Note: These notes are my own and not in any way sanctioned by the professor or by Foothill College. Just some things I put together that may be of use to others.
Steve Gehlbach
Spanish 5
Foothill College
10-12:50 Tues Thurs
11-11:50 Fri
Winter 2008
Professor: Elvira Coffin (click to reach Prof. Coffin's site at foothill.edu)
Office: 6040
Office hours: Tue-Thur 7:00-7:30 & 1:25-2:00; Fri 9:00-11:00
About the CDs for the Cuaderno de Actividades
The CD that comes in the packet with Mundo 21 and the Cuaderno de Activades is unfortunately not the CD needed for the Cuaderno. You can find the CDs that you need in the Language Lab, but they must be used in the lab (or you can surreptitiously copy them with your laptop). There are actually 11 CDs that cover the entire Cuaderno. If you are unable to make your own copies, and have some spare cash, you can buy these at the bookstore, or online at Student Lab Audio CDs (around $60 with shipping). But a better method that I have found is to use the audio material on-line. You can do this at Quia Books. This is really an on-line course for the Cuaderno, made to have the results sent to a professor, but you can select "Free Study" and just work it for yourself. This is what I am doing, and I find it more convenient than the CDs. I just copy my results to the workbook. The cost is around $45.
Some useful links for learning Spanish:
- WordReference.com- Useful for looking up words in Spanish. Some words have audio pronunciation guides. WordReference.com also has two useful additional items:
- Verb Conjugation- Type in any Spanish verb here and it will conjugate it for you
- Word Reference Forums- These forums are really useful for checking phrases and translations using the excellent help of native speakers.
- SpanishDict.com- Useful for looking up words in Spanish and has word completion which is useful for finding words you cannot spell. All the words seem to have audio pronunciation guides.
- Yahoo Spanish-English Dictionary- Useful for looking up words in Spanish. All words have audio pronunciation guides.
- Dictionary.com translator- Useful for translating blocks of text when you don't have a clue. Keep in mind that the translator does not consider context, so most translations are pretty poor.
- AltaVista Babel Fish Translator- Useful for translating blocks of text when you don't have a clue. Same caveat as above applies- not very good, don't use it for homework!
- Typing Foreign Characters PC/Mac- Useful information about typing foreign characters, such as ñ or é, on a PC or a Mac. The Mac has the capability built in, but the PC needs the International Keyboard setup. See the link at the very bottom right about setting up the International Keyboard on the PC. Here is another link that has some additional information about special characters on the various operating systems.
Hispanic Countries:
Below are the 20 hispanic countries with links to Wikipedia information pages about the country (in Spanish).| Países de Hispanoamérica | Nacionalidad | Capital |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | argentino/a | Buenos Aires |
| Bolivia | boliviano/a | La Paz |
| Chile | chileno/a | Santiago |
| Colombia | colombiano/a | Bogotá |
| Costa Rica | costarricense | San José |
| Cuba | cubano/a | Ciudad de La Habana |
| Ecuador | ecuatoriano/a | Quito |
| El Salvador | salvadoreño/a | San Salvador |
| España | español/a | Madrid |
| Guatemala | guatemalteco/a | Ciudad de Guatemala |
| Honduras | hondureño/a | Tegucigalpa |
| México | mexicano/a | Ciudad de México |
| Nicaragua | nicaragüense | Managua |
| Panamá | panameño/a | Ciudad de Panama |
| Paraguay | paraguayo/a | Asunción |
| Perú | peruano/a | Lima |
| Puerto Rico | puertorriqueño/a | San Juan |
| República Dominicana | dominicano/a | Santo Domingo |
| Uruguay | uruguayo/a | Montevideo |
| Venezuela | venezolano/a | Caracas |
Please email me if you find errors on this page, or dead links. ( steve-nospam@kesa.com, remove the -nospam).