperative verb is in general the same as the nosotros form of the subjunctive tense of that verb. For example, to say Let's eat the hamburgers, you would say Comamos las hamburguesas. Now for some weird rules.

First, if there is a direct object pronoun in an affirmative imperative statement, it should be tagged onto the end of the verb. For example, to say Let's eat them (the hamburgers), you would say Comamoslas. This is NOT true for negative imperative statements. For example, to say Let's not eat them (the hamburgers), you would say No las comamos. Crap.

Second, if the verb is reflexive and an affirmative imperative statement, the final -s on the verb should be dropped and the nos should be tagged onto the end of the verb. For example, to say Let's listen to ourselves, you would say Escuchémonos. Notice the accent mark that gets added; this is because that syllable should remain stressed. Again, this is NOT true for negative imperative statements. For example, to say Let's not listen to ourselves, you would say No nos escuchemos. Crap.

Just as a matter of interest, that accent really is kind of important. Why? Because without it, Escuchemonos (not a real word without the accent) is pronounced Escuche monos, which is in fact an imperative verb, but in usted form instead of the nosotros form, and it translates to ordering someone to Listen to monkeys. Probably not quite what you intended to say!

Last, but not least, the nosotros imperative form of the verb ir is a little different. In the affirmative, the command is left in the indicative tense instead of changed to subjunctive. For example, Let's go home becomes Vamos a la casa. However, the negative nosotros imperative form DOES become subjunctive. Let's not go home becomes No vayamos a la casa. Crap, crap, crap.

I wish there were an easy way to remember all this, but all I know to suggest is read and re-read page 335 in ¡Arriba! and work on the exercises. Whatever you do, do it quickly--we have a quiz this Friday covering this stuff and the vocabulary. We don't have any homework for Wednesday, so hopefully it will give you chance to study in the way you find most effective.

That's about it, buena suerta y hasta miércoles.

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Friday's homework assignment was not collected in class.

23 Febrero 2005 (miércoles)

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Tarea

Ejercicios 9-46, 9-47
Paginas 318, 319

NOTE: In class today, Professor Tarazona warned us that in the future, she may take up homework at the beginning of class instead of the end. Please work on it before you get to class instead of in class. You have been warned!

WebCT Exercises: March 2, 2005 (Wednesday)
9-6, 9-7, 9-8, 9-10, 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 9-17

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Examenes

Our next test is on Wednesday, March 2.
We have another in-class composition on Monday, February 28.

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Notas

Wow. I almost missed class today because of NASTY traffic on I-85 going into town this morning. I did miss class on Monday because I was sick as a dog. A nasty stomach kind of sick, so if you were in class with me today, don't worry, the culprit has been expelled many times over. :-(

Anyway, I hope you didn't miss class today. But whether you missed class today or not, I advise you to study the pages 310 through 313 for hours and hours. Why? Because the verb tense in the pretty blue boxes there is so difficult, the book has split its explanation up into every single chapter remaining this semester! I'm not exaggerating. Look at it yourself: the entire second half of chapter 10, all of chapter 11, and the negative imperative commands of chapter 12--ALL subjunctive! So I can guarantee that the verb tense on pages 310 through 313 will be on every single exam, every single composition, and damn near every single quiz for the rest of this term. I don't know how to say it any clearer: Know these pages backward and forward or you will not fare well in this class.

Now that I'm done with the melodrama, there's not much else to say. We covered a few exercises in class today (9-37 and 9-38) and practiced conjugating some verbs. I might ask Professor Tarazona if we can take a day off in the not-too-distant future to review all of the verb tenses we have studied so far, because if you're mortal like me, it's getting very hard to keep them straight. It takes a LOT of practice. Just to review, here's a list of what I've counted so far:

Tense	Example	Translation
Infinitive	Yo tengo que salir.	I have to leave.
Present Indicative	Yo bebo.	I drink.
Present Progressive	Yo estoy trabajando.	I am working.
Future	Yo voy a bailar.	I am going to dance.
Preterit	Yo canté.	I sang.
(Past) Imperfect	Yo comía.	I was eating.
Present Subjunctive	Yo quiero que hables.	I want you to speak.

Before we end the semester, we're going to add at least three more that I know of to that list, and if I'm not mistaken, I think there are actually even two or three more that we won't even study this term. I know I said in my notes last semester that verb conjugation is the hardest part of any foreign language, and now you see why.

One thing I don't like about this class is that there is hardly any focus whatsoever on the classic way of teaching a foreign language: relentless translations back and forth. Opinion o' me is that once a student gets proficient at handling the grunt work of conjugating verbs in his or her sleep then it's okay to quit focusing on such tedious work. But until then, it really is the best way to study.

