Enjoyable Spanish

  Language exposure is crucial to the development of a second language, and fortunately, you can get plenty of exposure and have fun by watching movies and shows with subtitles! Nowadays, subtitles are more accessible than ever with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. These streaming services provide plenty of authentic movies and TV shows from different regions of the world so you can improve your listening skills. You can even change the language settings on your Netflix account so everything is written in a different language to get more reading practice (in addition to the subtitles of course!).  Utilizing subtitles has several benefits. Subtitles help with attention to, comprehension of, and memory for the video being watched ( Gernsbacher, 2015 ). It can seem a bit overwhelming as a beginner to a new language, but there are several ways to go about sharpening different abilities using subtitles. I am going to outline a few of them here, and then I will share my own personal

I am not affiliated with any of the apps that I review. I simply wanted to provide a quick review of each app so language learners can decide for themselves which app best suits their needs. We live in an ever-expanding digital age where we can explore the world while lounging on our couch. As a language learner, I am always looking to keep growing my vocabulary and keep practicing the language. The saying “If you don’t use it, you lose it” rings extremely true in the aspect of learning and maintaining a language. There are a ton of different language learning apps out there, and today, I am exploring the most well known of them all, Duolingo. It should be noted that Duolingo is notorious for sending an insane amount of push notifications and, because of this, internet memes have surfaced that I will be sharing throughout this review. Most people have heard of Duolingo by now. I was fortunate enough to have received the beta version of this before it actually launched. It’s been intere

Bilingualism has so many benefits cognitively and socially that it would be a shame to deny our children the opportunity. It is difficult raising children monolingually, let alone bilingually. However, there are different strategies and methods for doing so that make it a bit easier for parents. It is important to start by taking into account all the varying linguistic environments in which the child is being raised. Are you native English speakers living abroad in Germany? Is only one parent able to speak a second language? It’s enough to make your head spin! I think it’s important also to distinguish between the two manners in which bilingual children can acquire both languages. Simultaneous acquisition occurs when a child is raised bilingually from birth. The child goes through the natural acquisition process of both languages simultaneously before the age of 3. Sequential acquisition is achieved when a child learns a second language after the first language, usually after the age

     Nowadays, it’s hard to find people who read. I’m not talking about reading headlines or tweets. I’m talking about actually opening a book and having the patience and endurance to finish. Reading is a fantastic way to stimulate your brain, expand your vocabulary, help your memory, and especially help you relax!      So, if reading in one language is good for you, imagine what throwing in a second one could do! I understand how daunting it sounds to read in a new language. But once you start, you won’t want to stop! To help ease people into reading in a different language, I have compiled a list of the top seven tips I could think of (I’m sure there are more!!) to share with the blog-o-sphere. Let nostalgia lead your reading choices! Instead of reading some excerpt from a textbook, find a book that you read as a child or a book you know and love and read it in Spanish! When I was first learning Spanish, I started reading the Harry Potter series in Spanish. It was slow going at fir

We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. - Benjamin Whorf As a linguistics student, I was (and still am) especially interested in the cognitive side of language. Cognition, culture, and language are deeply intertwined. Different cultures use different languages to represent the same basic ideas yet in varying ways. For instance, English speakers would say that they “make” or “earn” money when they discuss their job, whereas a Spanish speaker would say that they “win” money (ganar dinero). Could this language difference manifest itself in the personalities of these different speakers? Does the language we speak influence our thoughts and, subsequently, our behavior? This hypothesis is known as the Whorfian or Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (AKA linguistic determinism, linguistic relativity). Introduced by a linguistic anthropologist named Benjamin Whorf, this hypothesis states, in a nutshell, that language shapes thought, and not the other way around.     Edward Sapir   

It is astonishing how much enjoyment one can get out of a language that one understands imperfectly. — Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve Buenas tardes a todos! This is my first official blog post for my Tankard Tutoring blog. As I mentioned briefly in my last post, I am using this blog as a way to share my knowledge of the Spanish language, language in general, and tips to help guide second language learners.  But first, I'd like to share my own personal language journey. My language learning began in high school, and like most people, I retained almost nothing. I don't want to say that I had a bad teacher, but Spanish was definitely not my favorite class. I took Spanish all the way until the third level and then gladly dropped it from my senior schedule.  The summer before college, I worked at MovieStop which let me "rent" movies to take home and watch for free. I started watching foreign language films and would think, "Man, how cool would it be to  know another langu

¡Hola! My name is Anna Tankard and I am a lifelong learner and lover of languages. I studied Spanish and Linguistics at the University of Georgia, where I then continued on to get a Masters in World Language Education. During my time at UGA, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina for three months. I have traveled to several other Spanish-speaking countries as well. Upon graduation, I taught elementary school Spanish for a year and then taught high school (Spanish 1 & 2) for three years. I have decided to bow out of the public school system to venture out into something a bit less restricting (and a lot more fun 😎)! I give private Spanish lessons online or in-person. I have decided to start this blog in order to jot down ideas I have about teaching and/or Spanish. I will also be sharing tips and resources to help with your language learning journey! If you would like to learn Spanish yourself, or maybe you know someone who would like to brush up on it, ple