Thursday, December 8, 2011

Buy Gift Cards for Spanish Classes and Receive 15% Credit

Gift Cards for Spanish Classes

For any Amount and 

Good for Any Salud Program

• Buy a gift card and receive 15% credit.

• Gift cards available in electronic and card formats.

• Gift cards may be used for group classes or private / semi-private classes.

To view upcoming winter class schedule, go to http://saludspanish.com/groupclasses.cfm.

Contact Sarah to purchase cards at sarah@saludspanish.com or 360-383-7002.

¡Gracias y felices fiestas! Happy holidays!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Spanish Review Series This Week and Next!

Join us for a fun review of VERBS and PRONOUNS at any or all of the review sessions down below! All sessions are held at Salud Language Center (1315 11th St., Bellingham)

End-of-Year Review Sessions - $20/session:

  • Tues, Nov 15, 9:15-10:30am, ¡VERBOS! Verb review, Salud Language Ctr

  • Wednesday, Nov 16, 5:15-6:30pm, ¡VERBOS! Verb review, Salud Language Ctr

  • Tues, Nov 22, 9:15-10:30am, ¡Pronombres! Pronouns, Salud Language Ctr 

  • Wednesday, Nov 23, 5:15-6:30pm, ¡Pronombres! Pronouns, Salud Language Ctr 

 

Email or call 360-383-7002 to sign up. Thanks!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

"Mexico 2011" - October 22 at Salud Language Center

Eric Durán will be presenting "Mexico 2011" at Salud Language & Community Center on October 22, 2:00-4:00pm. He will be highlighting intelligent travel and cultural tips, while dispelling the idea that Mexico is too dangerous to visit. Presentation will be in English. To register, contact Eric Durán directly at duraneric@comcast.net.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Bilingual Preschool Story Time at Village Books

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and bring your preschooler to Village Books' Bilingual Story Time. Listen to stories and rhymes in Spanish and English.

When: Thursday, September 29, 11:00-11:30am.

Where: Village Books Reading Gallery, 1200 11th St., Bellingham

 

http://www.villagebooks.com/village-books-bilingual-preschool-storytime-09/29/11

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Salud Spanish for Health Care Workshops!

Workshop #1: Spanish for ER Workshop

Dates/Times: Monday and Wednesday, September 12 and 14, 12:00-3:00pm (6 Contact Hours)

Place: PeaceHealth St. Joseph Hospital, HEC Building

Cost: $125 (includes packet)

Objective: To learn essential Spanish vocabulary and phrases common in the Emergency Room, in order to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients on a basic level, while addressing several cultural differences.

 

Workshop #2: Spanish for Health Care (General) Workshop

Dates/Times: Monday and Wednesday, September 20 and 22, 6:00-9:00pm (6 Contact Hours)

Place: PeaceHealth St. Joseph Hospital, HEC Building

Cost: $125 (includes packet)

Objective: To learn essential Spanish vocabulary and phrases common in the health care environment, in order to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients on a basic level, while addressing several cultural differences.

 

Workshop #3: Spanish for Health Care (General) Workshop

Dates/Times: Tuesday, Wednesday, Tuesday, October 11, 13, 18, 12:00-3:00pm (6 Contact Hours)

Place: Skagit Valley Hospital, Shuksan Room

Cost: $125 (includes packet)

Objective: To learn essential Spanish vocabulary and phrases common in the health care environment, in order to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients on a basic level, while addressing several cultural differences.

 

REGISTER HERE

Contact Sarah Rowan at 360-383-7002 or sarah@saludspanish.com if you have any questions.

Now Registering for Fall Spanish Classes!

Register now for Fall Spanish Classes!

• Beginner to Advanced 2-, 4- and 8-Week conversation
courses for adults

• Wednesday elementary early release program

• Spanish workshops for health care, counselors and educators

To view schedule, open attached pdf or go to www.saludspanish.com.

Questions? Contact Sarah Rowan at 360-383-7002 or sarah@saludspanish.com.


Fall11Sched.pdf Download this file

Friday, August 12, 2011

Last Spanish Camp Next Week!

