Hola Reader

In this email, I am going to cover the following:

1. Status with download information for the first of eight teleclasses. 2. Tip for learning Spanish for anyone living in a Spanish-speaking country

1. STATUS WITH DOWNLOAD LINK FOR THE TELECLASS

Wednesday night, we had our first of eight LIVE interactive teleclasses for the people who purchased the Verbarrator during the pre-launch.

The first class covered the Present Tense.

Only the people who purchased the Verbarrtor during the pre-launch were able to attend LIVE. The service that we used for the teleclass also has a feature that allowed the students to submit their questions to Pamela (our instructor) before the class AND during the class in real time.

I want to make the recording of the class available to everyone because I think our instructor for the class, Pamela, gave some very helpful information about conjugating Spanish verbs in the present tense.

Our programmer is preparing a web page where everyone can download a recording of the class and I should have that ready for you by Monday.

2. TIP FOR LEARNING SPANISH FOR ANYONE LIVING IN A SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRY

A few days ago, I received an interesting email from a reader:

“Hola Patrick, I live in Mexico and I am an English professor here. Most of my friends are native English-speakers who teach English here in Mexico. My wife is also an American who teaches English here in Mexico. So even though I live in Mexico I don’t have as many opportunities to speak the language as most people would think. When it comes to Spanish grammar, I consider myself on a very advanced level. But I’d like to improve my Spanish conversational skills. I consider myself too advanced to take Spanish classes. Do you have any suggestions?”

One way to improve your Spanish speaking skills is to interact with two (2) or more native Spanish speakers. That way, you will hear not only how they speak to you — but also how they speak to each other.

Sometimes Spanish-speakers will speak to someone who is learning Spanish different from the way they’d speak to a native Spanish speaker. I do this all the time when speaking to someone who doesn’t speak English well — for example, when speaking to a tourist in New York who is asking for directions.

Speaking that way may be very helpful for beginners. But for someone on an advanced level or for someone who wants to accelerate their learning, this may not be quite as helpful.

My advice to that reader is to take some kind of group class in Mexico. He needs to interact more with native Spanish speakers.

One thing that I have noticed about Latin America (or at least in Colombia) people tend to watch less television than Gringos (except for the “mujeres” who like to watch the “novelas”). In Medell?n, Colombia it is very common for people to take group classes (instead of staying home watching TV). What kind of group classes?

As I mentioned in a previous email, I am taking group classes for Salsa and Merengue dancing. But there are also group classes in Medell?n, Colombia for almost any hobby that you can imagine. Here’s a short list:

1. Escuelas de baile (dance) 2. Escuelas de ajedrez (chess) 3. Escuelas de artesan?as (arts & crafts) 4. Escuelas de buceo (scuba diving) 5. Escuelas de cine (film) 6. Escuelas de dibujo (drawing) 7. Escuelas de culinaria/cocina/gastronom?a (cooking) 8. Escuelas de pintura (painting) 9. Escuelas de yoga (yoga) 10. Escuelas de yudo (judo) 11. Escuelas de patinaje (skating) 12. Escuelas de f?tbol (soccer) 13. Escuelas de fotograf?a (photography) 14. Escuelas de idiomas (languages) 15. Escuelas de nataci?n (swimming) 16. Escuelas de m?sica (music) 17, Escuelas de joyer?a (jewelry) 18. Escuelas de masajes (massage) 19. Escuelas de meditaci?n (meditation) 20. Escuelas de tejidos (knitting) 21. Escuelas de tenis (tennis) 22. Escuelas de artes gr?ficas (graphic arts) 23. Escuelas de artes dram?tico (dramatic arts) 24. Escuelas de karate (karate) 25. Escuelas de panader?a (baking)

Un amigo m?o - a friend of mine - here in Medellin recently invited me to check out a very interesting group class that he attends: Jujutsu Brasile?o (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)

There’s another way you can interact with groups of native Spanish speakers if you live in Latin America. I am almost too embarrassed to mention this one. That’s because it is one of my New Year’s Resolutions and we are now in March and I have not done anything about it. I am talking about: trabajo voluntario (volunteer work)

Ofrezca sus servicios — offer your services — to a “caridad” (charity) or some chartible cause. Here in Medell?n there are opportunities to work with a “hospital infantil” (children’s hospital) and an “orfanato” (orphanage).

Not only is this an effective way to quickly improve your Spanish, but it is also allows us to help charitable causes.

That’s it for today. By the way, if you don’t already have a copy of LSLC Level One here’s the link where you can find out more:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/offer.html

And here’s the link to find out more about LSLC Nivel Dos:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy2 .com/

Nos vemos

Patrick Jackson

Patrick Jackson 481 Main Street, Ste 303, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA