Ear Training

Question

I am currently teaching Spanish at a Junior High. When I learned Spanish, I was living in a Latin American country at the time. What are some good ways to help my students develop good ears? They eat the vocabulary up, but how can I help them understand "spoken" Spanish?

Answer 1

Talk to them in Spanish a lot.

I took german in highschool and over half of what the teacher said in class was in german. She would also ask us questions in german and we had to respond in german.

Also, don't slow down what you say so they can pick it up easier. Only slow down a bit when you are asking them a question if they don't pick it up right away.

Oh another thing, after you ask them a question and they don't understand you, they might ask to to repeat yourself. "Pardon?" Then you tell them what that is in spanish and have them say it. Then repeat yourself.

It is not about "these words mean this". Just keep throwing it at them. Something is bound to stick and they will be able to comprehend it better at the same time.

I agree with the above comment. I learned spanish in high school and our teacher always spoke to us in spanish. I haven't used it in 10 years and work with spanish speaking employees and am amazed at how much I can remember. - starrbright2122, Feb 2, 2011

Answer 2

Get them involved in the Skype chat sessions and some of the audio threadsCarlos,Heidi and Culé narrate Bonaire

Answer 3

¿By listening to the language as much as possible?

Tell them to get a hold of some TV series in Spanish, or even American ones dubbed into Spanish, and watch as much as possible... always without subtitles.