6 Tools to Learn Spanish (and Other Languages) During Your Commute

6 Tools to Learn Spanish (and Other Languages) During Your Commute Sign up successful For an engaging plot line, get hooked on the Destinos Spanish soap opera series provided through  Annenberg Learner. Similarly, BBC’s mystery series “Mi Vida Loca” targets beginner Spanish speakers. Whether you listen to instructional lessons, enticing mysteries, or pop culture Spanish podcasts, you will be flooding your brain with contextualized Spanish and building your language skills. See also: 10 Cool Sites to Learn French by Podcast, Video, or Blog 2. News Sites In addition to following the news in English, find a local news station or newspaper in your target language. If you are familiar with daily news topics in English, you will be able to recognize names of culturally and politically relevant people and places. By already knowing the main concepts surrounding key people, events, and topics, you will slowly be able to translate specific words. Having trouble finding Spanish radio stations? The BBC and CNN are available in Spanish here or here. Try listening to video clips or print articles ahead of time to read during your commute alongside the English articles. 3. Radio What is a better memory tool than music? If listening to the news is too tedious for your morning commute, sing along to a Spanish radio station. The good thing about music is that lyrics repeat the same words and phrases. Many songs, regardless of language or genre, share common topics and themes. As those hit songs play again and again, you may find yourself inferring the meaning of those loving adjectives and verbs. 4. Audiobooks Listening to audiobooks is a soothing and educational way to enjoy your commute. Make the most of your audiobook experience by downloading a book you are already familiar with in English. If you know the story of “The Giver” or “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, you will pick up on vocabulary  words quickly as the plot unfolds. Better yet, download an entire series of books! With familiar characters and settings, you will expose yourself to more words in less time. You can easily find audiobooks in other languages, including Spanish, at Audible.com. If you commute via public transportation, you can use the same strategy with hard copy books. 5. Free iTunes Downloads You can find a wealth of free lessons, audio clips, podcasts, and radio shows to stream or download from iTunes. For example, “Coffee Break Spanish” is a podcast series ranging between 15 to 30 minutes, designed to  help you learn Spanish in the car as you drive. For shorter clips, search for “Five-Minute Spanish” to download 36 free five-minute Spanish lessons from the University of Arkansas. Similarly, “Discover Spanish” offers 44 free 15-minute lessons. “One-Minute Spanish” and “One-Minute Latin American Spanish” will each get you 17 audio clips to learn on the go. If youd rather listen to conversational Spanish , check out the free clips from “Notes in Spanish”. Finally, you can download a free Spanish textbook by searching “Español I” by David Vance. This requires iBook software and is obviously more appropriate for public transportation commuters, not drivers! 6. Language-Learning  Apps If you are a public transportation commuter, try using a fun language-learning app or game while youre in transit! Whether you want to learn and practice new vocabulary words, complete grammar drills, or watch videos in your target language, there are tons of great apps to choose from. Here are some more tips for learning languages with your smartphone, including recommended apps. Editors Note: See our other Spanish app recommendations here! Even though it is difficult to commit to second language acquisition, its easy to make the most of your time with these six tools to learn how to speak Spanish in the car during your commute or any other language, really! Of course, these should supplement the time youre spending each week with your private tutor. And with many tutors offering lessons via online platforms, its easier than ever to find a teacher who fits with your schedule. Book some lessons, practice during your commute, and youll be speaking Spanish in no time. Not signed up for lessons yet?  Find a Spanish tutor in your area here!   Lauren tutors various subjects in New York, NY. She has her  Masters Degree in Education (with a concentration in students with learning disabilities), and is a certified NYC Special Education teacher. Learn more about Lauren here! Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by Chris Goldberg

