The Yucatan Experience

This is the page that most of you will be working from so I’m trying to get it finished first.  We’re going to have a brief overview of what we’ve been working on, as well as what we’re going to be working on in the next few classes.  At the bottom of the page there is a thingie that will let you send me a note, and I’ll reply as quickly as I can.  Or, you can just do it the old way and Whatsapp me when you need to talk.

So… without further adoo, let’s get on with it!

You’re all working on the same thing right now, and that’s working with Enunciation and Pronunciation.  Both of these essentially mean the same, but ENUNCIATION goes a little deeper and focuses on HOW you pronounce words and sentences.  A lot of the problems in transitioning between languages is that we tend to use our tongues differently with each respective language. (As we’ve discussed.)  So, a lot of our work will be working with ways to exercise your mouth and tongue to help with speaking more easily.

Another thing is that when you try to speak another language, or listen to another language, you are using different sensory skills… you’re not just speaking the language, but the muscles in your mouth have to also get used to working in a different way, forming different sounds and words structures, etc.  You’re also training your ears to hear what you’re saying and what is sounds like as well.  You will be able to see the expression on the person’s face that you’re talking to in order to notice if he/she is having trouble with understanding your words and sentences.  And, we also need to focus on stress and being nervous when you’re trying to speak English, just as I’m nervous and a little stressed sometimes when I’m trying to learn or speak Spanish.

To that end, and while I’m working on other stuff for the class site, I’m giving you some very useful links that you should take a look at.  And as I’ve said, by studying with other sites you’re getting the value of different perspectives on the matter of learning English.  Where I might be weak in one area, you will be able to pick up the learning structure from another site.  And I will be the first to say that I’m NOT perfect, but I have taught a lot of others in the past and all with great results.

Here are some study materials and videos that I suggest you check out!    Go HERE

Update:  April 12. 2017  Wednesday 100am

One way to look at the links to the materials that I’m giving you is to just think of the information as our class textbooks.  To that end, I’ll be giving you exercises from the material from time to time in on a page that I’m currently working on for you, entitled “Classwork.”  On that page, you will have guided lessons and stuff like “Suggested Reading,” or “Suggested Videos,” etc.  To get the most out of our class, try to do all of the material that you’re offered.

Another thing about these pages is that I’m going to be putting updates on them, such as what I’m doing right now.  I’m doing this because things are going to be changing from day to day and I don’t want you to miss out on anything.  The updates will have a time and date stamp, and the text will generally be a different color… sort of to make them easier to notice!

I’ve added more videos and more class exercise material that you should take a look at.  Some of the videos you’ve already seen but it’s a good idea to check them out again.  You never know… you might have missed something the last time you watched them!

For the moment, this is the only update that I’ve added.  You can now GO HERE TO CHECK YOUR ASSIGNMENTS.