- CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AUDIO RECORDING OF GREETINGS: A0000014
- Hi
- Hello
- Good afternoon
- Good evening
- How are you?
- singular
- plural
- familiar
- formal
How’s it going? ¿Qué tal? I’m… Estoy…* Good Bien Great Muy bien Good-bye Adiós See you later Hasta luego
Hasta pronto
Hasta la vista
Archive for July, 2010
31 Jul
BASIC SPANISH GREETINGS WITH AUDIO
31 Jul
INTERVIEW WITH KAREN ASHMORE/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LAMBI FUND OF HAITI
CLICK ON THIS LINK TO LISTEN TO KAREN ASHMORE GIVE AN UPDATE ON HAITI:Karen Ashmore
31 Jul
INTERVIEW WITH GAP FAMILY BLOG
Posted in author interview,books coming soon from Guardian Angel Publishing,GAP children’s authors,guardian angel publishing,Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle,My Sister is My Best Friend,Nicole Weaver | 12:00 AM | by Cheryl
Joining us today is author Nicole Weaver. Nicole was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. She moved to the United States when she was ten years old. She is fluent in four languages and is a high school teacher. We’ll talk to Nicole about her writing, the book she self-published, and her book under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing.
Welcome to the GAP Family Blog, Nicole. It’s wonderful to have you with us. Can you start by telling our readers a bit about you and your writing?
I am Haitian American, who came to the United States when I was ten years old. I lived in New York, and after college I moved to Houston, Texas. I met my husband, married, and then moved to Colorado. I have three children who are 22, 20 and 14. My daughter Michele will be a junior in college and Jean-Paul my oldest just finished a dance program affiliated with Dominican University. Luc will be a sophomore in high school in the fall. I am a full time high school French and Spanish teacher. I took up writing as a hobby. A close friend of mine talked me into attending a writer’s conference with her. The conference infused me with enough confidence to venture out and write my first children’s picture book manuscript.
What is it that inspired you to pursue a career in writing?
I love spending a lot of time in the children’s section of my local library reading new releases. I became quite discouraged to see so few books about children of color. After reading Embracing Your Second Calling by Dale Bourke, I am convinced God is calling me to write books that will portray children of color in a positive light. I do the bulk of my writing during the summer months while I am on vacation from teaching.
Let’s talk about Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle. You self-published this book using Outskirts Press. Can you share what that experience was like?
This is a very touchy subject for me, but I am glad you asked the question. I did not like the experience at all. It was very frustrating working with my so called author representative. Many mistakes were made during production of the book. If I had to do it again, I would not go down that road. Discouragement from too many rejections got the better of me. I became too anxious and succumbed to self-publishing my book. Overall, there is a very negative sentiment toward authors who self-publish. All I can say is I am so very happy to have my second book published the traditional way. I am thrilled beyond words. This was a confirmation from God this is indeed what He wants me to do as a second career.
Marie and Her Friend the Sea Turtle is written in English, French, and Spanish. I’ve seen several bi-lingual books, but not many tri-lingual books. Why did you choose to write this book in three languages?
I am fluent in four languages, and I know from firsthand experience that a child’s brain is wired to learn languages through immersion. The younger you are the easier it is for you to master the language. I figured it would be a good idea to have all three languages side by side on each page. I have received a lot of positive feedback from parents. One parent told me after reading my book to her daughter, her daughter wanted to learn both French and Spanish. Fortunately, in Colorado we have a slew of Immersion schools. The child now attends an immersion school where she is learning both languages.
In addition to your children’s book, you’ve written poetry that has won awards. Can you tell us about this aspect of your work?
In 2005 I entered a poetry contest sponsored by my local library. I entered the contest just for fun. I never dreamed I would win first prize. I have several pieces that have been published in my church’s journal. I still write a lot of poetry, it is very therapeutic for me. I hope to publish a book of poetry someday. But for now, I have included some of my poems in my memoir.
How did you become involved with Guardian Angel Publishing?
Donna McDine did a review for my newly published picture book. I saw the GAP emblem on her blog. The name Guardian Angel caught my attention, so I decided to check out their website to learn more about the company. I liked what I read about GAP and made the decision to submit my manuscript to Lynda. After a few revisions she offered me a contract.
