¡Hola hola hola! Como vai?
My name is Janelle. I'm a Spanish instructor by trade, and I also teach basic Brazilian Portuguese to Spanish speakers. This website serves as my go-to resource library that I share with all students and any friend or stranger who expresses an interest in learning either the Spanish or Portuguese language.
Take a look at the resources page (Recursos tab), or look at what we've covered in day-to-day Spanish classes in the Clase (ES) tab, or Portuguese class - Aula (PT).
My Teaching Philosophy and Approach
I've taught language from familiarization at the elementary level all the way up to adults honing their skills at advanced levels. Regardless of the age level I teach or the professional context in which I find myself, I am continually drawn to the simple philosophies found in children's literature.
One of my favorite such books is titled “Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don’t).” It's the story of a young girl who is convinced that she hates all books. Her persistent librarian, Miss Brooks, helps her comb through all the topics and themes that annoy and bore her until they finally find one genre that captivates her attention.
One of my favorite such books is titled “Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don’t).” It's the story of a young girl who is convinced that she hates all books. Her persistent librarian, Miss Brooks, helps her comb through all the topics and themes that annoy and bore her until they finally find one genre that captivates her attention.
The same principle is true in language learning. Learning, knowing, and using another language will be incredibly enriching, once you find uses for it that are relevant to your life and interests.
In addition to enriching your own life, learning more than one language will enhance your communications skills with others. Although you may "get by" using English only as you meet diverse individuals, you miss out on a truly unique opportunity to connect with others if you lack the cultural and linguistic perspective that bilingualism (or multilingualism) brings. Quite often learning about another culture in your first language will only scratch the surface, and in order to truly understand how others view and process the world you will need to obtain at minimum a cursory understanding of how other languages express diverse worldviews. Learning another language will benefit you as well as those around you by making you a more effective and culturally-competent communicator. You might be able to get by only using English, but people will SO appreciate your efforts to communicate in their first language, or the local language. You can have some shared understanding through basic English, but you can truly connect to a (non-native English speaker) person when you communicate in their language. Nelson Mandela put it this way:
In addition to enriching your own life, learning more than one language will enhance your communications skills with others. Although you may "get by" using English only as you meet diverse individuals, you miss out on a truly unique opportunity to connect with others if you lack the cultural and linguistic perspective that bilingualism (or multilingualism) brings. Quite often learning about another culture in your first language will only scratch the surface, and in order to truly understand how others view and process the world you will need to obtain at minimum a cursory understanding of how other languages express diverse worldviews. Learning another language will benefit you as well as those around you by making you a more effective and culturally-competent communicator. You might be able to get by only using English, but people will SO appreciate your efforts to communicate in their first language, or the local language. You can have some shared understanding through basic English, but you can truly connect to a (non-native English speaker) person when you communicate in their language. Nelson Mandela put it this way:
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his [first] language, that goes to his heart.”
My own students have a wide variety of interests and motivations for learning language. Some enjoy reading Spanish literature; others prefer to subtitle and translate comedy sketches on YouTube. We’ve spent Halloween retelling scary stories from across Latin America and talking about El Día del Escudo in Ecuador, and at students’ request, started translating Cards Against Humanity into Spanish. We read short stories aloud in Portuguese to practice pronunciation (few stories hit the funny bone quite like Meu Primeiro Assalto – My First Mugging), and dissect target language comedy sketches from Brazil. We’ve also interviewed individuals from Spain (pro-Catalonian Independence), Peru (discussing terrorism under Sendero Luminoso and the Fujimori presidency), and Brazil (talking about the then-impending Bolsonaro presidency).
I, like Miss Brooks, believe that if you haven’t found something you really enjoy (music, movies, books) in your target language, then you simply haven’t looked far enough. As your language instructor, I believe it’s not just my job to help you improve and maintain your language proficiency, but to help you find materials that get you excited about using the language. I’m committed to helping you find real-world materials that get you excited to learn, practice, and use Spanish.
If you are interested in poetry, I’ll introduce you to everything from Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to a Tomato” to the lyrics of Calle 13’s song “El Aguante” to see what sparks your interest. Are you the self-appointed “grammar police” around your family and friends? We’ll discuss the appropriate usage of the subjunctive case and I’ll bring in a few of my best grammar reference texts for your analytical mind to peruse. If you want to enjoy films in Spanish, I’ll let you look through my film library or I’ll recommend a number of shows or movies that you’ll be able to find on YouTube. Do you enjoy music? I’ll recommend artists in various genres and we can dissect song lyrics in our practice sessions. Do you enjoy satire news like Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" and John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight"? Perfect! During its heyday we dissected full episodes of Chumel con Chumel Torres to keep up to date on Latin American and World News, and to hone Spanish-language vocabulary and comprehension skills.
