Today, Marcos and I spoke about how important is to read in Spanish. I explained: Reading in Spanish is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the language. This is because when you read, you are contextualizing all the vocabulary and grammar you have already learned. Also, reading allows you to subconsciously learn and retain new words and phrases. It is a fast way to improve your vocabulary use in both speaking and writing.
Reading allows you to learn anytime you want throughout the day. You can read before bed, on the way to work or during your lunch break. And you don’t just have to read books either! If you are crunched for time, you can pick up a newspaper or a magazine, or even read labels(shampoo bottles or other household goods). Without even realizing it, you will start to learn new words.
Another reason reading when learning a language is so important is because it helps you to learn cultural expressions and idioms. If you only learn language from a textbook, you are going to sound like a textbook when you talk! This is certainly not something you want- you want to be able to show personality and engage in comfortable conversations. Then Marcos read aloud from Perdido- Chapter 3. We then completed his reading log.

Marcos worked on his End of Course Test today.

We spent our final class packing up Marcos's belongings. Marcos remains one of the most outstanding students I have worked with. I wish him great success and happiness!

We began with a review and discussion of current news stories. Next, we completed our review and discussion of Money, Banking and the Fed. The remaining class time was spent on a review of Economic Stabilization Policies by governments.

Class began with a review and discussion of current news stories. We then continued our review and discussion of Economic Instability. Inflation and Unemployment were the topics presented. Next, we began our review of Chapter 14, Money, Banking and the Fed. The characteristics and history of money were presented.

Autobiography completed...

Marcos went to Ms. Jane's book reading.

Marcos and I had a wonderful time on our last session together working with the battle rope today. I hope he continues to work on his goal of strengthening his upper body. Marcos has been a joy to work with this year.

When adding and subtracting rational expressions, we need to get a common denominator. This sometimes requires factoring to then find the least common denominator. The idea of these exercises scared Marcos a bit, but he did an excellent job! He worked on paper and on the board. I then showed him how to solve rational equations by eliminating the denominator. He had to find the Least Common Denominator, and then multiply each term of the equation by it. In cases where he had one rational term on each side of the equation, all he had to do was cross multiply, then solve the resulting equation. At times, the resulting equation is quadratic, which requires either factoring or the quadratic formula to solve. Marcos did a great job with all of the new topics!

Marcos took a final exam covering a variety of questions from throughout the course. He did an excellent job on it.