What is your book about and when will it be released?
My book is called My Sister is My Best Friend. It is about two twin sisters who do everything together. The script is in English, French and Spanish. I got inspired to write the book after I met my half sister from my father’s side. Meeting her left me wondering what it would have been like to grow up with her. My imagination went to work full time and that is how I came up with the script. I do not know the exact time and date when the book will be released. I can only estimate that it will be late 2010 or early 2011. When I first signed the contract Lynda informed me her books are usually published between 9-12 months. I am keeping my fingers cross.
What are you working on now?
I am working on my memoir and a second children’s picture book. A group of Black editors from London invited me to submit work for a book that will be launched on August 13th, 2010. All the proceeds from the book will go to the Lambi Fund of Haiti for earthquake relief. I have one short story and a poem that will be published. Four out of six students who submitted work from my French class will get published too. I am really excited about this opportunity. Once the book is released the local media in Denver will be interviewing me and my students.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
I tell aspiring writers to never give up. Writing is like learning a foreign language the more you practice the better you will get at it.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Thank you Cheryl for interviewing me.
Thank you to Lynda for making my dreams come true by giving me a contract. Last but not least, a big thank you goes to all of the Angels, you all are the very best!
Thanks for being with us today, Nicole. We enjoyed learning more about you. Good luck with your writing.
You can visit Nicole online at http://www.authorsden.com/nicoleweaver
31 Jul
BASIC GREETINGS IN FRENCH
Bonjour!
Salut ! Ça va?
Ça va très bien, merci.
Comment t’appelles-tu?
Je m’appelle ( Name) _____.
Quel âge as-tu?
J’ai (number) ______ans.
Moi, j’ai (number) _____ ans.
Merci, à bientôt!
au revoir!
Matching
__1. Au revoir! A. What is your name
__2. Bonjour. B. Delighted/ Nice to meet you
__3. Enchanté(e) C. My name is
__4. Comment vousappellez-vous D. See you tomorrow
__5. Je m’appelle E. Good-bye
__6. Á demain F. Hello
_____ Enchanté, Marie. Je m’appelle Henri.
_____ Bonjour. Je m’appelle Marie.
_____ Comment vous appellez-vous?
_____ Au revoir Henri.
The Formal form is used to speak to someone you do not call by first name.
Answering
- Je vais bien (I am fine)
- Bien, merci (Fine, thanks)
- Bien, et vous? (Fine, and you?)
- Je vais bien merci, et vous? (I am fine thank you, and you?).
27 Jul
SOUP WITH DUMPLINGS
I make this soup all the time. My children simply love this great soup. I believe your newly adopted little one will be very thankful for this wonderful, flavorful soup.
1 bunch fresh spinach
1 lb of beef stew meat
1 onion
1 bunch fresh watercress
3 to 4 potatoes
3 to 4 carrots
3cloves garlic
1/2 -1 teaspoon sea salt
32ozs can of beef broth
Cut up the stew meat into bite size pieces
add some oil to the pot
chop onion and garlic
saute the meat onion/garlic
add the sea salt
add half the broth, let simmer slowly until meat is tender
add chopped carrots, potatoes
remove stems from spinach and watercress, chop into small pieces
add the spinach and watercress, let simmer until carrots and potatoes are cooked
TO MAKE DUMPLINGS:
2 cups all purpose white flour
add a pinch of salt
add enough water to make a sticky paste
form a small round clump, add each clump to soup
add the remaining broth plus a cup of water, let simmer until dumplings are completely cooked
Some Haitians add green plantains, but I prefer the soup without them.
You can also substitute the beef for chicken
22 Jul
HOW TO STUDY A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Some great tools to help facilitate learning a foreign language.
Did you know that learning a foreign language is not difficult if you go about it by accepting a recognized set of habits? Firstly, we all learned our native language quite naturally. We listened to other people and copied what they said. By doing this over and over again, we eventually built a set of habits which enabled us to speak our native language with ease. The learning of a foreign language is based on the same principle. Such study requires some steady work for a few minutes each day, taking into account the following hints which facilitate working more efficiently.
