One dream of language teachers has been to find real life situations that would coincide perfectly with grammar exercises. Such a dream might not be realizable because real life is not perfectly coordinated with grammar lessons.

However, the abundance of realia on the Internet does seem to make it an ideal means to initiate students to the cultural traditions that are part of the Hispanic culture’s daily life and heritage, such as advertisements, films, songs, art, news, and cartoons.

Because of the very fact that real life, as well as realia on the Internet are not perfectly coordinated with grammar lessons, this creates a more authentic and challenging learning experience for the students. Students will be constantly asked to recall grammar and vocabulary previously learned. For example, knowledge of the future tense gained in the textbook takes on urgency for the student who is surfing the Net to do the weather forecast for Madrid as a class assignment. Similarly, color vocabulary learned in class take on new life when the student has to describe a painting by Salvador Dali on the Net. The subjunctive becomes real when the student has to decipher an ad on Century 21-Spain's website: Buscamos una casa que tenga dos pisos...., etc.

There are twenty eight (28) assignments, each on a separate page. Feel free to copy and paste any or all of them onto your personal web page or web site. Your students should click on each assignment, print it out and complete the questions, then evaluate the assignment. They then turn in the exercises and evaluations to you, the instructor.
 

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Useful Web Sites for Spanish Language

www.studyspanish.com  Great site for Spanish online exercises.

www.travlang.com/languages (fun site to visit-includes useful categories for vocabulary (ie. numbers, frequently visited locations , basic Spanish words...) with follow up self-quizzes.

www.cyberspain.com (this site is great for Spanish culture, as well as highliting major city sites, major Spanish painters, fiestas, food and much more. . .)

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