¿De dónde vienen mis cosas y adónde van?

Hola a todos! As many of you go about your holiday shopping, I just thought I'd take this opportunity to encourage you to reflect on how we as US consumers are part of a greater, global economy. This video about where stuff comes from, how it's processed and where it ends up illustrates just how far reaching the consequences of purchasing lots of "stuff" can be for others and ourselves. Our consumerism feeds into a lot of the problems facing developing countries in central and south america such as child labor, toxic pollution, mass migration from rural communities that can no longer sustain themselves due to loss of resources to huge cities to find any available work to ensure survival, etc. Many kids your age and younger are working 12 or more hours a day in factories making products for developed nations like ours. This video is about 20 minutes long so make sure you have enough time to view in full. (Here's the link in case you wish to view it in a larger format (recommended!) http://www.storyofstuff.com/ ) I think you'll find it an interesting and worthwhile viewing. It is my hope that you'll approach your holiday shopping with more international-mindedness and with a greater sense of your global responsibility. Perhaps this season nature your creative side instead of your consumer side and make your own holiday gifts. At the very least, use your purchasing power with an increased awareness of the individuals, communities, environments and economies around the world that might have been impacted in the making of whatver "stuff" you buy. Reflejen y piensen en el poder que tienen para crear cambio en el mundo. ¡Felices fiestas!

Humor con verbos...

Here's that joke I told you about. It's much more amusing in the original Spanish than it seemed to be when I related it to you in English... Obviously, something is lost in translation; it couldn't possibly be that I'm just not that funny.

decir/dice = to say or tell/ she says
gritar/gritando = to yell/yelling
dime = give me
a lo cual = to which

En clase le dice la profesora a Jaimito:
-- A ver, Jaimito. Dime el presente de indicativo del verbo nadar.
A lo cual responde el niño gritando:-
-- YO NADO, TU NADAS, EL NADA...
-- Jaimito, más bajo, más bajo...
-- Yo buceo, tú buceas, él bucea...

¿Cómo eres? Un ‘test’ de personalidad

Click on this link for an artistic look at your personality. For you AbInitios, keep a window open to Word Reference because these descriptions are completamente en espanol!

¡Sí se puede!

Just for you, Amalia!

These tortugas hatch underground from eggs and them squirm to the surface. Then they book-it to the high seas (in this clip they do so despite quite a large audience of gawkers who have conveniently dug them a slight trench so they can find their way more easily. It seems to be quite a large feat considering that thir heads seem to weigh more than their bodies. :)
(You can probably skip the first 1:45 of this clip.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNqKi2eUUi0&feature=related

This one is cute, too. ¡Sí se puede!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5724101698025238287

El pasillo ecuatoriano...

Here are the links for the Pasillo video clips we viewed in class. Goza de la musica ecuatoriana!

El trio de jovenes colombianos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4eqX-IEZb0&feature=related

El hombre peruano que se llama "rojasyrojas":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPUSofg2mM

...y con la guitarra muy pequena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y6dVDOq4wI&feature=related

Reserva la fecha para celebrar el Dia de los Muertos

Day of the Dead / El Dia de los Muertos es el 2 de noviembre.

If you're looking for a little diversion plan to attend the Day of the Dead celebration at the Des Moines Art Center. This is a free event from 1-4 PM. Enjoy refreshments, pan de muerto ("bread of the dead"), mariachi music, an authentic blessing dance, theatrical perofrmance, a Day of the Dead altar (la ofrenda--the offering), y mucho, mucho mas! Sera divertidisimo!!

Let me know if you plan to attend. ?Nos vemos el domingo?

Here's a great site where you can learn more about this dia festivo and view photographs of various aspects of the celebration. http://www.dayofthedead.com/

Conexión: el arte

When you finish with shoes, consider this: What can a herd of cows say about culture?

CowParade began in Zurich Switzerland about 10 years ago and is an event and exhibit that occurs in major cities around the world. Cow Parade is considered the world’s largest public art exhibit. Artists and non-professional artists (i.e. President Bush) are invited to the CowParade City to develop a concept for and paint a cow. The canvas? A life-size cow made out of fiberglass. A shiny, white, bovine form. Once painted, the cows are then proudly put on display in the streets of the city and are auctioned to patrons to raise money for various charities and causes.