The goal is to use and enjoy Spanish or Portuguese in the context of real life settings so that if you were to go to a Spanish or Portuguese speaking country or community you would be able to not only survive, but to thrive: to function comfortably and safely, to communicate with locals, to understand the news, posted signs, and enjoy the food, music, and local sights. If I do my job right, you'll find a connection with the Spanish or Portuguese speaking world, something you enjoy to the extent that you'll keep using the language, learning and communicating long after our classes end. My hope is that you'll become a lifelong learner, and you'll never stop discovering new and exciting ways to use the language in ways that matter to you.
I, like Miss Brooks, believe that if you haven’t found something you really enjoy (music, movies, books) in your target language, then you simply haven’t looked far enough. As your language instructor, I believe it’s not just my job to help you improve and maintain your language proficiency, but to help you find materials that get you excited about using the language. I’m committed to helping you find real-world materials that get you excited to learn, practice, and use Spanish.
If you are interested in poetry, I’ll introduce you to everything from Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to a Tomato” to the lyrics of Calle 13’s song “El Aguante” to see what sparks your interest. Are you the self-appointed “grammar police” around your family and friends? We’ll discuss the appropriate usage of the subjunctive case and I’ll bring in a few of my best grammar reference texts for your analytical mind to peruse. If you want to enjoy films in Spanish, I’ll let you look through my film library or I’ll recommend a number of shows or movies that you’ll be able to find on YouTube. Do you enjoy music? I’ll recommend artists in various genres and we can dissect song lyrics in our practice sessions. Do you enjoy satire news like Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" and John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight"? Perfect! During its heyday we dissected full episodes of Chumel con Chumel Torres to keep up to date on Latin American and World News, and to hone Spanish-language vocabulary and comprehension skills.
The goal is to use and enjoy Spanish or Portuguese in the context of real life settings so that if you were to go to a Spanish or Portuguese speaking country or community you would be able to not only survive, but to thrive: to function comfortably and safely, to communicate with locals, to understand the news, posted signs, and enjoy the food, music, and local sights. If I do my job right, you'll find a connection with the Spanish or Portuguese speaking world, something you enjoy to the extent that you'll keep using the language, learning and communicating long after our classes end. My hope is that you'll become a lifelong learner, and you'll never stop discovering new and exciting ways to use the language in ways that matter to you.
About Me – Professora Janelle
"She would have flowers in her hair, and books on her table." -Misha
I began my college studies thinking I would pursue a degree in Elementary Education, but once I realized I just how much of a linguaphile I was, I settled on earning my Bachelor of Science and K-12 teaching licensure in Spanish Education.
My love for other languages and cultures wasn't satiated by completing a teaching degree in Spanish however, and five years down the road I had continued my language study and had earned an Associate of Arts in Modern Standard Arabic (I let my proficiency slip and now sadly can't converse) as well as studied Portuguese for Spanish speakers at Middlebury Language Schools . I also completed a semester 1 French course and achieved intermediate reading/listening comprehension in that as well as Italian, though I don't speak either of those languages. I completed my Master of Education in World Language Instruction at Concordia College, (of Concordia Language Villages, institution that runs language summer camps teaching 15 different languages).
My love for other languages and cultures wasn't satiated by completing a teaching degree in Spanish however, and five years down the road I had continued my language study and had earned an Associate of Arts in Modern Standard Arabic (I let my proficiency slip and now sadly can't converse) as well as studied Portuguese for Spanish speakers at Middlebury Language Schools . I also completed a semester 1 French course and achieved intermediate reading/listening comprehension in that as well as Italian, though I don't speak either of those languages. I completed my Master of Education in World Language Instruction at Concordia College, (of Concordia Language Villages, institution that runs language summer camps teaching 15 different languages).
Spanish and Portuguese now reign jointly as my primary passions. I enjoy translating and developing language-practice activities whenever I find the opportunity. Here are some of the projects I've worked on:
I love languages, but more importantly, as you will see in our sessions together, I find great joy in sharing that love of language with others. Knowing another language doubles your opportunities to enjoy the world around you through increased communication with speakers of other languages and through your new abilities to read, listen to, and watch materials in your target language. I find all these opportunities incredibly exciting, and I hope you will too!
- Translating the Brazilian web-comic Um Sábado Qualquer (USQ) from Portuguese to English.
The artist let the domain name registration lapse in early 2019 and can't resurrect the site backup under another domain, so the English site is down, but the English comics are on Tapastic, [most comprehensive], Instagram, and Facebook. We're currently looking for an English-language publisher to put a print book on the market! - Subtitling Magic Markers videos in Spanish, and translating subtitles to English
- Subtitling EnchufeTV videos in Spanish, and translating subtitles to English (terminated when YouTube closed subtitling to the public in Sep 2020)
- Teaching Spanish using satire news from Chumel con Chumel Torres (cancelled by HBO)
- Teaching Portuguese using comedy from Porta dos Fundos, satire news from Greg News, and comics from USQ to spice up the lessons
- Managing the online presence for CCOOL - Community Cultural Outreach Of the Lakes, an organization that provided cultural and community based integration aid to international agricultural workers in rural MN (2019-2021).
