001 - Bienvenido a El Delfín que Escucha
In this episode Señora Condon explains students how second language acquisition works in the human brain, and introduces this new pod cast to help them improve their proficiency level with listening interactions
TRANSCRIPT
Hola y Bienvenido a el Delfín que Escucha, the Listening Dolphin. This is a podcast made especially for you, my Spanish Student at AOS to help you acquire Spanish through comprehensible listening interactions, in other words, through stories that you can easily understand. As you LISTEN and comprehend this podcast you will be able to increase your Spanish vocabulary and more importantly progress in your level of proficiency. Learning a new language can be very intimidating for many and this can sometimes lead to the wrong idea that: I'm not good at languages. Good news is that it is just a myth. Research shows that the brain is capable of acquiring a second language in similar ways in which you acquired your first language. T
That means that my job as your teacher is to provide you with an incredible amount of comprehensible input (meaning. You easily understand) and compelling (meaning it is interesting and fun). This looks vastly different than a traditional Spanish classroom with rules and vocabulary that can be memorized and transformed into language.
However, language is NOT learned like the content in math class or history class or science class. Language for communication is a skill. Skills aren’t really “learned” but rather “acquired” over time. Like learning how to ride a bicycle. You can’t read rules about how to put a bike together and then suddenly expect to be able to ride it! So, while it is possible to “learn” a bunch of grammar rules and while it is possible to “learn” a bunch of vocabulary, your brain won’t really be able to process any of that data spontaneously (in other words, automatically, easily, naturally). That won’t be possible until it is “acquired” or “wired” into the language centers in your brain.
The stories in this podcast will be told in a simple Spanish, and at a slow pace in order to facilitate your comprehension. There will be different topics, from family life, to vacation , pets, school, celebrities and many others. Sometimes I might tell an interesting short story. Each episode will be between 4-6 minutes long, just enough to get your attention focused and your brain engaged to wire in the information
SO! Whether Spanish is easy for you or difficult for you, stick with it (in other words, continue, don’t stop, don’t give up!), but look for the comprehensible input that meets your needs. This podcast aimes at that, to help you train your ear and brain to process language without seeing written words and pictures or video images. Ride along with me and make el Delfín que Escucha a useful companion for your Spanish journey.