1-Week Spanish Camp for Kids Ages 5-13
Aug 15-19, Monday-Friday, 9:00a.m.-3:00p.m. (Full- and half-day options)
Salud Language Center, 1315 11th St.

Your kids will love learning Spanish while they enjoy lots of fun summer-time activities, like exploring the great outdoors, art and music. All camps will start and end at the Salud Language Center in Fairhaven.

$220 (full-day), $145 (half-day) - 10% discount for siblings

REGISTER HERE

or call Sarah at 360-383-7002 for more information.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Summer Spanish Camps for Kids Ages 4-13!

1-Week Spanish Camps for Kids
Monday-Friday, 9:00a.m.-3:00p.m.

Salud Language Center, 1315 11th St.

Your kids will love learning Spanish while they enjoy lots of fun summer-time activities, like exploring the great outdoors, art and music. All camps will start and end at the Salud Language Center in Fairhaven.

Session 1: July 18-22
Session 2:
August 15-19


Age Groups (subject to change): 4-6, 7-9, 10-13

$220 (full-day), $145 (half-day) - 10% discount for siblings

REGISTER HERE

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Tacos in the Street tomorrow!

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Mataio_flat

'Art Walk' this Friday night... 

...is going to be delicious!!!


Craftsmen of all kinds have tools of their trade. Some tools are essential others are specialty tools only used for specific elements of the job.  The latter are the types of equipment that go on your wish list and may never actually make it into your tool bag.  Mataio recently packed his essentials--a bag full of knives and things--to head to New York for a week of working at Blue Hill Stone Barns in Tarrytown.  While he was there he worked long hours processing hundreds of pounds of vegetables, making a few thousand cookies, plating courses to be sent out to the dining room and drooling over the specialty equipment available to him in their state of the art kitchen.  Sometimes the tools we drool over are less sophisticated.  In our travels we always look to the cooks in each region to see what types of equipment they use.  Quite often we are introduced to new gadgets from that region that are responsible for some fabulous street food.  More than once we have lugged home a heavy cooking instrument that we just could not do without.  

Five years ago we found ourselves in Mexico staying with friends who lived near Punta di Mita.  They took us to all the best taco places and we ate our fill of fabulous salsas and tacos.  In Sayulita we were introduced to tacos al pastor.  The story goes that the Mexican people adopted this style of spit-grilling meats from Lebanese immigrants moving to Mexico in the 1930s.  They built a similar vertical spit to those used for gyros and shawarma.  The spit sits on a grill and is layered with marinated pork and capped with pineapple that drips down on the meat below. The pork and pineapple are then shaved off into warm taco shells and served.  Mataio was so infatuated with these tacos and the fun tool they were using to cook the pork on, that he stood by the pastor and ate 14 tacos until he got the cook to talk to him.  The next day we drove around to little towns all around the area looking for an iron worker that made the rotisseries.  We finally found one in a courtyard full of beautiful iron sculptures, arches, fireplace grates and other implements.  Mataio had to have it and so we packaged it up in cardboard and bubblewrap and carried it through customs the next day as we got on the plane.  

This Friday, June 3rd, it's time to pull the pastor spit out of the bag of tricks and have some tacos in the street!  It's Art Walk night downtown and we will be throwing a party in the street out in front of Ciao Thyme!  If you missed our POP-UP Restaurant 'Pizza Fever' night last month, do not let this one slip by.  We will be serving up fabulous Mexican flavors (with some Ciao Thyme flair), Mexican beers and sangria.  Items will be priced individually and you can get in to the event for a minimum of $15/ person.  Buy as many tickets as you like and choose what you want to spend them on tacos, pollo dorado, ceviche, salad, guacamole and more.  Spread the word and join us for some fun, Friday night from 6:00pm-10:00pm.
 

*Note to Parents - Children are welcome - they like Tacos in the Street too!

Reservations are gladly accepted - We love to know who, how many, and when you are coming!

