Mtn Spanish Summer 2014 Vol. 1, No.1

¡Bienvenidos!

• Vocabulary theme is food.
• Cultural theme is José Guadalupe Posada.
• Grammar focus 1: the difference between mucho y muy.
• Grammar focus 2: -ar forms of the preterit tense.

In this issue you will find: 

1. Tutorial and practice activities for the differences between mucho and muy.
2. 2 listening comprehension activities
3. 2 videos practice with comprehension activities.
4. Introduction to the past tense: the forms of the preterit.
5. A reading comprehension activity

I. ¿Mucho o muy?

These words are both used to emphasize and quantify. However, they are NOT interchangeable and have distinct uses.

José Guadalupe Posada es un artista mexicano con mucho talento.
José Guadalupe Posada es un artista muy talentoso.
Hay muchos dibujos políticos.
Muchos de los dibujos son políticos.
Los dibujos, a veces, son muy políticos.
Me gustan mucho los dibujos.
José Guadalupe Posada trabajaba mucho.
  Era muy prolífico.
Su arte era muy conocido.
Dibujaba muy precisamente.

Click here to learn more about José Guadalupe Posada and his art.

Consider the following

José Guadalupe Posada es un artista mexicano con mucho talento.	a lot Used before a noun to emphasize quantity.
José Guadalupe Posada es un artista muy talentoso.	very Used before a describing word (adjective) to emphasize that quality.
Hay muchos dibujos políticos.	a lot Used before a noun to emphasize quantity.
Muchos de los dibujos son políticos.	many Used as a pronoun.
Los dibujos, a veces, son muy políticos.	very Used before a describing word (adjective) to emphasize that quality.
Me gustan mucho los dibujos	a lot, very much Used after a verb to emphasize the action.
José Guadalupe Posada trabajaba mucho.	a lot, very much Used after a verb to emphasize the action.
Era muy prolífico.	very Used before a describing word (adjective) to emphasize that quality.
Su arte era muy conocido.	very Used before a describing word (adjective) to emphasize that quality.
Dibujaba muy precisamente.	very Used before a describing word (adverb) to emphasize that quality.

View the video to hear and see an explanation.

II. Listening comprehension 1: Regional Foods of Mexico

III. Listening Comprehension II: Planear una fiesta

Listening comprehension activity.

IV. Video 1 Las recetas de Clara: Los aborrajados, parte 1

Video comprehension quiz

Video 1 Las recetas de Clara: Los aborrajados, parte 2

Video comprehension quiz

VI Introduction to Preterit forms-ar Verbs

Instead of reinventing the wheel (or rather the video in this case), I will let Señor Jordan explain to you the forms of -ar verbs in the preterit tense.  In Spanish, there are 2 past tense conjugations.  The preterit and the imperfect.  We will start with the preterit and move into the imperfect as the summer progresses.  

Practice preterit forms of -ar verbs

VII Reading Comprehension

Tips for reading in Spanish

• Read the section headings first.  
• Rely on cognates (words that are similar to English words: photograph-fotografía) There are false cognates, but for the most part this strategy is useful.
• Don't stop at every unfamiliar word.  Try and read at least an entire paragraph, section or even the whole article to get the main idea.

Antes de leer--complete this vocabulary activity before reading the article.

Read "Una guia a todo color para comer siete frutas o verduras al díá" (BBC MUNDO)

Reading comprehension quiz