My suggestion, if you really want to get good at this, is to make up lists of hundreds or even thousands of simple sentences in various tenses. Stuff like "My mother used to wash my clothes, but now, I wash them." (Mi madre lavaba mi ropa, pero ahora, yo la lavo.) Throw around all of the tenses listed above in your sentences. Go back and forth from each language to the other. If you want to cheat and use sentences that someone else has written, then buy a copy of this book instead. (If you make up your own, you'll increase your vocabulary as well.) In any case, you will have to practice a lot more than just doing the exercises in ¡Arriba!.

But that's just opinion o' me. By all means, use whatever works for you to study best.

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Monday's homework assignment was not collected at the end of class.

18 Febrero 2005 (viernes)

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Tarea

Ejercicios 9-26, 9-27
Pagina 307

WebCT Exercises: March 2, 2005 (Wednesday)
9-6, 9-7, 9-8, 9-10, 9-13, 9-14, 9-15, 9-17

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Examenes

We have a quiz on Monday, February 21.
Our next test is two weeks from next Wednesday, on March 2.
We have another in-class composition in the class before the exam, on February 28.

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Notas

Today, we again focused heavily on the difference between para and por. I still cannot emphasize how important it is to practice this over and over. This weekend, I hope to post some practice exercises to maybe help you get to where you know this cold. Seriously, you do NOT want to have to stop every few seconds when trying to speak Spanish to figure out whether you're supposed to say para or por. Or even worse, screw it up in conversation and have the person to whom you are talking think you mean something much different than what you actually do mean.

We also covered making some common adjectives into adverbs by adding -mente to the end of them. We do this in English too, but we use the suffix -ly. For example, in English, the word frequent becomes frequently. (How many people remember "Lolly Lolly Lolly, get your adverbs here"?) In Spanish, the word difícil becomes difícilmente.

When you add -mente to an adjective that ends in -o (for example, lento), be sure to change it to -a (same example, lentamente). Also, bear in mind that some adverbs do not end in -mente. Two very common examples are muy and bien.

It may also worth giving a 5¢ review of what an adverb is and what makes it different from an adjective. An adjective describes a noun. For example, the word estúpido in Eres un tonto estúpido (you're a stupid idiot). An adverb describes either a verb or an adjective. For example, the word estúpidamente in Él mentió estúpidamente a la policía (he lied stupidly to the police). In the first example, stupid describes the noun idiot. In the second example, stupidly describes how he lied.

The problem is that in English, a lot of people use bad grammar by using adjectives when they're really supposed to use adverbs. For example, most people think this is a grammatically correct sentence: You're driving too slow. In that sentence, slow is being used to describe the verb drive, which makes it an adverb. The problem is that slow is an adjective; the grammatically correct sentence is: You're driving too slowly. In Spanish, you should use an adverb, too: Estás conduciendo demasiado lentamente. In this sentence, lento would be just plain wrong.

That's the 5¢ review, I expect to get my nickel on Monday. Until then, hasta luego...

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Wednesday's homework assignment was not collected at the end of class.

16 Febrero 2005 (miércoles)

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Tarea

Ejercicio 9-18
Pagina 302

WebCT Note: WebCT exercises for chapters 7 and 8 are due Friday (February 18). Remember, after doing the exercises (see entry for 9 Febrero below for the assigned exercises), you must print out the assessment scores and turn it in. She is NOT checking online to see if you did them, you MUST turn in this printout!

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Examenes

We have a quiz on Monday, February 21.
Our next test is two weeks from next Wednesday, on March 2.
We have another in-class composition in the class before the exam, on February 28.

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Notas

In this class, we mainly focused on the difference between para and por. This is a pretty hard concept to wrap one's brain around, since these words don't directly translate into English. Most of the time, the translation for both words is given as "for," even though each word is used in different situations. The words can also translate into "by," "because of," "through," "around," and so on ad nauseum. The only way to learn it is by studying it diligently and practicing it a lot. I highly suggest you read pages 297 and 298 of ¡Arriba! until you know it cold and become intimately familiar with the following exercises, especially 9-12. If I have time, I'll make some copies of a section of a workbook that I have and bring them in on Friday morning.

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Monday's homework assignment was not collected at the end of class.

14 Febrero 2005 (lunes)

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Tarea

Ejercicios 9-11, 9-12, 9-13
Paginas 299-300
Correct in-class composition from last Wednesday's class

WebCT Note: Professor Tarazona said that she is delaying collecting the WebCT exercises until this Friday (February 18). Remember, after doing the exercises (see entry for 9 Febrero below for the assigned exercises), you must print out the assessment scores and turn it in. She is NOT checking online to see if you did them, you MUST turn in this printout!

