ELEMENTARY CLASS, AUTUMN 2021, CLASS 1

 In our first class, we got to know one another by asking the questions from page 1.

¿Cómo te llamas? - What is your name?

¿Cuántos años tienes? - What age are you?

¿De dónde eres? - where are you from?

¿Dónde vives? - Where do you live?

¿Tienes hijos? - Have you got children?

¿Estás casado/casada? - Are you married?

¿Estudias o trabajas? - Do you study or do you work?

¿En qué trabajas? - What do you do for a living?

¿Cuántas personas hay en tu familia? - How many people are there in your family?

¿Qué te gusta hacer en tu tiempo libre? - What do you like to do in your free time?

 

Some sample answers: 

Me llamo Isabel / Soy Isabel - My name is Isabel / I am Isabel

Tengo treinta años - I am 30 years of age

Soy de Madrid, en el centro de España - I am from Madrid, in the centre of Spain

Vivo en Sligo, en el noroeste de Irlanda - I live in Sligo, in the northwest of Ireland

No tengo hijos por ahora - I don’t have children for now

No estoy casada pero tengo novio - I am not married but I have a boyfriend

Soy profesora de español - I am a teacher of Spanish

Hay cinco personas en mi familia: mi madre, mi padre, mis hermanos y yo. Mis hermanos son mayores que yo. Yo soy la menor en mi familia. - There are five people in my family: my mother, my father, my siblings and I. My siblings are older than me. I am the youngest in my family. 

En mi tiempo libre me gusta leer, pasear por la playa y ver películas en plataformas como Netflix. - In my free time, I like to read, walk along the beach and watch films on platforms such as Netflix. 

Some new words we learnt from Isabel’s text. 

Maestra - teacher, normally used for primary school teacher

Barrio - area

Juntos - together

Estoy embarazada - I am pregnant

El bebé va a nacer - the baby will be born

Monto en bicicleta - i ride a bike

 

 

To wrap up, we revised the differences between SER and ESTAR

SER is used for permanent situations, such as nationality, jobs, physical appearance or personality:

Yo soy - I am 

Tú eres - You are

Él / ella es - He/she is

Nosotros somos - we are

Vosotros sois - you are

Ellos / ellas son - they are

 

ESTAR is used for temporary situations, such as feelings and locations:

Yo estoy - I am

Tú estás - You are

Él/ella está - He/she is

Nosotros estamos - we are

Vosotros estáis - You are

Ellos/ellas están - they are

PRE-INTERMEDIATE COURSE, AUTUMN 2021, CLASS 1

 Clase 1

We began with some basic revision…

I don’t remember – no recuerdo / no me acuerdo

To remember – recordar – acordarse

We revised some past tense verbs…

Hice – I did

Me quedé – I stayed

Me divertí = lo pasé bien – I had a good time

(to translate “have a good time” we never translate the word “time”)

Caminé – I walked

Conocí – I met

Viajé – I travelled

 

We practiced some basic questions…

¿Cómo te llamas?

¿Dónde vives?

¿De dónde eres?

¿En qué trabajas?

¿Qué haces en tu tiempo libre?

¿Estás casada/o?

¿Cuántas personas hay en tu familia?

 

We briefly discussed the difference between Ser and Estar

Soy maestra – Ser for professions

Estoy embarazada – Estar for temporary states

 

For homework we have to do the Ser/Estar exercise on p.6

BEGINNER COURSE, AUTUMN 2021, CLASS 1

 In our first class, we introduced ourselves and we talked briefly about our knowledge of the Spanish language and culture.

We also talked about the Spanish pronunciation and we saw some examples of words with those particular pronunciations.

“ñ” in España (Spain), uña (nail), niño (child)

“ll” in lluvia (rain), llave (key), llamar (call, ring)

“j, g” in mujer  (woman), gente (people) genio (genious)

“q” in queso (cheese) que (what)

“r, rr” in perro  (dog) borracho (drunk), ratón (mouse)

“h” in hola (hello) hielo (ice), hermano (brother)

“v” in volver  (go back, come back), volar (fly), ver (see)

“c, z” in cien (one hundred), zapato (shoe), diez (ten)

(It was also worth mentioning that we only have five sounds to the five vowels a,e,I,o,u,  unlike the vowels in the English language which there are twelve sounds).

We learnt the basic introductions and we practiced them in pairs.

Hola – hello

Buenos días – Good morning

Buenas tardes – Good afternoon / evening

Buenas noches – Good night

¿Qué tal? – How are you?

Bien, gracias. ¿y tú? – Fine, thanks. And you?

Muy bien, gracias. – I’m good, thanks.

