• 28Dec

  We’re getting our move on

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  Several things happened today:

  • I sold one of our dog kennels for $150 and a bookcase for $20 both of which had been sitting around getting in the way for way too long. Ca-ching!

  • After we had $170 bucks burning a hole in our pockets we headed to town for some Mexican food at El Pueblito, our favorite place for obvious reasons. (vegie enchiladas for me and carne asada for Paul)
  • I picked up a book I’d put on hold at the library – and I’m already devouring it – How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. It’s going to be a quick read, but I can tell it will be an important one for me since he details how to best go about learning languages…and this comes from someone who started out teaching himself Chinese in high school and who now can communicate in something like 18 languages. (the book is in the other room…you wouldn’t want me to have to get up, would you?) I’ll summarize it here when I’m done but I already think it is going to be a big help.

  Oh, and in other news…no rain AT ALL today.

  -Nancy

  
• 25Dec

  Kind of a Funny Christmas!

  language 2 Comments

  
  The first gift Paul opened from me was the book on the left – a hardbound used copy of Casa Yucatan. Then he started to laugh, because the book on the right – a new paperback copy of Casa Yucatan was one of the gifts he’d bought for me! We must know each other pretty well!

  The other gifts were several cd’s and tequila for Paul and a cool electronic dictionary for me!

  I would call it a very Mexico Christmas. Next year we’ll be there!

  -Nancy

  
• 20Dec

  Teaching an Old Dog

  language 8 Comments

  Ok, I’m not THAT old! But sometimes when my Spanish studying isn’t going very well, I feel like an old dog.

  Seriously, I am studying Spanish every day. I am trying to do my own Immersion Course since I know that is the fastest way to learn.

  • Even though I have never had the TV on unless I am actually sitting down to watch – I have the TV on one of the two Spanish language channels a lot of the day.

  • I listen to Spanish CD’s – some that I’ve had for years…and I realize I am picking up more of the lyrics than I used to!
  • Language learning CD’s and podcasts – walking the dog, gardening or cleaning house I listen to the MP3 player, and I listen to CD’s in the car. Since the closest town to us is a half hour away I get a fair bit of exposure this way. I always repeat the lessons out loud.
  • I do pretend conversations in my head. This is usually triggered by an interaction like going to the post office or a store. I then replay the conversation but working it out in Spanish.
  • I get movies from the library – Mexico travel ones are great, but also Spanish language ones (Santos Peregrinos) or Mexican topics (Nacho Libre.)
  • We TIVO and watch Fuera de Serie – a half hour travel show every day. The hosts travel the world interacting with Spanish speakers wherever they are. I am going to start TIVO-ing a half hour of daily news, too.

  If my Spanish language competency was rated on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rate myself at a 2. I’d be curious to hear from people how they’d rate themselves – and if they are in a Spanish-speaking country now, what change in competency did they have once they made the move.

  -Nancy

  

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