What would your preferred content resource be?
The summer is quickly approaching and I have to decide how I will spend my time these next few months. I want to create a new learning resource for you guys, but rather than just create what I want to create, I thought I would ask you!
You know what you need/want the most, so let me know. Be as specific (and reasonable) as possible.
Things to keep in mind are:
- How long will this project take? Ideally it needs to be finished by August.
- How many people would need to be involved? Ideally, I can do it without having to hire someone else.
- Will it generate links to us from outside sources? Because we don't pay for advertising, we depend on people linking to us from other sites.
- What resources would I need to create it?
I am open to all ideas, so let's here them!
18 Answers
Paralee,
It would be great to have some sort of resource to help us improve our "listening" skills. That seems to be the strongest area of weakness that many of us share. There have been so many posts asking for tips to help with this. Most people are directed to other sites for help.
I don't know what is possible. However, perhaps a series of listening practice sessions, which become progressively more difficult. These could be followed by quizzes for comprehension, etc.
Here is a thread I started last summer, with your response to me. Following your advice has truly helped. Maybe your summer project could take this to the next level.
Hi Paralee,
My suggestion is that initially you can allow flash embedding. It is the most simple and cheapest way to improve the site, because people could embed (no link) videos, audios and other resources without any major programming changes...
A more sofisticated improvement would be provide the same but with the proper interface, e.g.: If someone wants to make an audio recording, it would be nice to have an interface (buttons to play, record, etc.) without have to do it externally.
Regards
Please let us know if you had something like this in mind,:
I think that it would be really useful to collect some Spanish stories/media, and get some people together live online (both natives and learners) and make it possible for people to try to read these stories aloud to each other.
I think this would help pronunciation without the stress of having to come up with words, and get people used to speaking long passages in Spanish and listening to long passages. I also think that it would help reading comprehension and listening understanding.
First of all, I want to thank you, Paralee, for the Spanish video lessons on this site. I am new here, but I immediately fell in love with (and became completely addicted to) the learning style presented on this site as a whole.
As for my thoughts on additional resources, I will again stress that I am a newbie here, as I just signed up on Apr 1, but I was thinking along the lines of an expanded "Write" section (as I experienced in the Spanish 2 lessons). Something a little more detailed and possibly graded, if that can be worked out. I see that listening comprehension has already been a popular idea. Perhaps additional resources for improving reading and writing skills can be slipped in, too. Thank you, again, for everything!
Texted "real life" conversations with an audio track.
That is what I would like.
Eso es lo que me gustaría, por favor.
That's my "ideal" project: either podcasts or videos with native speakers, every-day conversations, then some explanations (for beginners in English, for intermediate and advanced students in Spanish); some cultural notes/films/pictures/texts on Spain and Latin America. If links are needed, I can "lend" some (I've got many good and free websites, what's important, not a competition for SpanishDict, as they've got different content), I guess Benz can also add her ideas.
I realise that many resources are copyright, but I've noticed that some websites use e.g. film trailers as a basis for listening comprehension activities.
I would find everday expressions and key phrases and maybe some idiomatic expressions just to vary my language.
Nicole and Nametaken have already said what I would like.I am not sure how to think along the lines of what would link others to the site.
How about more answers... come on, people - if Paralee's project will be (half) as brilliant as this one, it's worth a couple of ideas, isn't it?
Yes - listening to spoken Spanish would be a Big Plus for me too. Although I live in Andalucia it is very difficult to go into the bars or restaurants and hope to join in a conversation as not only do they miss off the end of the words, they also miss off the beginnings. As for "campo" Spanish up here in the hills (that´s country-style) you can natter away with only a couple of verbs let alone tenses!
Beginning, intermediate and advanced audio lessons. Ideally, the lesson would be a short recording or video with questions at the end. I have seen several questions and threads from people wanting to hear native Spanish speakers.
Such videos could probably be purchased and you would be able to avoid hiring somenoe, and it looks to me like the site already has the infrastructure to handle something like that.
I'm basically on the same page as Ian. I don't need much, just multi-level listening comprehension audio with transcripts and exercises.
Next week, perhaps? 
This involves work that has already been done, but how about providing a written transcript of the more advanced Spanish lessons? I was able to understand Spanish 2 and most of Spanish 3, but I found myself at a moderate level with Spanish 4. I already considered myself to be at the intermediate level before coming to SpanishD and I have been practicing listening to spoken Spanish through a local radio station. However, beginners would probably struggle far more than I did in attempting to get through these lessons. If they had a written text to review after watching the videos, it could help them not only understand the presented material better, but also learn the words Paralee is using to teach the lesson with. It could also help students to read through the text while Paralee is talking to advance their comprehension of the spoken words, as well. Would providing written text for the video lessons be feasible?
Yeah I agree with everyone else, something to do with listening- maybe we could translate it? Maybe themed conversations that link to different situatons like shopping, occupations or traveling?