Hint #1- YOU MUST LEARN TO LISTEN AND IMITATE
You are faced with the same task that you did as children learning your native language. since you know one language, you can be told how the new language is put together, how it works, and how it is different from yours; these directions can speed the learning of a language. Here are some concrete examples I use with my high school students. I teach both French and Spanish. Both languages are Romance languages which means they have the same root(Latin). Primary goal is help students learn in a way that is very personal to them, that way they will remember the information a lot better. In English we have subject pronouns and their function is to replace a noun. The same is true for both French and Spanish. The subject pronoun “I” is used to speak about yourself. I am Nicole, Je suis Nicole, Yo soy Nicole. The translation for I in French is JE, for Spanish YO. The students quickly learn to imitate me by saying Je suis/ Yo soy to describe themselves.
Hint#2- YOU MUST MEMORIZE
A language is a set of skills to be acquired; you don’t learn a skill by “THINKING” but by practicing over and over again. That is why people who actually go and live in the country where the language is spoken is able to speed up their learning considerably. They are put in a situation where they are forced to speak therefore they are actually practicing the language over and over again. I came to the United states when I was ten years old. I did not speak one word of English, but after six months living in New York I became very fluent.
Hint# 3- STUDY ALOUD
It is not good enough to memorize the new material just by reading it over silently; you should read it and study it aloud. This will improve the pronunciation as well as the retention of the material.
Hint#4- YOU NEED TO THINK
Because you are now more mature than when you were a child learning your own language, you have the advantage of being able to analyze the materials you are studying. You will discover, for example, the way your second language changes endings, and start making your own observations and rules accordingly. This can speed up your learning considerably.
Many people complain about not being able to utter one word of the language they learned in school. Why is that? I believe it is because most teachers do not put enough emphasis on the speaking part. There are four major skills that relates to language learning. They are speaking, writing, reading and listening. What are the most important skills to master if you want to speak the language? In my opinion, listening and speaking. Before you can speak you have to be a good listener so you can learn to imitate. As you master the skills of speaking and listening you can now move toward perfecting the reading and writing skills. After having been in the Uniteds for six months, I excelled in speaking English, but struggled with my writing and reading. You always hear how it is very important for parents to read to young children. The reason is because children learn to imitate as they sharpen their listening skills. By doing this over and over again, children eventually learn how to speak. Pretty cool stuff!!
My passion for the past twenty four years has been teaching French and spanish to mostly middle and high school students. I have used the above suggestions with my students and were able to obtain some outstanding results. Though I am still teaching in the high school and middle school I am now wanting to go a different direction. I want to direct my energy toward reaching younger children. That is why I wrote my first picture book in the three languages:English/French/spanish. The very first books I read when I first came to the United states were the Curious George series. I loved those books. My older sisters read those books to me at least a trillion times. After I learned to read English I started reading the books to my dolls pretending to be the bigger sister.
I believe my newly published picture book is a great resource for any parent who wants his or her child to be exposed to French or Spanish. Why the two languages? Why not? Children’s minds are like sponges. Both French and Spanish are romance languages thus have the same grammatical structures. Since the script is side by side, it is quite simple to compare words and the translation. Believe it or not, there are many cognates in French and spanish that are very similar to English. This can be a very fun way for children and adults to learn about another language and culture.
22 Jul
THE ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING FRENCH AND SPANISH
Did you know that over half the words in the English language originated from Latin. In specialized areas such as cuisine and clothing there are hundreds of French words found in English. French and Spanish are both romance languages and have their roots in Latin. It would make sense that either French or Spanish would be a language of choice to study since both languages have Latin roots just like English. English, French and Spanish share many cognates. There are thousand s of English words that have Latin origins and closely resemble words in French and Spanish.
It would be easy for many students studying French and Spanish to do well since English/ French and Spanish share many of the same cognates. The words in the new language could be looked upon as a very handy tool for learning and recognizing unfamiliar or unknown words in their own language. It is very clear that the study of both French and Spanish offers a tremendous asset in developing a richer and more advanced English vocabulary. Here are some examples.