If you have any questions - give us a call at 360.733.1267 or 360.927.4890

 

 

 

Ciao Thyme / In the Kitchen / Incognito
207 Unity Street
Bellingham, WA 98225

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Recipes for Cinco de Mayo or anytime!

Puebla Chicken and Potato Stew

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/cincodemayo/puebla_history/recipes/food/views/Puebla-Chicken-and-Potato-Stew-109026#ixzz1LUMW9H00

 

  • 2 lb chicken thighs (with skin and bone)
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 large white onion, quartered
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 garlic cloves (not peeled)
  • 1 (14-oz) can whole tomatoes in juice
  • 4 teaspoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo*
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
  • 1 (1 1/2-oz) link dried Spanish chorizo* (spicy cured pork sausage), finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 lb boiling potatoes
  • 2 oz crumbled queso fresco, ricotta salata, or farmer cheese (1/2 cup)
  • Accompaniments: avocado slices; warm corn tortillas


Bring chicken, water, 2 onion quarters, and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil, covered, in a 4- to 5-quart pot over moderately high heat. Boil 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand, covered, until chicken is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate, reserving broth with onion. When cool enough to handle, coarsely shred chicken, discarding skin and bones.

While chicken is cooking, heat a dry well-seasoned small cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until hot, then brown garlic and remaining 2 onion quarters on all sides, turning with tongs, about 5 minutes. Peel garlic and transfer with onion to a blender. Add tomatoes with juice, chiles, and oregano, then purée until smooth.

Cook chorizo in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat, stirring, until fat is rendered, about 2 minutes. Carefully add purée (it will splatter and steam) and cook, stirring frequently, until thick, about 10 minutes.

Peel potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch pieces, then add to reserved broth with remaining teaspoon salt. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Add potatoes and onions to chorizo mixture along with 2 cups broth (save remainder for another use). Stir in chicken and simmer 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with cheese.

 

 

Soft Fried Tortillas with Tomatillo Salsa and Chicken

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/holidays/cincodemayo/puebla_history/recipes/food/views/Soft-Fried-Tortillas-with-Tomatillo-Salsa-and-Chicken-109433#ixzz1LUMq1LLO

For tomatillo salsa

  • 1/2 lb fresh tomatillos, husks discarded and tomatillos rinsed and quartered
  • 3 fresh green serrano chiles, coarsely chopped (including seeds)
  • 1/4 cup chopped white onion
  • 3 garlic cloves, quartered
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

For chalupas

  • 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 12 (4-inch) corn tortillas (see cooks' note, below)
  • 1 cup shredded cooked chicken (from 1 chicken breast half)
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons crema or crème fraîche
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped white onion
  • 1/3 cup finely crumbled queso fresco (Mexican fresh cheese)

Make salsa:
Purée tomatillos, chiles, onion, garlic, salt, and water in a blender until smooth.

Heat oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then carefully add tomatillo purée (oil will splatter) and simmer, stirring, until thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro and simmer 1 minute. Transfer to a small bowl.

Make chalupas:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 200°F.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in cleaned dried skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then briefly cook tortillas, 3 at a time, until softened and hot but still pale, about 10 seconds per side, adding more oil if necessary. Transfer tortillas with tongs to paper towels to drain briefly, then to a large shallow baking pan in oven to keep warm, arranging tortillas in one layer (overlapping slightly if necessary) and covering pan with foil.

Spread each warm tortilla with about 1 teaspoon salsa, then top sparingly with a few shreds of chicken. Thin crema with a little water and drizzle over chicken, then sprinkle with onion and cheese. Serve immediately.

 

 

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tomatillo-Salsa-Verde/Detail.aspx

 

  • 1 pound tomatillos, husked1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 serrano chile peppers, minced
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • 2 cups water

 

Directions

 Place tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chile pepper into a saucepan. Season with cilantro, oregano, cumin, and salt; pour in water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the tomatillos are soft, 10 to 15 minutes.

 Using a blender, carefully puree the tomatillos and water in batches until smooth.

 

 

 

 

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Read about the history in Spanish and English...