Estoy fenomenal – I feel great

Estoy más o menos – I’m so-so

Estoy mal – I feel bad

Estoy fatal – I’m really bad

Adiós – Bye

Hasta luego- See you!

¿Cómo te llamas? – What is your name?

Me llamo Liam – My name is Liam

Encantado/encantada  – Nice to meet you

¿De dónde eres? – Where are you from?

Soy de España, ¿y tú? – I am from Spain, and you?

Soy de Irlanda – I am from Ireland

 

To conclude, we revised the numbers 1-20 in Spanish:

1.uno

2.dos

3.tres

4.cuatro

5.cinco

6.seis

7.siete

8.ocho

9.nueve

10.diez

11.once

12.doce

13.trece

14.catorce

15.quince

16.dieciséis

17.diecisiete

18.dieciocho

19.diecinueve

20.veinte

AUTUMN SPANISH COURSES, BEGIN SEPTEMBER 27TH

 New format

Spanish classes return this Autumn with a new format. We have decided to run hybrid    courses this term – this means that we will have 50% face to face classes and 50% online classes. Despite this, if someone wants to attend every class online, this is also  

something we are looking to accommodate.

Covid policy

For now, in our classroom-based classes we will ask students to wear masks and maintain social distance. We will re-evaluate this policy in October, taking into account public health advice. All of our teachers are fully vaccinated.

Location

Face to face classes will take place in IT Sligo. Online classes will be on Zoom.

Dates and times

All classes are from 7.30pm to 8.45pm. Classes begin September 27^th and end December 8^th. We will have a mid-term break for a week, the same week as schools.

Price

All courses are €120 for 10 weeks. We have a discounted rate of €100 for the unwaged – full-time students and social welfare recipients. Please contact spanishinsligo@gmail.com for this rate (please note that this is a new email address).

Queries

Email spanishinsligo@gmail.com

We have four levels available this term, as follows…

Beginners – Mondays (A1)

This is our course for absolute beginners. We will cover introductions, food, numbers, telling the time, days of the week, directions, jobs and some basic grammar. The focus will be on practical, spoken Spanish. Starts Monday, September 27^th.

Book a place here. 

Elementary – Tuesdays (high A1)

This is a course for those who have done some basic courses in the past and are looking to expand their knowledge of the Spanish language. In this course we will cover a revision of the basics, daily routine, the present tense, animals, comparatives, and the future, among other things. As always, the emphasis is on spoken, practical Spanish. Starts Tuesday, September 28^th.

Book a place here. 

Pre-Intermediate – Mondays (A2)

A course for those who have been studying for a few years and want to continue deepening their ability in Spanish. Students in this level will already be able to communicate to a certain extent in Spanish though need help with accuracy, vocabulary and fluency. Starts Monday, September 27^th.

Book a place here. 

Intermediate (B1)

Our highest level course. Students in this level can already converse in Spanish on a wide range of topics, though they need continued improvement in accuracy, vocabulary and fluency. Starts Wednesday, September 29^th.

Book a place here. 

 

EL IMPERFECTO 2 - WHAT WAS HAPPENING

This is the second blog post about the Imperfecto, the first is here - it is a good idea to study it before looking at this one.

The imperfect is a past tense that expresses the meaning of (a) a repeated action in the past (used to) and (b) what was happening - background information.

For this second usage, we often use it with the Pretérito....

eg. Cuando limpiaba la casa, mi amigo me llamó. 

                Imperfecto                                 Pretérito

When I was cleaning the house, my friend called me.

Watch the video and practice. 

Try the quizlet to practice. It is quite challenging, but a good exercise.

Another quizlet.....

IMPERFECT 1

 This blog post will introduce the Imperfect tense in Spanish. 

This tense is a past tense and has a number of different uses, but the one we are going to concentrate on today is translating the idea of "used to" - a repeated action in the past. 

There are 2 main sets of endings...

AR verbs - aba....

IR/ER verbs - ía

3 Irregular verbs.... 

ver - veía

ser - era

ir - iba

Do the Quizlet to practice. Watch the video to learn. Answers from the video below.

1. Cuando era niño, comía muchos bombones.

2. Vivíamos en Dublín.

3. Mark trabajaba en Londres.

4. Carla bebía mucho café.

IRREGULAR VERBS IN THE PAST

A lot of the irregular verbs in the Pretérito in Spanish are some of the most common verbs in the language, so it is important to learn them. 

Ir - fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron.

dar - di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron

vi - vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron. 

estar - estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos estuvisteis, estuvieron

tener - tuve, tuviste, tuvo, tuvimos, tuvisteis, tuvieron

Watch the video to learn more irregular verbs in the past....

Do the Quizlet to practice.