Author: Aurora

I was born in Cuba where I studied French Literature at the University of Havana. I worked as a French teacher at the French Alliance in Havana, and later in Las Vegas where I live now. After a master's in education at UNLV, I started working as a teacher and now I work in a bilingual school where students learn English and Spanish at the same time. I speak and write in Spanish, French and English.

The “Se” in Spanish and its Difficulties in English

Usage of se in Spanish and English equivalents When I arrived in the United States, my first priority was to learn English, and one of my initial curiosities, among others, was how to say the Spanish “se” in this language I was acquiring. I asked my English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, and she calmly replied: “they”.

But how could it be they if “se” doesn’t refer to anyone in particular? Well, I gradually realized that it was they, among other forms used in English for other functions of “se”. Continue reading “The “Se” in Spanish and its Difficulties in English”

The Imperfect Tense in Spanish: a Challenge for English Students

The imperfect tense in Spanish can be complicated for English speakers, as it doesn’t have a perfect equivalent in English. While English uses “used to” or “was/were + verb -ing” to express past actions, Spanish employs a specific tense with unique conjugations. Continue reading “The Imperfect Tense in Spanish: a Challenge for English Students”

The Gender of Nouns in Spanish

Gender of nouns in SpanishKnowing the gender of nouns in Spanish is complicated for English speakers. I remember a friend who told me that when she started studying Spanish at college, she decided not to continue with this subject because she would never understand how a pencil could be masculine and a pen feminine if both objects were for writing and had more or less the same elongated shape. Good reasoning, but as I always tell my students, languages are not an exact science where two plus two equals four.

Continue reading “The Gender of Nouns in Spanish”

The Subjunctive Mood: Comparison between Spanish and English

Subjunctive in Spanish introduced by Introduction to the subjunctive mood

The subjunctive mood in Spanish is a fundamental aspect of Spanish grammar and plays a crucial role in expressing emotional states, wishes, doubts, and hypothetical situations. Unlike the indicative mood, which is used to state facts and concrete realities, the subjunctive allows for communicating uncertainty, desires, or unfulfilled conditions. Understanding the use of the subjunctive is essential for mastering the Spanish language, as its correct application significantly improves communication and cultural understanding. Continue reading “The Subjunctive Mood: Comparison between Spanish and English”

Spanish in the United States

Extra and Missing Accents

This idea came to me in the United States, where we speak Spanish with various accents, and sometimes write it without them. Where sometimes we have to think if what we’re saying in our way is correct for others and if they will understand it only partially, at best, or simply misinterpreted. That happens with our Spanish language in the United States. Continue reading “Spanish in the United States”

Fruit Bomb or Papaya to Choose

Between the Two Versions, You Choose

Fruit Bomb in Cuba, Papaya in other Countries

Known in Cuba as fruta bomba, it is called lechosa in Venezuela and papayaMexico and other countries. And what a little word this last one is. It makes any Cuban blushwould make any Cuban man or woman smile when they hear it, without daring to repeat it in public. So then, ‘fruta bomba’ or papaya?

Children can be terrible, even in kindergarten. And there went one of them, a little Cuban boy for sure, when he saw a little mammalian shark coming out of his mother’s body in a video projected in the classroom. The giggles didn’t take long to start, and the word papaya resonated from over there. It turns out that even the little Mexican kids, to whom the word papaya doesn’t mean anything malicious, were laughing complicitly, referring in Spanish to the well-known fruit. It was one of those moments of anger for the teacher, who had to remind them that we can be different, speak differently, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Period.

The Ghost of the Fruit Bomb or Papaya Appears Again

The little ghost of the fruit bomb or papaya appeared again. Another day, while the children were debating a very serious topic in front of the family members who had come to observe how they were developing in oral expression, they suddenly changed the conversation to the topic of fruits. “And why does the apple rot?”, one asked. A girl answered that it could happen after many days of being picked and worms could even appear.

“I don’t like apples, but I do like”dragon fruit, clarified another, who was joined by the little Cuban boy saying that his favorite fruit was the fruit bomb. “Fruit bomb, what’s that?” two or three asked at the same time, and even some family members looked at me intrigued. Oh boy, that word again. There I had to explain again that in Cuba, papaya is called fruit bomb, and the little Cuban boy: “And why don’t they say papaya in Cuba?” Well, because we’re all different and so is our vocabulary, and let’s get back to what we were talking about, which wasn’t precisely about fruits, I had to clarify. Okay, let’s continue. “How can we show that we’re responsible?” “I’m responsible if I help my friends in Math…” and the discussion was steered back on track, now on safer ground for me.