Welcome to Vol. 75 of the Spanish Online Newsletter! Part of the Spanish Learning Blog - your weekly lessons with mp3 files, as well as links to Spanish travel spots and more. As Xmas brought a new video ipod to my household - I've become addicted to this exciting new technology - and particularly excited about the potential for teaching via audio and video "podcasts" as they are called. You don't need an mp3 player to take advantage of this new technology - and in fact I've decided to try doing a weekly audio version of the newsletter, which will be available here as well as via the ipod format, so that anyone with an internet connection can take advantage of it. Mp3 players aren't just for kids - and they aren't just for music either. There are all kinds of audio books, newscasts, even sports and entertainment audio shows - that can be downloaded to an mp3 device. Apple's ipod is just the most visible unit, and the most aggressive at forming coalitions with content providers. For any student of a foreign language, having an mp3 player can be an invaluable tool.

Click to hear an mp3 introducing our new audio podcast (1MB)

To view the entire podcast via an online virtual ipod, click here.

To subscribe with iTunes, add the following RSS feed under "Advanced" and "Subscribe to Podcast" in your iTunes:

if you have an audio only ipod: http://www.spanish.ms/podcasts/podcast2.xml

if you have a photo or video ipod: http://www.spanish.ms/podcasts/podcast.xml

This week I'm going to focus on listening comprehension, via a guided reading in Spanish. While there are plenty of grammar lessons in previous editions of my newsletter, I've done very little in terms of conversational Spanish and listening comprehension. That's mainly because it's easier to post a grammar lesson than to create a listening comprehension exercise. Nonetheless, energized by the ipod....I'm going to give it a shot! I'm not doing to do full translation, but rather only a review of key vocabulary.

Spanish Reading and Listening Comprehension Exercise #1

Click to hear an mp3 of the reading below (3.2MB)

From the The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zalacaín El Aventurero, 
by Pío Baroja published in 1913 in Madrid, Spain.

CAPÍTULO PRIMERO

CÓMO VIVIÓ Y SE EDUCÓ MARTÍN ZALACAÍN

Un camino en cuesta baja de la Ciudadela pasa por encima del cementerio y atraviesa el portal de Francia. Este camino, en la parte alta, tiene a los lados varias cruces de piedra, que terminan en una ermita y por la parte baja, después de entrar en la ciudad, se convierte en calle. A la izquierda del camino, antes de la muralla, había hace años un caserío viejo, medio derruído, con el tejado terrero lleno de pedruscos y la piedra arenisca de sus paredes desgastada por la acción de la humedad y del aire.

cuesta baja Ciudadela atraviesa el portal una ermita la muralla caserío derruído pedruscos piedra arenisca desgastada	low slope fortress crosses the entry a hermitage the wall settlement demolished rocks sandstone eroded

Worksheet/Activity: Comprehension

Quiz: Listening Comprehension

Click to hear an mp3 quiz activity (4MB)

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