Our Spanish community

[Spoonary]

I don't know if you are all aware of the ongoing discussion about a possible French-only sub-forum which stemmed from this thread and became the 'Our French community' and 'Cette Semaine en Français' threads, but I have been thinking about it for a few days now; particularly about what rdearman wrote in the first thread I linked to.

I like the idea of a French only sub-forum and I'm willing to put it forward to moderators, but please understand that part of the reason for the success of the Spanish sub-forum is we have a core group of users who work hard to keep interest up, to post interesting questions and topics and to participate fully. While they aren't moderators, they are certainly the curators of the area and drive interesting content. Although now it appears to me anyway to have become self-sustaining.

Although we have had a few "interesting questions and topics" in the Spanish-only sub-forum, the only real active threads in there at the moment are those related to the club de lectura and the introduction thread I created. And let's be honest, the book club could just as easily live in the Multilingual Room.

To cut a long story short, I think we should perhaps consider creating a bit more content in the Spanish-only sub-forum, in order to live up to rdearman's praise. I know everyone is busy and doesn't have a constant flow of conversation topics in their head (me included), but if you do think of something you think 'our Spanish community' would be interested in discussing in Spanish, please don't be shy and let us hear it.

[aliciaftw]

Has there been luck with output types of posts in the past? Like a weekly writing topic where you write so many words (based on your level) on a particular prompt? Or a weekly speaking thread, where you post a video or audio link of yourself speaking. (once again, with a given prompt.)

I think these would be good indicators of growth for our particular TAC teams and could be a 'bonding' experience. Provided that we view each other's posts, it'd provide speaking, listening, reading, and writing practice.

[Spoonary]

Has there been luck with output types of posts in the past? Like a weekly writing topic where you write so many words (based on your level) on a particular prompt? Or a weekly speaking thread, where you post a video or audio link of yourself speaking. (once again, with a given prompt.)

Well, we did have a thread with prompts for the output challenge, but that was back when motivation for the challenge was waning, and the thread was ultimately abandoned, despite being a great idea by Arthaey.

Of course, this doesn't mean something similar wouldn't thrive now that the forum is seeing a real boom of activity. Indeed, your idea might be just what the Spanish sub-forum, if not the forum as a whole, needs.

[Stelle]

Thanks for starting this thread, Spoonary. I was fully on-board with the idea of a Spanish subforum, but I never really committed the time necessary to participate. I don't know what it is about writing in Spanish that is sooooo difficult for me.

(Although, if I'm honest, the fact that it's difficult is probably a pretty clear sign that I need to do a lot more of it in order to improve!)

We've been given a pretty unique opportunity here. It would be a shame to waste it.

OK, I'm in!

[Allison]

I'm in, as well. I definitely need more opportunities for writing in Spanish.

And I'd love a prompted output thread, like Spoonary's link to Arthaey's.

[Brun Ugle]

This is going to be a big output year for me, so I will definitely be writing more in the Spanish sub-forum. I was already planning to start a thread, but I've had loads of things to do. I just need to have some time when I can sit down and think about what I'm writing. Writing Spanish takes me a lot longer than English.

[Spoonary]

Thank you all for your input.

You're all right, writing in Spanish (or any foreign language you are not accustomed to writing in) is harder, and more time consuming. That was one of the reasons I wrote this post in English over here and not in Spanish in the sub-forum.

Of course, I, too, am going to make an effort to post more diverse content in the Spanish sub forum. Goodness knows I need the practice

[aliciaftw]

Writing prompts themselves wouldn't be hard to find. I googled, 'writing prompts for teachers' and immediately found this list: http://www.dailyteachingtools.com/journ ... ompts.html I think we'd want our prompt translated into Spanish though? Might be possible to even get ahold of common DELE questions.

Is there any interest in audio submissions too? Either just pure audio or video clips.

[arthaey]

Writing prompts themselves wouldn't be hard to find.

I maintain a writing prompts Twitter list that always has multiple prompts a day. Some are fiction prompts, some are not.

I think we'd want our prompt translated into Spanish though?

While prompts in Spanish would be cool, the prompts can be answered in Spanish even if the prompt itself isn't.

[iguanamon]

Ok, I've done my part I started two new threads today in the Español sub-forum. Still, what we really need is to somehow get the word out amongst the wider Spanish-speaking community that there is a place they can come to, to talk about language-learning in Spanish. So, drop that URL, folks (mi gente), all over social media. This is what people keep asking for "Is there a forum like "HTLAL" but in Spanish? Well, rdearman has created that opportunity here, it's up to us to make it happen. Create and participate! Spread the word!