I love languages, but more importantly, as you will see in our sessions together, I find great joy in sharing that love of language with others. Knowing another language doubles your opportunities to enjoy the world around you through increased communication with speakers of other languages and through your new abilities to read, listen to, and watch materials in your target language. I find all these opportunities incredibly exciting, and I hope you will too!
YouTube: View curated playlists specific to Spanish & Portuguese language learning, and cultures/news of Spanish & Portuguese-speaking areas of the world! Each playlist name begins with a language designator: "EN" for English, "ES" for español, "PT" for português, "AR" for Arabic, and "QU" for Quechua.
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LiBib: contact me to obtain a link to my 2,300+ book library, to see if you want to borrow any of my books! Using the Libib link you can read book descriptions, reviews, search by keyword, and request to check out any book through Libib. Contains language learning resources for Spanish, Portuguese, ESL (and 5+ other languages), books on Latin America, and bilingual children's and young adult books. (See library pictures)
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Why Learn a Language?
Here are just A FEW reasons...
Travel/Food
Your travel to Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries will be easier if you can converse with the locals, make travel arrangements in the host-nation language, and read signs, not to mention the fact that your language study will likely prompt you to learn cultural norms and historic details that will enrich your visit and help you avoid committing a faux pas. Additionally, you may become familiar with new, delicious foods as part of your travel and language study that you may enjoy cooking once you return home. Knowing the language can also help you find the best, authentic recipes that may not be available in English!
Multimedia
Being a consumer of Spanish or Portuguese-language media (film, music, news) is both a means to an end, and an end in and of itself. You can watch and listen to Spanish or Portuguese language materials for the purpose of practicing your language skills, and also practice for the purpose of being able to better understand said media. Understanding what is going on in the news will help keep you informed about countries of interest, clue you in to the locals’ attitudes on current events (which may not be as readily available in the English news reports), and help you better understand regional dialects. Listening to music and watching films will help you tune your ear to the language and understand slang/idioms, in addition to the fact that being able to watch/listen to these mediums is just plain enjoyable! The music isn’t all salsa and samba… you can listen to rock, pop, country and more music genres in Spanish and Portuguese!
Business/Careers
News flash: increased language proficiency may lead to better career opportunities in your future! Whether you want to look at switching career fields, are planning to go back to school in the future, or would like to look for a new job, improved Spanish and Portuguese proficiency is going to give you an edge. High scores on proficiency tests will give your resume a boost, and can give you an “in” for jobs that may need you to serve in bilingual or multilingual capacities from time-to-time.
Politics/History
Proficiency in Spanish and/or Portuguese will allow you access to materials (such as online news articles, statistics, and interviews) about Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries that may not be readily available in English. You will be able to research political/historical topics in two languages, and this may be useful for your background knowledge on certain countries that you may deal with as part of your job. Your increased familiarity with the geography of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries will be useful for both personal and business travel.
Your travel to Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries will be easier if you can converse with the locals, make travel arrangements in the host-nation language, and read signs, not to mention the fact that your language study will likely prompt you to learn cultural norms and historic details that will enrich your visit and help you avoid committing a faux pas. Additionally, you may become familiar with new, delicious foods as part of your travel and language study that you may enjoy cooking once you return home. Knowing the language can also help you find the best, authentic recipes that may not be available in English!
Multimedia
Being a consumer of Spanish or Portuguese-language media (film, music, news) is both a means to an end, and an end in and of itself. You can watch and listen to Spanish or Portuguese language materials for the purpose of practicing your language skills, and also practice for the purpose of being able to better understand said media. Understanding what is going on in the news will help keep you informed about countries of interest, clue you in to the locals’ attitudes on current events (which may not be as readily available in the English news reports), and help you better understand regional dialects. Listening to music and watching films will help you tune your ear to the language and understand slang/idioms, in addition to the fact that being able to watch/listen to these mediums is just plain enjoyable! The music isn’t all salsa and samba… you can listen to rock, pop, country and more music genres in Spanish and Portuguese!
Business/Careers
News flash: increased language proficiency may lead to better career opportunities in your future! Whether you want to look at switching career fields, are planning to go back to school in the future, or would like to look for a new job, improved Spanish and Portuguese proficiency is going to give you an edge. High scores on proficiency tests will give your resume a boost, and can give you an “in” for jobs that may need you to serve in bilingual or multilingual capacities from time-to-time.
Politics/History
Proficiency in Spanish and/or Portuguese will allow you access to materials (such as online news articles, statistics, and interviews) about Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries that may not be readily available in English. You will be able to research political/historical topics in two languages, and this may be useful for your background knowledge on certain countries that you may deal with as part of your job. Your increased familiarity with the geography of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries will be useful for both personal and business travel.
And never forget...
“Any time you think some other language is strange,
remember that yours is just as strange; you’re just used to it.”
-Anonymous