Spanish & Illinois

by Ann Abbott Capítulo 3 Comunidades nuevas y renovadas Martes ¿Qué imagen proyectamos en nuestras redes? 1. ¿Cómo creamos una comunidad en las redes sociales? (Explorando el tema, p. 96) In pairs, they answer the question at the top of the page. (I was surprised by how many share pictures of their pets!) I changed the pairs, and they interviewed their new partner for Actividad 3-2, Paso 1. A lot of them were sharing their profiles with each other so they could see what they were talking about. We transitioned from talking about ourselves to famous people. I changed the pairs again. They chose a person from the list and looked them up on various social media sites (Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). After they had several minutes to explore, each pair said who they looked up and what kind of image they project. 2. We create communities through social media, and we have spent the past six weeks creating a community in our classroom. Students even knew the names...

by Ann Abbott Lunes: Una vista panorámica de México Éxito comercial, Capítulo 3, pp. 73-83 Usually I like to have the students dig in to the information during class, analyzing, discussing and then presenting their work. However, today I want my students to be inspired about working in Mexico, not put off by the negative information.  We´re going to look at one of my former students, David Pérez Hernández, who just spent one year in Mexico. I know for sure they will be inspired by him! Here are his words for my students: 1) How convenient it is to be in Mexico. You are in a totally different country than the US, but because of the proximity you cant help to feel so close to home. Youre in the same time zone, youre a quick plane ride away from home, alot of the comfort foods make it to Mexico, and youre always 1.5 hours away from some of the best beaches in the world! 2) The second is how important Mexico and its people are to the US. The US trade...

by Ann Abbott One of my students told me that she felt her Spanish was a little rusty and wondered what she could to get back into the swing of things. I'm so glad she asked! Simply wanting to improve your Spanish is one of the most important parts of actually improving your Spanish. Here are a few resources I suggest. At the University of Illinois Tutoring Room.  If you have specific problems, you can go to the Spanish Tutoring Room on the 4th floor of FLB. Mi Pueblo . This is one of the best resources because you can meet up with other people who are practicing their Spanish--and actually speak Spanish in conversations with real people. Nothing beats that. Anywhere MySpanishLab . In this particular course, my student has access to everything that is MySpanishLab. That includes grammar tutorials, verb charts, videos and sound files for everything that is in the book and workbook. There's no way we can cover everything in the book or in MySpanishLab, so taki...

by Ann Abbott Brittany Koteles continues to amaze me. I've written about her several times before (you can search her name in the search bar on the right). Brittany is a social entrepreneur who works at Ashoka to support other social entrepreneurs. I'm so proud of her and her work, and I received the message below from her today.  If you are a current student, look back through this blog for my posts about Brittany and see how you might model your trajectory on hers. Wherever you are in life and in your career, consider adding Brittany to your network: she's an amazing woman who is always in the know and on the go. Finally, I just have to say how much I love her writing style. She injects this message with passion and personality. I can't help but get caught up in it all! Hello friends & fam,   I’m writing you because something really exciting is happening tonight! Ashoka's  Start Empathy  network & an Ashoka Changemaker School from Tuscon...

by Ann Abbott Ken Kliesner is one of those students whom professors love, because you can tell he's in college to learn. Really learn as much as he can. And part of soaking in everything you can in college is going abroad. Take a look at the places Ken has studied:  Jordan  Ecuador  Brazil  Aside from everything that he must have learned in those three experiences, the combination of those three unique places is significant in and of itself. You can tell that he takes (calculated) risk, doesn't just follow the crowd (most study abroad students go to Europe and English-speaking countries), can manage change and actually enjoys working with people who speak other languages and have other cultural perspectives. Those are all highly valued characteristics in a variety of work environments.  Combine all that international experience with Ken's work with recent immigrants in the US--from all over the world--and a full picture emerges of a...