Same language, different translations

One of the hardest parts about learning another language is that, depending on where you travel, the vocabulary will change. (Think of "you all" vs. "y'all" vs. "you guys" vs. "yinz"). Do you say soda, pop, or Coke?

Smartling.com made a neat little website that highlights some words that change translation depending on the Spanish-speaking country you are in. Click here to check it out.

Hot Tamale Activities - Complete one or more of these activities as a advanced/Hot Tamale blog post. Title your post the title of this blog post.

• Select 3-5 different words and create a table or chart (or infographic) translating them across different countries.
• Select 2 countries (perhaps Spain and Mexico) and create a table or chart (or infographic) with the different words translated

Google Translate will MESS YOU UP

When we use Google Translate in class, we use it to look up specific words (and usually cross reference it with another Spanish-English dictionary/translation site like WordReference.com) or to hear how specific phrases we already know are correct are pronounced. If you try to use it to write an entire dialogue you will probably end up with a recording of you sounding pretty silly in Spanish.

avoid this!

Or you will sound like this!

Hot Tamale Activities - Complete one or more of these activities as a advanced/Hot Tamale blog post. Title your post the title of this blog post.

• Watch other videos on Google Translate Sings playlist and include your favorite 2 in a blog post. For each song, select 1 lines that when re-translated were the funniest and type it with indented quotes.
• Create your own Google Translate Sings song by taking a song you like and using Google to translate it to other languages then back to English. Compare the original lyrics with the new lyrics and describe the differences in a blog post.

Spanish Landmark Quiz

I just took a 10 question quiz about Landmarks in Spanish speaking countries and got a 6/10! Can you do better? Click here to take the quiz. Take a screen shot of your score and email it to bordner@cityhigh.org or put it in your blog with a brief description of what you learned!

New York Times Travel Videos

The New York Times has a series of short videos about spending 36 hours in different places in the world. The video they released this past weekend was about Cartagena, Colombia, where I went last December. It was really neat to see places that I had been and see what they said about the food/culture of Cartagena.

• Watch any of the videos about international cities by clicking here. Share what you learn in a blog post or email to bordner@cityhigh.org. Would you want to travel there? Explain your answer.

Cultural Norms in Other Countries

Fasten Seat Belts is a website that explains cultural norms of different countries, along with quick survival phrases. Pick a country (it does not have to be a Spanish speaking country), watch a few videos and summarize what you learn in a blog post or email to bordner@cityhigh.org.

How Kids Get to School

Children cross the river using pulleys on their way to school in the outskirts of Modena, Italy, 1959.

Many of our City High staff and students have quite the trek to school everyday. Let's look at how other students get to school. Look at How Students Go To School then answer one or more of the following Hot Tamale Activities in a blog post or email to bordner@cityhigh.org.

• Create a map and insert the images into the different countries they represent on the map. Embed the map into a blog post or email the link.
• Which way looks the hardest and why? 
• Rank the top 5 most difficult ways.
• What else do you notice about the photos? 
• Describe the surroundings.
• What are the school children wearing?
• Look at other pages of this website. What is this organization about? Share 5 other things you learned about the world through this website.

How Do Languages Evolve?

For those of you who are interested in learning WHY there are so many languages that are spoken in the world and HOW MANY there are, watch this short video then complete one or more of The Hot Tamale Activities below in an email to bordner@cityhigh.org.

• Summarize the video in your own words. What are three new facts that you learned? 
• What are the main branches of languages? 
• Why is it hard to say how many languages are spoken in the world?
• Go to the Endangered Languages website. Learn about a new language spoken in the world and share what you've learned in a blog post/email.
• Want to learn more? Go to this website from National Geographic and summarize the information provide on the main page.