Immersion

As most people will tell you, immersion is the best way to learn a language. Here are a few ways to make that happen.

• In high school, be a foreign exchange student.
• In college, spend a semester abroad for about the same cost as a semester at your own university. Your college abroad will understand that you are not a native speaker and will have people to help you out, so put your fears aside!
• Become an au pair.
• Find a job.
• Attend a language school, where you pay by the week and can stay for as long as you like. You will live with a host family in the town where the school is. Likely, your language classes would be in the morning and you would have the rest of the time to do homework, travel, shop, attend movies, go out, etc.
• Volunteer. Usually you will have to pay, but it won't be as much as a vacation aboard.
• The James V. Brown Library has several excellent books on opportunities to travel abroad.

If you don't want to leave the U.S....

• Get a summer job in a city where Spanish is the primary language. 
• Try Middlebury Language School in Vermont. 
• Find someone local who is a native Spanish speaker and meet with them weekly.

Before you go abroad, there are a lot of things to do, but don't forget about being a good visitor in another country. Here is a start:

• Read 1,001 Smart Travel Tips.
• Buy a travel book about the country.
• Research cultural norms and avoid being offensive!

Let me know if you have any ideas to add to this!

Why You Should Watch More Movies

Recently I have had some current and former students ask me about how to increase their knowledge of another language. I always recommend watching TV and movies in the target language! You can start by watching Spanish shows (or whichever language you are working on) with English subtitles, progress to Spanish shows with Spanish subtitles and then go without subtitles all together! Your ability to understand will vary from show to show, as Spanish is different from country to country. It will also vary from speaker to speaker. Just as in English, some people speak faster than others.

A few good places to start are Viki.com, Hulu, Netflix and YouTube. On Viki.com, teams of people are formed to create subtitles to show. We recently watched a few episodes of <<Yo soy Betty la fea>>, which originated in Colombia.

In addition to TV and movies, you can take advantage of social media to improve your language skills. Join a discussion board for a topic that interests you. Follow Spanish speaking people on Twitter.

Many students learn some Spanish (not all appropriate!) when they play video games from players around the world.

The absolute best way to learn a language, however, it to be immersed in the language...but that topic is for another time...

Flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to study vocabulary. You can find some for our book at quizlet.com. Search for "paso a paso" and the chapter you are studying. Keep in mind that there are 3 different levels of books in the Paso a Paso series, so you might need to dig around to find the ones that you are looking for.

freshman--dictionaries

If you are interested in getting a dictionary, I really like the Larousse Consise Dictionary. http://www.amazon.com/Larousse-Concise-Dictionary-Spanish-English-English-Spanish/dp/2035410096 You could also check with Otto's Bookstore.

I like this dictionary because it gives more usage options than a "pocket dictionary", but those are also okay. Google translator is pretty good for a couple of words but should only be used as a dictionary, not for phrases and sentences.