Friday, October 19, 2007

Why I Love Teaching



I love teaching because I love the kids, I love the language, I love sharing my passion for it all .... and because I just can't make this stuff up.

On the midterm this week, the students had to define the word "antepasado," which means "ancestor."

One student wrote:

El antepasado - "El antepasado es una comida muy deliciosa."

I guess he was confusing it with antipasto?

I don't know, but it made my week. (Maybe I'm just tired and a little punchy after grading all those midterms?)

Thursday, October 18, 2007

BBC Mundo Interview

I was so thrilled by BBC Mundo's "¿Hablas español?" project that I blogged about it several times, and wrote them a number of messages and comments along their route.

It turns out that one of my main comments (and the main focus of many of my blog posts, my videos, my teaching, my writing, and my mission in general) - that Spanish is no longer a foreign language in the United States - became the main slogan or theme of their trip.

So I was delighted when José Baig, the coordinator of the project, wrote to me and asked if he could interview me about teaching Spanish in the United States.

Here's the result ....

And you can now continue to follow José's observations on the impact of Spanish in the English-speaking world, on the BBC Mundo "¿Hablas español?" blog.

José says they will be returning to the United States next year for a "¿Tú también hablas español?" tour. I'm looking forward to meeting them this time!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

¡¡¡ Maná at Madison Square Garden !!!!

AMAZING concert ....

.... and what an opening!





When the wall exploded, the Garden went wild.

(This video is from the Chicago concert.)

These guys have been around for over 20 years (really, almost 30), and I'm so glad they've stuck together. They just keep getting better and better.