Should I Go To Macalester College

Should I Go To Macalester College The tutors behind Varsity Tutors are not just here to teach theyre sharing their college experiences as well.Ruby is a Minneapolis tutor and 2011 graduate of Macalester College. She holds a Bachelors degree in Linguistics and tutors several subjects, specializing inAlgebra tutoring, SAT prep tutoring, and Spanish tutoring. Check out what Ruby had to say about her time at Macalester College: VT: Describe the campus setting and transportation options.How urban or safe is the campus?Are there buses or do you need a car/bike? Ruby: Macalester College is both urban and safe! The campus is very small, about five blocks across by one or two blocks wide, so you do not need transportation if you want to stay off-campus. There are indoor skyways and tunnels between almost all of the dorms, so students do not have to go outside in the winter to visit each other. Many students choose to explore the Twin Cities via bike or bus. The campus is located on two great bus lines, the 84 and the 63, and they easily connect to the Green Line light rail train. There is a campus organization called MacBike which will help students access and maintain bikes. Do make sure to get a good bike lock! When I was on campus, bike theft was by far the most common kind of crime. VT: How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? Ruby:Extremely available. Macalester College has very few teaching assistants, and they mostly just help with grading papers in first year courses or observing labs in science classes. The overwhelming majority of classes are taught directly by professors. Most professors are very available and helpful, during both class and office hours. I had to take three weeks off school during my sophomore year when I had mononucleosis, and my professors spent one-on-one time with me helping me get caught up. VT: How would you describe the dorm life rooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? Ruby:I had a great experience in the dorms at Macalester College. I am still close friends with many of the women on my first year freshman floor (I lived in Doty Hall, which is gender-segregated by floor). All the dorms are in the same area of campus. The theme houses are mostly on one street on the other side of campus from the dorms. There is only one dining hall at Macalester College, which is nice because it becomes a real social hub, especially during freshman year. The dining hall has lots of options (including vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free), and it is very careful about buying local and sustainable ingredients. One exciting thing about the dorms at Macalester College is that in almost all of them, the rooms have sinks. This is great for brushing your teeth and washing your face without waiting in a long line. Many upperclassmen live off-campus. There are lots of great, affordable housing options around the campus, and living off-campus is a wonderful way to transition to living on your own after college. VT: Which majors/programs are best represented and supported?What did you study and why? Did the university do a good job supporting your particular area of study? Ruby:The International Studies department is excellent and well renowned. I personally majored in Linguistics with minors in Environmental Studies and Hispanic Studies (Spanish). The Linguistics department is very small, with only two full-time professors at the time that I attended. There are benefits and disadvantages to being part of such a small department: it is very close knit, and you really get to know the people in your classes, but the depth and diversity of classes is not as good as at bigger schools. I am sometimes jealous of friends at large schools who got to take extremely specialized classes, but there were some great topics courses, especially those cross-listed with other departments (I took an excellent topics course on Spanish in the United States, for example). VT: How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Does Greek life play a significant role in the campus social life? Ruby:Macalester College makes it extremely easy to make friends. You have both an orientation group and a first year course to provide social structures with other first years. There are all kinds of clubs and activities to help people get to know each other. There is no Greek life at all at Macalester College. VT: How helpful is the Career Centerand other student support services?Do many reputable companies recruit on campus? Ruby:The Career Center is great and provides a lot of good resources, but you really have to go to them. I have had staff at the Career Center look over my resume and do career planning as an alumna, which is a great benefit for people who stay in the Twin Cities. I was not aware of companies recruiting on campus specifically, but you can get connected with many great organizations and companies through the Internship Office. Macalester College is definitely well regarded within the Twin Cities, especially in the non-profit community. I have worked with multiple Macalester College graduates at every job I have had. VT: How are the various study areas such aslibraries, the student union, and dorm lounges? Are they over-crowded, easily available, spacious? Ruby:There are lots of great places to spend time. The Campus Center, where the cafeteria is, is a great study-and-relax atmosphere with a lot of people, especially during meal times and late nights. The library is more sedate, with progressively quieter floors as you go upstairs (the top floor is essentially silent). The new arts building is very beautiful, and it has great spaces for doing work. The dorm lounges are nothing to write home about, but they are perfectly serviceable. There are a ton of free and open computers, especially at the library, and I knew a few people who were able to write all their papers and do all their work without bringing their own laptops. VT: Describe the surrounding town. What kinds of outside establishments / things to do are there that make it fun, boring, or somewhere in between?To what extent do students go to the downtown area of the city versus staying near campus? Ruby:The Twin Cities are two great reasons to go to Macalester College. Immediately around campus, there are many great restaurants, an art supply store, a fantastic bookstore, and other similar businesses. Campus is just a quick bus or bike ride away from downtown Saint Paul (which is honestly pretty boring) or many parts of Minneapolis. When I was in college, I spent a lot of time in the neighborhood where I now live. It can be hard to leave campus, especially in the winter when it is so cold, but it is really up to each individual student. Some people never leave campus; some people are off-campus exploring, enjoying the arts scene, or volunteering all the time. The most important thing to me about being in a city was that the connections I built up through outside internships and volunteering directly translated into my professional network once I graduated. I know for many of my friends, the internships they did during college were places that would employ them when they graduated. It is a huge benefit that you do not always get at more rural schools. VT: How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? Ruby:Macalester College has a little over 2,000 people. Particularly being in the Linguistics department, which is so small, I was always very pleased with my class sizes. My capstone class only had six students in it. VT: Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one youregretthe most. My senior year, I took a class on Community Based Theater with Harry Waters, Jr. It was both experience- and readings-based. Harry would often have us lie on the floor and breathe mindfully, which forced a little bit of reflection and quiet into my days. The class was extremely fun and included visiting In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater in Minneapolis to be a part of their puppet-making workshops for the May Day Parade. I really appreciated that the class, which I took for an art credit, made me get off campus and outside my comfort zone. We got to be in the parade alongside hundreds of other volunteers, and we were able to share the art we had made with an audience of thousands. Check out Rubys tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.