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Examenes

Our next test is two weeks from next Wednesday, on March 2.
We have another in-class composition in the class before the exam, on February 28.
We have a quiz on Monday, February 21.

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Notas

I did not attend class on Monday, but I believe that all that was covered was some vocabulary, which is located on page 293 of ¡Arriba!.

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Friday's homework assignment was not (?) collected at the end of class.

11 Febrero 2005 (viernes)

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Tarea

Ejercicios 9-1, 9-4
Pagina 294

WebCT Note: Professor Tarazona said that she is delaying collecting the WebCT exercises until next week. If you did not do them, you have a small reprieve! Remember, after doing the exercises (see entry for 9 Febrero below for the assigned exercises), you must print out the assessment scores and turn it in. She is NOT checking online to see if you did them, you MUST turn in this printout!

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Examenes

Our next test is two weeks from next Wednesday, on March 2.
We have another in-class composition in the class before the exam, on February 28.

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Notas

¡Hoy tuvimos nuestro primer examen!

I hope you did well. It was pretty straightforward, covering stuff we studied in class. I was a little surprised that some stuff didn't make it on the test, such as ordinal numbers. Oh well, I am pretty sure we will definitely be seeing them again, so I hope you did bother to learn them.

My personal opinion of the test was that it was pretty easy. There were three parts that gave me a little bit of trouble, though. First was the listening exercises, which I am betting that everyone struggled with. Those Spanish-speaking folks talk so fast! If you had a lot of trouble with this, I suggest doing the lab manual exercises in WebCT more and taking a little time to watch some Univision (channel 34 in Atlanta). Yeah, you won't understand everything on tv, but it will at least help get you used to listening to Spanish as it is spoken at a natural rate.

The second part that gave me a little trouble was the section on indefinite pronouns (algún, nada, etc.). Not because I didn't understand it, but mainly because it took me several minutes to figure out what the paragraph was supposed to be saying. (You never study? You study nothing? Nobody studies?) After several minutes, I think I finally hacked my way through and got answers that made grammatical sense.

The third part, the one that I was really scratching my head on, was the sentence that went something like, Por una colega a quien le gusta muchísimo este deporte, (?) de un partido a las cinco. (That's my best recollection of the sentence, it was probably actually a little different.) We had to fill in the preterit form of a verb. After working out the rest of the section, I settled on the verb saber. I think the literal translation is something like, From a colleague to whom this sport is very much pleasing, I found out about a game at 5:00. Yes, in English, that syntax is a little awkward. The semantic meaning would better translate as something like, I found out about a game at 5:00 from a colleague who really likes the sport. If I am right, the correct verb form would be supe, and the thing that was really throwing me was the use of the word Por to mean From instead of For. I guess we'll see on Monday!

Well, that's about all of my thoughts on the test. I hope everyone did well on the composition Wednesday and the test today. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them below or ask away in class on Monday. Get ready to dig in to chapter nine, which covers vocabulary about traveling, as well as one of the things I'm having a really hard time with: the difference between para and por. And if you thought that this mess with the preterit and imperfect verb tenses was difficult, just wait until you get a load of the nightmare of what's coming in the second half of chapter nine! :-) Don't worry too much, I've got some information that I will post here later that may help, and if you haven't already, I would HIGHLY suggest you consider buying the book Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish and thoroughly digesting chapter 6, "The Twilight Zone". (It's money well-spent, this is the same book that has the Spanish cuss words in chapter 10, "Invective and Obscenity".)

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There was no homework assignment Wednesday, and the WebCT assignment was not collected at the end of class.

09 Febrero 2005 (miércoles)

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Tarea

WebCT exercises due on Friday: 7-4, 7-6, 7-7, 7-9, 7-18, 7-20, 7-22, 7-28, 7-30 8-2, 8-6, 8-8, 8-9, 8-10, 8-12, 8-17, 8-18, 8-20

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Examenes

Our next test is Friday, February 11.

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Notas

Today, had our first composition. We had to write 85 words about either an event we went to or a shopping trip we made when we were young. For either assignment, we had to use the imperfect and the preterit verb tenses in our composition. Hopefully, everything went pretty well.

We also reviewed a little bit for Friday's test. Study hard, and good luck! The main topics that will be covered are:

• The preterit verb tense, especially irregular verbs.
• Indefinite pronouns, such as algún, nunca, nadie, etc.
• The imperfect verb tense, incluidng the irregular verbs ir, ser, and ver.
• Ordinal numbers (primero, segundo, tercero, etc.).
• Vocabulary, mainly pertaining to sports, clothing, and shopping.

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Monday's homework was not collected at the end of class. (There was no assignment.)