October 18th marked the beginning of CowParade in Madrid. [CowParade Madrid homepage: http://www.cowparademadrid.com/tabid/450/Default.aspx] The creation phase continues through the end of November. The exhibition phase will occur January through March when the cows will run the streets of Madrid like the bulls of Pamplona! Accidental cow tippings and lesions will temporarily grant an unlucky cow a stay in the “Cow Hospital” to receive the necessary repairs and touch-ups before returning to their post. At the end of the exhibition period, the cows are auctioned off and proceeds are directed to charitable organizations and to fund social programs. This is art for everyday people. Watch this video clip from ElPais.com to get a feel for the “studio” these artists work in and see if you can get the gist of the story. In one segment, José Cardoso addresses the question ¿Por qué una vaca?/Why a cow? and the two aspects that artists say make the cow an ideal format for this communicative art event that aims to (re)connect people to art and raise awareness and support for various social causes.
http://www.elpais.com/videos/cultura/Cow/Parade/aterriza/Madrid/elpvid/20081021elpepucul_6/Ves/ Obviously there are some major CAS hours involved in taking art to the center of a city to make it accessible to everyday people in the streets and in engaging artists in creating on a such unique canvas to raise money for social causes.

While the cow form stays the same from city to city as CowParade travels around the world, the artists encounter new artistic challenges each year as they try to outdo previous concepts and as they grapple with their own interpretation of the cow as a viable piece/form of art. In addition, artists are influenced and inspired by the unique cultures, customs and perspectives of each Cow City.

If just the idea of putting painted cows into industrial and urban environments isn’t intriguing enough, try taking a look at some of the bovine beauties these artists have created! This link has un montón of awesome photos of vacas from previous shows listed with their patron, artist(s), and Cow city http://www.cowparademadrid.com/tabid/471/Default.aspx
Let us know your favorite. Is it Harry Potter cow which currently resides in the residence of JK Rowling?

¿Obama o McCain en dos mil ocho?

¿Habla Obama español? En este anuncio Obama intenta ganar el apoyo de los residentes de Puerto Rico. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828fT7JjpWE

I came across this political ad on You Tube and thought some of you might enjoy watching Barack Obama speak Spanish to recruit Latino votes. In this case, he was specifically appealing to Peurtorriqueños who were able to vote in the primaries. To be fair, I did try to find an ad with McCain speaking Spanish, but was unsucessful. If anyone finds something, please post the link for us so we can compare their pronunciation and fluency. =) ¡Chau!

Poco a poco

Okay. So I'm starting to work through my blogger's block. Poco a poco I'll get more fluent with this process. It's kind of like learning another language for me. :) (Can you use emoticons in a blog?) I hope you'll give me constructive feedback about the blog. It is really more of a space for you than it is for me. So despite my hang-ups on it being aesthetic and getting the mosaic pic perfectisimo, the blog really just needs to be functional for ustedes. Post your comments ahora! on how I can better organize and equip this space to serve you.

Since we're discussing functionality and utility, it might be a good time to address concerns of language use on the blog. NO, I won't always post in only Spanish, but I will a veces. Posts will be made in a "motley" ;-) of English and Spanish (and maybe a few made up words if my brain is giving out late at night...). That said, I encourage you all to incorporate as much Spanish in your posts as possible. It's a great, informal forum for practicing your Spanish and applying the language you are learning in class in authentic, meaningful contexts. Interact with your companeros afuera de la clase, practica your language skills, escribe en espanol, watch Grover on you tube to learn about prepositions.....   

Bienvenidos!

Hola. Me llamo Sra. Fredregill y soy maestra de espanol en el programa de BI en Central Academy. Este blog es para mis estudiantes en los cursos ab initio y BI. Espero que ustedes puedan usar este sitio para conversar con sus amigos de BI, encontrar informacion sobre los cursos y buscar informacion util en los enlaces. Buena suerte con sus estudios!