To view both English and Spanish versions, go to http://www.nacnet.org/assunta/spa5may.htm.
Cinco de mayo de 1862 - La Batalla de Puebla¡Viva México! ¡Viva Juárez! Viva el 5 de mayo!

Los mexicano-americanos celebran el 5 de mayo, especialmente en los estados de California, Arizona, Nuevo México y Texas. Los habitantes de estos estados tuvieron una participación muy importante y contribuyeron al derrocamiento del Imperio de Maximiliano de Habsburgo (de Austria). La Monarquía Imperial fue impuesta desde 1864 hasta 1867 en México por Napoleón III Emperador de Francia (sobrino de Napoleón Bonaparte) y por el grupo conservador mexicano del "Club de Notables".

Estas sociedades mexicano-norteamericanas se formaron después de la guerra contra México (1846-1848) como respuesta a las atrocidades cometidas por las tropas americanas que ocuparon las tierras anexadas por los Estados Unidos de América al terminar la guerra. La distribución de estas tierras fueron de acuerdo con el Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo y con el pago de ($15,000,000.00) quince millones de dólares. Estas sociedades establecieron una guardia de vigilantes, con la finalidad de proteger sus hogares hasta que el orden se estableció en la parte suroeste de los Estados Unidos. Entonces se volvieron en sociedades de tipo social. Fueron estas sociedades las que contribuyeron en gran parte con financiamiento para el Gobierno Constitucional Mexicano en su lucha contra la Monarquía Imperial Mexicana.

En 1858, Benito Juárez fue elegido Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos para defender la Constitución establecida el 5 de febrero de 1857. Después de varias luchas internas, Juárez fue reelecto en 1861. Debido a la inestabilidad financiera, causada por la guerra mexicano-americana, el Congreso Mexicano acordó suspender los pagos de la deuda exterior durante dos años.

Los acreedores en Europa (Inglaterra, España y Francia) decidieron que la intervención sería la mejor manera de cobrarse la deuda. Francia tenía su propia agenda, la cual era desconocida por Inglaterra y España. Napoleón III, Emperador del Segundo Imperio Francés quería establecer una monarquía favorable para Francia, y asimismo, quería disolver el Gobierno Constitucional Mexicano. Sus planes de grandiosidad consistían en extender esta monarquía hasta Centro y Sudamérica para proveer de materia prima y comercio a Europa y al mismo tiempo estar cerca de la República de los Estados Unidos la cual crecía en poder después de anexar California, Nuevo México y Arizona.

Los designios descabellados de Francia fueron fomentados y confabulados por los terratenientes plutocráticos y los conservadores de México que temían perder su poderío y sus tierras al nuevo gobierno constitucional del Presidente Juárez. El 8 de diciembre de 1861, los poderes europeos desembarcaron en el Puerto de Veracruz y lo ocuparon, siendo España la primera en llegar. Para el 11 de abril de 1862 España e Inglaterra se enteraron de las intenciones de Francia y abandonaron su apoyo embarcándose hacia Europa.

Mientras tanto, en la ciudad de México, el Presidente Juárez (indio zapoteca que se había licenciado como abogado y había estudiado para el sacerdocio) tomaba medidas para contrarrestar la invasión: "El gobierno de la República...en vista de la declaración de los plenipotenciarios franceses, no puede ni debe hacer otra cosa que rechazar la fuerza con la fuerza y defender a la nación de la agresión injusta con la que se la amenaza. ...Tengamos fe en la justicia de nuestra causa... haciendo triunfar no sólo a nuestra patria, sino a los principios de respeto y de inviolabilidad de la soberanía de las naciones" (1). El Presidente Juárez declaró la ley marcial en todas las áreas ocupadas por los franceses en estado de sitio.

Cuando llegaron las tropas de refuerzo francesas, el ejército se componía de (7.000) siete mil soldados que salieron en la ruta de (225) doscientas veinticinco millas hacia la ciudad de México a principios de abril con la ilusión de que los mexicanos les darían la bienvenida. Esta ilusión fue nutrida por Juan N. Almonte, un reaccionario mexicano, y por el Conde Dubois de Saligny, el embajador francés, nombrador por Napoleón. El Presidente Juárez le dió la orden al General Ignacio Zaragoza de detener el avance de las fuerzas armadas francesas en los fuertes de Loreto y Guadalupe cerca de la ciudad de Puebla. Zaragoza contaba con sólo (2,000) dos mil hombres.

