Bienvenidos to the next Spanish installment of our ongoing ‘Polyglot Austin’ blog series where we celebrate the city’s cultural diversity while taking an interactive approach to language learning!
Meet Eugenio del Bosque, Director Ejecutivo of the local Austin non-profit, Cine Las Americas. Watch these beginner and intermediate-level videos as Eugenio explains (en español) what he does at Cine and the challenges Cine faces – subtitled, transcripts provided!
An international event that unites amazing films, talented filmmakers and passionate audiences in Austin, Texas
De veras amamos Cine! Freestyle + Cine = Match made in heaven! Our friends at Cine Las Americas work day in and day out to bring Latin American films—films made by or about Latinos or indigenous peoples of the Americas—to life in ATX. Not only do we love how Cine promotes multiculturalism in our city by “creating a truly Pan-American cinematic experience”, their predominantly Spanish language films (some Portuguese), like Memorias de un soldado and Mateo, engage our students all year long, offering great language practice and development.
Film is absolutely our favorite medium for language acquisition – ¡Gracias, Cine! Just ask Keeley Steenson, the Outreach and Operations Manager of Cine, who is also one of Freestyle’s Spanish students; La extraordinaria Keeley is in our intermediate series which embraces the cinematic approach to language learning.
Eugenio del Bosque, while busy running Cine, graciously offers his time to our students at our annual ‘Summer Session Guest Speaker Series’
¡Vámonos! Watch, listen, read transcripts – have all kinds of fun! Then, answer our questions (en español) in the comment area; one of our teachers will get back to you.
Beginner Level
Beginners, to get the most out of this exercise, watch it first without sound, while reading the subtitles. Entonces, watch the video again with sound. See how multiple viewings of segments of the video improve your reading & listening comprehension.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT (in ‘about’ section)
Questions:
1. ¿En qué trabaja Eugenio?
2. ¿Qué le gusta a Eugenio de Austin?
Intermediate Level
Q: ¿Me puedes describir un día típico para Ud., para ti en el Cine las Americas? / Eugenio: Bueno lo que a mi me gusta de Cine las Americas es que no hay un día típico, como es una organización sin fines de lucro, es una organización que nos dedicamos a la promoción del cine y de las artes. Siempre hay algo nuevo. Típicamente es mucho trabajo de oficina, mucha cuestión de comunicación con la audiencia, con los miembros, con patrocinadores; números, siempre contabilidad y presupuestos; postulaciones para apoyos de gobierno y corporativos y bueno, siempre las películas ¿No? Siempre buscando películas ó tratando de ver películas.
Q: Y ¿Cómo consigues las películas? / Eugenio: Bueno las películas, nosotros abrimos una convocatoria para el festival, siempre estamos tratando de ver películas pero para conseguir películas nuevas…
CLICK HERE FOR FULL TRANSCRIPT (in ‘about’ section)
Questions:
1. ¿Qué tipo de organización es Cine Las Americas?
2. ¿Qué es una convocatoria? Por qué Cine las Americas abre convocatorias?
3. ¿Cuántas películas al año ve el comité de Cine las Americas?
Have we mentioned how much we love Cine?! Have you seen their Hecho en Tejas film panorama?! They even have after-school programs that provide “a bi-lingual space to bring the tools of media creation and distribution to a widely diverse group of students within the Austin Independent School District and beyond.” Talk about diversity in the community! We can’t think of a more worthy organization in Austin to support! If you also want Cine to continue to bring Austin multicultural cinema, be sure to support their ‘Save Cine Las Americas’ campaign by August 31st!
The Freestyle Lifestyle
We do language learning a little differently at Freestyle!
Our one-of-a-kind approach to second language acquisition uses technology and interactive media in a way that brings the most recent, relevant, high-usage vocabulary and everyday expressions to our students in an entertaining and effective way. Join us as we continue to revolutionize language learning: NEXT Open House Fri. Aug. 22nd 6pm-8pm at 801 Rio Grande!
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