Monday, September 16, 2013
Sunset Symphony
I went to an event called Sunset Symphony at the Dixon here in Memphis. It was a lot nicer than I would have anticipated. I really enjoyed it. I ran into a lot of people that I know and I had a really good time.
Here are some photos I took while walking around the gardens there:
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sustantivos en español – Nouns in Spanish
PRIMERO
el autobús the bus
- A noun is a word used to identify people, animals, places, things, or ideas.
- Unlike English, all Spanish nouns, even those that refer to nonliving things, have gender. They are considered either masculine or feminine.
- As in English, nouns in Spanish also have number, meaning that they are either singular or plural.
Nouns that refer to living things
Masculine Nouns
el hombre the man
ending in –o
el chico the boy
el pasajero the (male) passenger
ending in –or
el conductor the (male) driver
el profesor the (male) professor
ending in –ista
el turista the (male) tourist
el dentista the (male) dentist
Feminine Nouns
la mujer the woman
ending in –a
la chica the girl
la pasajera the (female) passenger
ending in –ora
la conductora the (female) driver
la profesora the (female) professor
ending in –ista
la turista the (female) tourist
la dentista the (female) dentist
- Nouns that refer to males, like el hombre, are generally masculine.
- Nouns that refer to females, like la mujer, are generally feminine.
- Many nouns that refer to male beings end in–o or –or.
- Their corresponding feminine forms end in–a and –ora, respectively.
Either/Or Nouns
- The masculine and feminine forms of nouns that end in –ista, like turista, are the same, so gender is indicated by the article el (masculine) or la (feminine).
- Some other nouns have identical masculine and feminine forms.
el joven
|
la joven
|
the youth; the young man
|
the youth; the young woman
|
el estudiante
|
la estudiante
|
the (male) student
|
the (female) student
|
Nouns that refer to nonliving things
Masculine Nouns
ending in –o
el cuaderno the notebook
el diario the diary
el diccionario the dictionary
el número the number
ending in –ma
el problema the problem
el programa the program
ending in –sel autobús the bus
el país the country
Feminine Nouns
ending in –a
la cosa the thing
la escuela the school
la grabadora the tape recorder
la palabra the word
ending in –ción
la lección the lesson
la conversación the conversation
ending in –dad
la nacionalidad the nationality
la comunidad the community
- Certain noun endings are strongly associated with a specific gender, so you can use them to determine if a noun is masculine or feminine.
- Because the gender of nouns that refer to non-living things cannot be determined by foolproof rules, you should memorize the gender of each noun you learn.
- It is helpful to memorize each noun with its corresponding article, el for masculine and la for feminine.
- Another reason to memorize the gender of every noun is that there are common exceptions to the rules of gender.Masculine noun ending in –ael mapa (map)Feminine noun ending in –ola mano (hand)
Plural of nouns
Nouns that end in a vowel form the plural by adding –s.
el chico ® los chicos
el diario ® los diarios
la palabra ® las palabras
el problema ® los problemas
Nouns that end in a consonant add –es.
el país ® los países
el profesor ® los profesores
Nouns that end in –z change the –z to –c, then add –es.
el lápiz ® los lápices
- You use the masculine plural form of the noun to refer to a group that includes both males and females.1 pasajero + 2 pasajeras = 3 pasajeros
2 chicos + 2 chicas = 4 chicos
- When a singular noun has an accent mark on the last syllable, the accent is dropped from the plural form.la lección à las lecciones
el autobús à los autobuses
Spanish articles
PRIMERO- As you know, English often uses definite articles (the) and indefinite articles (a, an) before nouns.
- Spanish also has definite and indefinite articles.
- Unlike English, Spanish articles vary in form because they agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
Definite articles
- Spanish has four forms that are equivalent to the English definite article the. You use definite articles to refer to specific nouns.
Feminine
|
Masculine
|
Singular
|
Singular
|
la computadora
|
el diccionario
|
the computer
|
the dictionary
|
Plural
|
Plural
|
las computadoras
|
los diccionarios
|
the computers
|
the dictionaries
|
Indefinite articles
Spanish has four forms that are equivalent to the English indefinite article, which according to context may mean a, an, or some. You use indefinite articles to refer to unspecified persons or things.
