Now that school has ended, it's time for me to get my act together to work on my Spanish. I'm pretty good at reading and understanding what is being said, but my ability to speak is dismal right now. My last Spanish class was a literature course--I loved the class, but speaking about the theme of the book is not the same as being able to ask for directions or tell someone what happened during the day. Here's some what I've been doing to keep up my skills--I'll include more in later posts.
Telenovelas: Every weekday from 9-10 p.m., Amores Verdaderos is on Univision. Now, I haven't seen the show from the beginning so I'm a little shaky on the plot. As such, I understand what's happening in each individual scene (Victoria is cheating on her new husband Franky with the body guard, Guzmancito, on her wedding night), but I have absolutely no idea what's happening in the context of the show. So far, I know there are a lot of characters in the family, the women never go out without a lot of makeup, the FCC doesn't censor shows on Univision with much scrutiny, and that it is acceptable to roll the credits and play the theme song before the start of a commercial break.
Música: Spotify has a pretty good selection of music from Spain. They also have a charts feature that shows the top 100 or so songs in a particular country; unfortunately, the proliferation of English music has extended into the Spanish-speaking world. I also listen to NPR's great music podcast Alt Latino, which is helpful in explaining the artists and the stories behind the music.
Vocabulario: I've started making word of the day flashcards to help myself work on new vocabulary. The words have to be something I don't know and couldn't easily figure out. So far, I've learned to check (comprobar), playground (parque infantil), and shelf (estante).