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Argentine Graffiti Tags
More specifically this is Argentine graffiti. I thought it would be interesting for Spanish learners to look at some Spanish graffiti. Here is a look at the graffiti scene in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These photos focus literally on the message of the graffiti not the artistry. Those who have visited Buenos Aires have probably noticed the huge graffiti, or street art, scene in the city. Not only can you find great artistic pieces, but you will see a lot of tags and messages. Some of the messages are political and social, others are about football or just straight-up text messages like: Feliz cumpleaños or Te amo! There is not shortage of…
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Online ESL Games
It is important to have some online ESL games ready to play in case your students get bored, or you get bored or you just need to change the dynamic of class. They are also great for group classes. In group classes you can get your students to interact and use the language while you just monitor. These English games can be played in face to face classes as well as online classes.
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Beginner to Advanced Books for English Learners
Here are some English books that I recommend to my students to read. Many of these books are classics and required reading in Canadian schools. Chances are you will be familiar with a lot of the names here. This list is a good mixture of Canadian, American and British books. Many of these books belong to the public domain and can be found online for free (Literaure Project, Project Gutenberg, goodreads and feedbooks). English learners should choose a book that corresponds with their level. Read more
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Spanish Word of the Day
There are several websites that do a Spanish word of the day. If you subscribe to them you will recieve in your email a new word everyday until you unsubscribe. Most of the sites provide a definition and some sentences to go along with the word…read more
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Making Spanish Flashcards
Making flashcards may seem like an old-school idea (and it is), if you are studying with another person real flashcards are really useful to help you remember vocabulary. BUT they can also be made digitally through a variety of websites and apps. I always encourage my English students to keep a notebook with them at all times, this way they can write down new words and phrases they see during their normal day and then study them at night or whenever. You can then take these words and make your own digital flashcards.
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Where to Buy Spanish Textbooks in Buenos Aires
If you are interested in studying Spanish while you are in Buenos Aires you should consider getting a textbook from the University of Buenos Aires. The textbooks are used by the Spanish program at the university and are great. They focus on Argentine society and culture and will really help you identify with and speak like the Argentines. I took a Spanish class here and found it really beneficial (more information can be found here). If you don’t want to take a class you can still buy the book and study it by yourself or with a private teacher.
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What Does an Online English Teacher Teach?
A good teacher always has a plan. Many online teaching companies have lessons already prepared, you just need to assign them to your students. Other companies want you to prepare your own material. If you have private students they are probably going to want a plan (unless they just want conversation in which case your job is a lot easier). So what plan do you have for your students? What plan do you have for the next lesson?
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The Best Free Online Resources for Learning Spanish
It is definitely true that the internet is playing a more and more important role in language learning. In my opinion you still can’t beat the old fashioned way of learning with a teacher, but there are some great online resources available for learning languages especially English and Spanish. I want to show you guys the best online Spanish resources. We will start with the free resources as many people are learning Spanish as a hobby and don’t want to spend money on something if they don’t have to. That being said there are many online courses, and teaching programs that are worth your money, but let’s start with the free…
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How to Become Fluent in Spanish
I have been studying Spanish since May 2010, that’s 4 and a half years. Back then I didn’t know that the C on the tap meant ‘caliente’. I now consider myself fluent because I can speak Spanish easily and accurately. I don’t speak perfectly, I have a strong Canadian accent and I still make mistakes. That being said, I feel comfortable speaking the language. Here is how I got to this point. Read more
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The Benefits of Teaching English Online
Why Teach English Online? After teaching English for almost 5 years, I have made many friends that also teach English. However, I am the only one that teaches online. Many of my friends are happy with their jobs, working 20-30 hours per week, they don’t want to teach online or they have private students on top of their regular teaching job and don’t want to spend any more of their free time teaching. If you can find the right company one of the best things about teaching online is that you can do it between classes. Right now I am only teaching online in the afternoon from 12-5pm. But the…