El 5 de mayo de 1862, los cañones resonaron y los rifles dispararon y más de (1,000) mil soldados franceses cayeron muertos. Los mexicanos habían ganado la batalla, pero no la guerra. Sin embargo, esta fecha es la que simboliza el valor mexicano ante una armada tan formidable.

Para junio de 1864, Maximiliano de Habsburgo y su esposa Carlota (austriacos) llegaron a la ciudad de México para tomar posesión del recién formado Imperio Mexicano y fueron coronados como el Emperador y la Emperatriz de México. Aunque Maximiliano organizó la administración del gobierno, liberó a los indios de la esclavitud, y desarrolló los recursos naturales del país, no pudo evitar la oposición de los patriotas mexicanos. Los republicanos, al mando de Benito Juárez, no aceptaron la intervención extranjera. Se refugiaron en el norte del país y les pidieron ayuda a los californianos y a otras sociedades mexicano-norteamericanas con financiamiento y voluntarios para la lucha.

Finalmente, Maximiliano fue derrotado y capturado el 15 de mayo de 1867; fue juzgado por una corte marcial y ejecutado por una escuadra de fusilamiento el 19 de junio en el Cerro de las Campanas con sus generales Miguel Miramón y Tomás Mejía.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Now Registering for Spanish for Health Care Workshop April 29-30

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Spanish for Health Care Workshop

 

If you are a nurse, doctor, clinician, PT, OT, scheduler, or any other medical professional, you won't want to miss this opportunity!

 

The Salud Spanish for Health Care Workshop will teach you to do the following things in Spanish:

 

• Greet and converse with your patients

• Schedule appointments

• Assess physical condition of your

• Discuss pain - where, how much, and when

• State what you're going to do

• Give medical instructions

 

To view schedule, open attached pdf or go to www.saludspanish.com.

 

If you have any questions, call or email me. Thanks!

 

Sarah Rowan

360-383-7002

www.saludspanish.com

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Census news good on diversity, but economics may be another matter

The fact that Whatcom County's population is growing is not disputable.

What is often disputed in our county, though, is whether that is a good thing. Smart and well-meaning people can disagree about the details: how much we should grow, where the population should live, and how we should manage to preserve things we love about our community now with so much inevitable change in our future.

What we don't think should be in dispute is that some change can be a positive thing.

There has, in fact, been positive growth news in the early releases of information from the 2010 U.S. Census, which showed our community is seeing increasing racial and ethnic diversity.

People who hate "political correctness" will likely bristle at the suggestion that diversity matters. People are people, they might say, so what does it matter what a person's lineage is?

We agree to a certain extent. After all, race is a human construct - one that scientists are proving less and less interesting and useful when it comes to really describing people. With increased understanding of DNA, for example, geneticists have discovered there are more variances among people that we assign to a particular race than there are between people assigned to different races. We are all a lot more alike than the subdivisions of race would have you believe.

But that is science, and human beings are also social. Through the centuries we have lived many different experiences, learning many different things.

We believe strongly that the more we mix together and share our experiences and knowledge the more we all can grow. When you meet someone from a different background with an open mind, there are opportunities to grow socially, economically and spiritually. You can learn a lot and you can share a lot too.

Whatcom County has had that kind of mixing historically - first among different native peoples, then among settlers and natives, and among settlers from many European backgrounds. But our mixing had slowed in the latter half of the 20th century and previous U.S. Censuses have shown a huge majority of people in our communities identified as Caucasian from European-heritage nationalities.

Only in the last 30 years has that begun to change.

First, starting with the 1980 Census, the government created a special category, "Hispanic," for people from Spanish-speaking countries. It didn't matter whether the person was Caucasian/European, black or Native American - if they were Spanish-speaking, they could also check "Hispanic" on the Census.