Latin /Spanish Derivative /French derivative/ English Equivalent
Amicus/ Amigo/ Ami /Amicable, friend
Numerous/ Numero /Numéro/ Number
Bonus/ Bueno/ Bon /Good, bonus
Veritas /verdad /Vérité /Truth, veritable
Magister/ Maestro /Maitre/ Magisterial, teacher
Avarus /Avaro /Avare /Avaricious, greedy
Oculus /Ojo/ Oeil /Ocular, eye
I believe as a nation if we want to remain competitive in an ever changing global world, we must change our priorities. Football players and actors earn millions of dollars; yet as a nation we can’t finance early childhood education properly. There is compelling evidence that the earlier a child is exposed to a new language the easier it is for that child to master that language. Foreign language study should be available for all children starting with first grade. In Austria, a student must have eight years of instruction in a modern or classical foreign language before being admitted to a university. It is not unusual for students in Sweden to have taken nine years of English before high school. Even a country like Egypt, requires six years of English study. Here in the united states less than 8 percent of our colleges have a foreign –language entrance requirement. We are the only country where one can graduate from some colleges without having studied a foreign language prior to or during the college years.
The benefits of expanding one’s horizons by becoming fluent in a second language are numerous. It is truly very rewarding to be able to communicate directly and comfortably with other people, I know of no greater joy than that. I have been called to a mission, that mission is to inspire others to be open to learning a new language.
22 Jul
THE ROLE OF SELF-ESTEEM IN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Ever wonder why it is so very easy for a young child to master a new language? It is because children are not easily intimidated, they are eager to learn and most importantly they do not care if they make mistakes. This carefree attitude is essential for language acquisition. Learning a new language requires a certain amount of risk taking. Not everyone feels comfortable speaking in front of other people, especially strangers. The learning environment has to be a place that is conducive to risk taking. It is the responsibility of the instructor to determine how he or she will make the classroom a safe place for all learners to feel comfortable and welcomed.
Once a student feels comfortable he or she can thus begin to open up so he or she can start the process of acquiring the skills necessary to learn how to speak the language. Since language is a set of skills to be acquired; the student must be given ample opportunities to practice over and over again. That is why chain drills are very important. Before long, the student will develop a huge sense of accomplishment, and with that comes the building up of his/her self-esteem.
I have had students who flatly refused to participate in the chain drill activities. They reasoned that they do not want to make a fool of themselves. Consequently, the students in question failed the class and ended up dropping it at the end of first semester. What I learned from these situations is that students with low self-esteem are too afraid to make mistakes; they are usually very shy and keep to themselves.
Early on in my teaching career, I was able to achieve great successes with the students who were risk takers; most of these students had very high self-esteem. They had achieved a high degree o f success in other areas, so it was easy for them to apply that in my class too. High self-esteem and desire to learn goes hand in hand, you can’t have one without the other. Both are essential for acquiring the skills necessary to learn a new language.
22 Jul
BEST WAY TO ACHIEVE ORAL PROFICIENCY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
How many times do you hear people say, “I studied this or that language for two years but I can’t speak a word of it.” I would like to share some thoughts on this subject. The artificial classroom scene is not an ideal place to master a second language. Most people feel very unsure and even foolish because they have to give up the security of their native tongue in order to learn the new language. Additionally, people may suffer a huge blow to their self-esteem which can make it even more difficult to learn the new language. How do you overcome these obstacles? It is not good enough to simply memorize vocabulary, verbs and such, it is more important for the language experience to be as real as possible. The best way to accomplish this is through active meaningful oral work. Oral work should consist of exchange of ideas, experiences and emotions.
I have been able to achieve great success with my students by providing them with meaningful experiences through active speaking. This is done through chain drills one of the most useful ways to teach new learners how to communicate effectively. The goal is to give the student ample opportunities to engage in conversation that he or she can relate to. Every topic being covered can easily be adopted in a meaningful way. Here are some examples:
GREETINGS-
Teacher is not dominating the procedure, students are required to answer a question, and then that student turns to his or her neighbor and asks the same question. Je m’appelle Nicole. Et toi, comment t’appelles tu?-My name is Nicole. And you, what is your name? This continues until everyone has had a turn. This exercise may seem very childish and simplistic, but is very effective because the student is exchanging personal information.
FOOD ITEMS:
Everyone loves to eat; the same kind of drill can be used to foster oral proficiency. Students can thus bring in pictures of their favorite foods.
Lastly, the language experience should model real life experience as much as possible. After all, we all learned our native tongue quite naturally by learning how to speak first.
