Website Evaluation #1 - Spanish as a Second Language Blog
Software/Website Title:
ssl4you Espanol Segunda Lengua Para Todos: Spanish as a Second Language
This is a blog that was started by a women named Teresa Sanchez from Zamora, Castilla y Leon, Spain
Website URL:
http://ssl4you.blogspot.com/
Grade/Age Level:
I think that this site would be appropriate for any age learner that was at or above an intermediate level of understanding Spanish who is interested in advancing their knowledge. A beginning Spanish learner/speaker might be able to use this site as well in certain aspects but it could be difficult at times.
Language & Content:
The site is a series of podcasts that are spoken in Spanish with a written English translation. It also provides resources for a Spanish Language learner such as materials and links that assist a learner with grammar, tests, dictionaries, etc... Additionally, there are posts about culture, movies, books, news, food, and music that engage the Spanish learner and teach them more about the Spanish way of life and culture.
EVALUATION:
The intended purpose of this blog website is to help Spanish Language learners through Podcasts (listening to small stories about every day life circumstances in Spanish), and additional resources which Teresa provides links to. The Podcasts assist learners with listening skills and sentence structure/grammar/vocabulary. The english translations provided assist learners when they run into comprehension issues.
The podcasts are presented to the user on the right side of the blog website. They are links that can either be listened to directly from the blog or downloaded from itunes. This is great if the user wants to put them on an ipod and take them on the road. The additional resources are provided by a link on the right tabs called "ssl4you resources for students". This brings you to another page in which the culture and links are provided for further Spanish instruction and assistance.
The external documents provided by links are grammar websites, tests to determine you Spanish level, dictionaries, and sites that provide you with certificates of accreditation in the Spanish language. The grammar site is very good, but since there are so many out there she could provide more links as needed. The dictionaries sites are fine as well as the "test your level" and "certificate" sites. Nothing special but helpful if you are a new Spanish language learner. However, in this area the blog could definitely become more advanced and expand on its resources page.
The blog is interesting to Spanish learners because there is often a lack of listening/speaking resources when learning a language. These podcasts are accessible and portable and because of that provides great flexibility and practice in hearing and reciting the language. These two functions are the most important aspects to master if you really want to learn a language. This site provides that practice for speaking/listening (language goals) in a very accessible way. (through podcasts) There is no feedback/assessment that comes with the podcasts but you are welcome to post/respond to the podcasts to Teresa and give your own feedback to her. However, it does provide links (on the resources page) to Spanish tests to analyze your level of understanding as well as accreditation websites that give you certificates for passing certain levels of Spanish language acquisition.
The website is very easy to use and navigate through. The links are clear and the podcasts are very easy to read, listen to, and learn from. Also, Teresa (the author) is very accessible through e-mail and questions through her blog.
There are many strengths to this website but the main strengths are the podcasts and grammar links. These two aspects really give the Spanish learner the tools to practice and improve on Spanish language acquisition. Personally, I really enjoy the book and movie reviews/recommendations as well as the Spanish food recipes. I am a big fan of cooking and I love Spanish food (paella, gazpacho, and tortilla espanola) which she provides her own recipes for. This is another great aspect of the website.
However, I think that the blog could be improved by adding more resource links, more cultural posts, and more podcasts that stretch the intermediate person's vocabulary and grammar. The podcasts are limited, there are only about 22 podcasts...therefore, it would be nice for Teresa to add more frequent podcasts to ensure that there is enough material. Typically she adds about 2-4 a month which is fine for most people, especially if this is not your main forum for practice. I would like to see more resources and links so that language learners can have adequate other resources to go to for extra help and practice. I also love when she posts on the culture and current events in Spain so the more posts on this stuff the better.
Overall, I really enjoyed this blog site and found it especially interesting since we as a class are creating our own blogs. It makes you realize how powerful and effective one person can be just doing what they love and sharing their information/knowledge with the world using the internet!!! I hope that one day I can be that helpful to others using the information that we are learning in this class!
posted by Christine Parker @ 12:39 PM
4 Comments:
This really looks like an interesting site. I liked the fact that she translated the podcasts. I think that could be very helpful (though it could also be used as a crutch).
What she does is really quite a bit of work. Audio is easy, transcription and translation takes forever in contrast. I applaud her for her work.
I would suggest that she hand some of the work over to others. Maybe have people in Spain talk about culture (pop and traditional). It would be interesting, put a little more of the burden on others, and would expose learners to a broader variety of speakers.
Lastly, it's really great that this coming from Spain. In the states we have so many resources from Mexico as well as some from other Spanish-speaking countries to the south (and rightly so given our neighborhood). However, we don't have much from Spain. It's interesting to compare and contrast the dialects.
What I think is great about this site is its ease of navigation! Of course, that could be the familiarity we now have with blogspot, but still--it is easy to find what you are looking for, and navigate effectively within. I have a feeling, however, that as the blog ages, it may become cumbersome to scroll through if each podcast continues to be listed chronologically.
The translations on this site are a great help to language learners. I think that even intermediate students are loath to navigate through a site that is only in the target language, but this is very user friendly for English speakers. It's also very nice to see some authentic cultural content from Spain. What a generous service to provide podcasts and all that content with no commercial intent.
Good find!
Looks like a great site! The audio with transcript is so key!
By the way, can I ask why you don't include a link from your post to this site? I know we can all copy and paste the url but it's so much easier as a link which you should be able to create easily in your blogging tool. Sorry if this is unrequested advice but since yours is a relatively new blog I thought I would suggest it. A big part of the blogging phenomenon is in linking and providing ready access to other places on the web.
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