That non-racial category has helped the U.S. trace the fastest-growing segment of American population. In Whatcom County, people identifying themselves as "Hispanic" have made up the fastest-growing segment here in the past two Censuses.

Nearly 8 percent of our population now identifies as Hispanic (or Latino, a similar description), with a total of 15,756 people marking that on their Census form in 2010, compared to 8,687 in 2000 and just 3,246 in 1990.

Other minority groups have grown as well, including the number of people identifying themselves under the black/African American and Asian racial categories.

We'll say again that we think that is a good thing for our community. It's not that any one person is better than another; it's that we all gain collectively by learning more from each other's life experiences. And the broader our influences are, the more we can learn.

 

AGE DATA MAY BE LINKED TO ECONOMICS

We expect more interesting information about our community in the future.

The early-release breakdown of ages from the 2010 Census was fascinating in that it said that we have fewer people under age 18, as a percentage of the population, than we have had in the past.

That trend may be partially connected to what will likely be sad news when information about our economic statistics arrives later this year. Our community is still wage-poor compared to our neighbors in King, Snohomish and even Skagit counties. We are sure the Census will confirm that.

Meanwhile, statistics from the 2000 Census, and state projections throughout the last decade, seem to show that when people reach the age when they are having children, they move to places with better economic opportunities.

State Office of Financial Management Projections for 2010 show a smaller percentage of the population between the age of 30 and 44 (18 percent) in Whatcom County compared to both the state (21 percent) and the nation (20 percent).

We suspect fuller data from the Census will back up those state projections, hopefully giving rise to a discussion in our community about how we create more family-wage jobs that help keep working-age people in our community. An economy cannot function on college students and senior citizens alone.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/03/19/1925500/census-news-good-on-divers...

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Spanish Classes Start Next Week-Register Now!

For Adults:

 8-Week Beginner Spanish 1 (10 hours) - $170: 

Wednesdays, 5:30-6:45pm, March 16-May 4, Salud Language Center

Thursdays, 12:00-1:15pm, March 17-May 5, Salud Language Center 


2-Week Intensive Beginner Spanish 1 (9 hours) - $153: 

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:30-11:00am, March 14-25, Salud Language Center 


4-Week Introductory Spanish (4 hours) - $60: 

Tuesdays, 11:00am-12:00pm, March 14-April 4, Salud Language Center 

Thursdays, 2:30-3:30pm, March 10-March 31, Lettered Streets Cofeehouse


8-Week Beginner Spanish 2 (10 hours) - $170: 

Mondays, 11:30am-12:45pm, March 14-May 2, Community Food Co-Op Downtown

Wednesdays, 7:00-8:15pm, March 16-May 4, Salud Language Center


8-Week Intermediate 1 (10 hours) - $170: 

Mondays, 1:00-2:15pm, March 14-May 2, Community Food Co-Op

Tuesdays, 7:00-8:15, March 15-May 3, Salud Language Center


8-Week Intermediate/Advanced Discussion (10 hours) - $170: 

Mondays, 7:00-8:15pm, March 14-May 2, Salud Language Center 

 

 

For Kids:

6-Week Spanish for Kids (Ages 4-6) - $78

Mondays, 4:00-4:40pm, March 14-April 18, Salud Language Center

 

1-Week Spanish Camps for Kids (Ages 4-12) - $220 (full day), $145 (half day): 

Mon-Fri, 9:00-3:00, June 27-July 1, July 18-22, Aug 15-19, Salud Language Center 

 

 

 

For more information or to view full class schedule, go to www.SaludSpanish.com or call 360-383-7002.

 

 


 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Speaking 2 languages may delay getting Alzheimer's

Speaking 2 languages may delay getting Alzheimer's

WASHINGTON -- Mastering a second language can pump up your brain in ways that seem to delay getting Alzheimer's disease later on, scientists said Friday.

Never learned to habla or parlez? While the new research focuses mostly on the truly long-term bilingual, scientists say even people who tackle a new language later in life stand to gain.

The more proficient you become, the better, but "every little bit helps," said Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at York University in Toronto.