Feminine
|
Masculine
|
Singular
|
Singular
|
una fotografía
|
un pasajero
|
a (one) photograph
|
a (one) passenger
|
Plural
|
Plural
|
unas fotografías
|
unos pasajeros
|
some photographs
|
some passengers
|
¡HÁZLO!
Provide a definite article for each noun in the first column and an indefinite article for each noun in the second column.| ¿el, la, los o las? | ¿un, una, unos o unas? |
| _____ chico | _____ autobús |
| _____ chica | _____ escuela |
| _____ maleta | _____ computadora |
| _____ cuadernos | _____ hombre |
| _____ lápiz | _____ señoras |
| _____ mujeres | _____ lápices |
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Skype
Gabe is so awesome. He has such a huge personality. Maybe you can see some of that in these screen shots from tonight's Skype. Miss him.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Summer Reading, etc.
I was recently hired at an all-boys high school and next month I will begin teaching teenagers. I will continue teaching at the University two nights a week. I have been spending the most of July in Arizona visiting family (including Gabe for a week JJ) but while I was out here I also got a call from a school I applied at months ago and I went in and interviewed last Thursday. I am hoping to hear back this week.
While on vacation this summer I have finished a few books – mostly nonfiction stuff, mostly things that I wanted to read for personal or professional development, probably not that interesting to other people but it has been interesting to me.
Here is a short list of the last two weeks reading:
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
How to Answer Hard Interview Questions
The First-Time Manager (which was awesome)
The Devil and Sherlock Holmes (also a very enjoyable read-listen (I use a text to speech program called Natural Reader – makes reading a lot easier for a slow reader like me))
I also downloaded a series of Love & Logic seminars and I have been listening to those. Very helpful stuff.
I have started a book by Thich Nhat Hanh called Anger, Wisdom for Cooling the Flames
I guess that that is about it on the reading end of things.
Other things:
I have been able to watch this season of True Blood
I went to the newest Harry Potter with my sister. It was ok. I don’t think my son would like it and I don’t think that the battle scenes were nearly as interesting as they could [should] have been. The book was just better.
Hmmmmm….. What else?
I guess that that is good enough for now. Things are not bad. I wish I had Gabe all the time. It has been good seeing family. I feel like I am learning a lot. Nothing to complain about. Except my foot – my foot hurts. J There now I even complained. Life is good.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Unable to sleep
Spent three hours getting oral surgery done today. Last night I couldn’t sleep well because of pain and tonight I just can’t sleep. I think that it is the pain-killers I am on. L
In other news, I am in Phoenix. Been spending the week with Gabe and my family. I feel very blessed. I know that I am going to miss him so much next week.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
24 hours to live
Some group predicts the end of the world tomorrow. So, if you had 24 hours to live, just think, what would you do? Leave your answer in the comment section below.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Someday...
Someday, when I am an old man, I want to sit alone on a beach on a cold day feeling the sand and the salt in the wind that comes in from out to sea. I want to walk and carry a walking stick with me that I can use to poke at the gray, gravelly sand from time to time. I will look down at the hole a crab has made and I will wonder what it is like to have to rebuild your home after every single tide. Somewhere, far out to sea there will be a lonely white cloud rolling across the sky. Pieces of sea-weed and feathers from a seagull will draw an uneven line across the beach marking the progress of the last high tide. There will be a rock that I will find to sit on, and I will wait right there with my thoughts, my doubts, and my loneliness – but I will not cry. After several minutes, I will get up and walk back to my vehicle. I will turn it on. Before driving off, I will see some old toy that I picked up for my son still sitting on the dashboard against the windshield. Before driving off, I will taste the bitter, coppery taste that intense feelings of regret or disgust sometimes brings with it, I will taste the saltiness of my own skin and my own tears as my eyes begin to blur with sadness. My heart will pound, and I will take a few deep breaths to get control of myself once more. Then I will turn the key and pull away and the waves will continue pounding the sand and the crab will come out of her home. The tides will shift and then everything will start rebuilding.
Teaching Spanish
I just got a job at an all boys Catholic high school to teach Spanish. Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year, they are getting rid of all their text books and supplying the students with iPads. They want to get rid of the textbooks so that they can offset the cost of buying the iPads and the entire Spanish curriculum is going to be built around (free) online materials. What do you think of that? Give me your opinion in the comments. Also, if you know of any great websites that teach Spanish, please, feel free to mention those as well.
Thanks,
me
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
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