Purpose: You will practice your listening and speaking skills in Spanish by listening to a recording about a Spanish instructor’s preferences and experiences. All of the topics will use verbs that function like gustar. You will then ask about others and share information about your own life and preferences with your classmates.

Task: This activity has four parts.

1. An initial listening activity
2. An audio recording of questions for your peers
3. An audio response to two peers
4. Written summaries in Spanish of your peers’ answers

Paso 1. Listen to the following recording about the Spanish instructor’s preferences and experiences.

Paso 2. Choose three questions from the options below that you would like to ask your classmates. Using a computer or a voice memo function on a smartphone, record your questions in Spanish in a single audio file (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording), and post your questions in Spanish to the discussion board. Others will be able to hear your questions in Spanish, just as you can hear theirs.

1. ¿Qué tipo de música te gusta mucho? ¿Qué tipo de música no te gusta para nada (at all)?
2. ¿Te duelen frecuentemente los pies (feet)? ¿Te duelen los ojos (eyes) al final del día? ¿Por qué?
3. ¿Qué te encanta hacer en las vacaciones? ¿Por qué?
4. ¿Qué te molesta más de tu universidad o tu trabajo? ¿Por qué?
5. ¿Te gusta la casa o residencia donde vives ahora? ¿Por qué?

Paso 3. Listen to the questions of two peers in your class. Then, record a single audio file for each peer in which you answer their questions in Spanish (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording).

Paso 4. Listen to the responses your peers share to the questions you asked on your original post. Write a summary of the information that they shared with you in Spanish as a comment to their post under your original post. Since you will be taking about your peers, don’t forget to change the indirect object pronoun that go with verbs like “gustar” (me/ te/ le/ nos/ os/ les).

Criteria: The components of this activity add up to 100%.

Pasos 1 & 2. 30% of the grade from this activity will be earned here. You will hear a Spanish instructor tell information about her preferences and experiences. You will then choose three questions from the list to ask your peers in Spanish. Record 3 questions in Spanish in a single audio file and post it to the discussion board (if you make mistakes, it is okay and expected; start over from the beginning of the sentence and keep recording). Each question is worth 10%.

Paso 3. 40% of the grade from this activity will be earned here. Choose two peers and listen to the questions they asked you. After listening to your peers’ questions, you will record unique responses in a single audio file, one file for each peer. You will then post your responses to the three questions as a response to two peers’ original posts. Each recording is worth 20% and should include information about all three of the questions they asked.

Paso 4. 30% of the grade from this activity will be earned here. After you listen to the responses of your peers uploaded to your original post, you will write a summary in Spanish under their comment to your original post. Each summary in Spanish is worth 15%. Don’t forget to change the indirect object pronoun that go with verbs like “gustar” (me/ te/ le/ nos/ os/ les) when you are writing your summaries on your peers’ posts.

Ejemplo:

Hasan listens to the recording of the Spanish instructor. He then records the three questions he has chosen in Spanish and uploads them to the discussion board. He has earned 30% of the points for this assignment.

Hasan then finds two peers, Cari and Ayesha, and he listens to the three questions they each chose to ask. He takes notes and prepares his responses to those questions. He then records two audio files, one for Cari and one for Ayesha, in which he answers their questions. He posts each as a response to their original comment. He has earned 40% of the points for this assignment.

To wrap up, Hasan listens to the responses that two of his peers, Bedour and Cari, left under his original post. He then writes a summary in English about what he heard. He understood Bedour perfectly and was able to write a summary, but he was confused about some of the things Cari said. Hasan writes a summary about Cari’s response to the best of his ability and also asks for clarification. He writes, “Hi Cari. Thanks for answering my questions. I learned that you like to go to the beach for vacation and that you like your apartment, but I didn’t understand what bothers you most about your job. Can you clarify that for me?”  Hasan has earned 30% of the points for this assignment for his summaries.