Much of the study of bilingualism has centered on babies, as scientists wondered why simply speaking to infants in two languages allows them to learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. Their brains seem to become more flexible, better able to multitask. As they grow up, their brains show better "executive control," a system key to higher functioning - as Bialystok puts it, "the most important part of your mind."

But does that mental juggling while you're young translate into protection against cognitive decline when you're old?

Bialystok studied 450 Alzheimer's patients, all of whom showed the same degree of impairment at the time of diagnosis. Half are bilingual - they've spoken two languages regularly for most of their lives. The rest are monolingual.

The bilingual patients had Alzheimer's symptoms and were diagnosed between four and five years later than the patients who spoke only one language, she told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Being bilingual does nothing to prevent Alzheimer's disease from striking. But once the disease does begin its silent attack, those years of robust executive control provide a buffer so that symptoms don't become apparent as quickly, Bialystok said.

"They've been able to cope with the disease," she said.

Her work supports an earlier study from other researchers that also found a protective effect.

What is it about being bilingual that enhances that all-important executive control system?

Both languages are essentially turned on all the time, but the brain learns to inhibit the one you don't need, said psychology professor Teresa Bajo of the University of Granada in Spain. That's pretty constant activity.

That's not the only area. University of British Columbia psychologist Janet Werker studies infants exposed to two languages from birth to see why they don't confuse the two, and says bilingual babies learn very early to pay attention better.

Werker tested babies in Spain who were growing up learning both Spanish and Catalan. She showed the babies videos of women speaking languages they'd never heard - English and French - but with the sound off. By measuring the tots' attention span, Werker concluded that babies could distinguish between English and French simply by watching the speakers' facial cues. It could have been the different lip shapes.

"It looks like French people are always kissing," she joked, while the English "th" sound evokes a distinctive lip-in-teeth shape.

Whatever the cues, monolingual babies couldn't tell the difference, Werker said Friday at the meeting.

But what if you weren't lucky enough to be raised bilingual? Scientists and educators know that it becomes far harder to learn a new language after puberty.

Partly that's because adults' brains are so bombarded with other demands that we don't give learning a new language the same attention that a young child does, Bialystok said.

At the University of Maryland, scientists are studying how to identify adults who would be good candidates to master a new language, and then what types of training are best. Having a pretty strong executive control system, like the lifelong bilinguals have, is among the good predictive factors, said Amy Weinberg, deputy director of the university's Center for Advanced Study of Language.

But people don't have to master a new language to benefit some, Bialystok said. Exercising your brain throughout life contributes to what's called cognitive reserve, the overall ability to withstand the declines of aging and disease. That's the basis of the use-it-or-lose-it advice from aging experts who also recommend such things as crossword puzzles to keep your brain nimble.

"If you start to learn at 40, 50, 60, you are certainly keeping your brain active," she said.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD
The Associated Press 
Friday, February 18, 2011; 4:08 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/18/AR20110218043...

Friday, February 4, 2011

New Salud Language & Community Center in Fairhaven!

Salud Spanish Programs has opened the Salud Language & Community Center in Fairhaven!

1315 11th Street, Bellingham, WA
(located in the McKenzie Alley between the Rustic Coffee Bar and Flats Tapas Restaurant)

 

New at this location:

• More Spanish classes offered for adults and children

• Other collaborative educational programs (language, music, art, etc.)

• Affordable space to rent for meetings, workshops, conferences, etc. (1,300 sq. ft.)

 

For upcoming classes at this location and other, go to www.SaludSpanish.com.



 


 

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

8-Week Beginner Spanish 1 Course begins tonight - Register now!

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Register now for 8-Week Beginner Spanish 1 

Begins tonight!

 

at the Salud Language Center in Fairhaven

1315 11th Street (McKenzie Alley)

Between Flats and Rustic Cafe

 

Tuesdays, 7:00-8:15pm

January 18-March 8

$170 (includes materials)

10% companion discount

 

To register, contact Sarah Rowan at

360-383-7002 or Sarah@SaludSpanish.com