I've been relearning Spanish using Duolingo since January 2021 and I have an uninterrupted streak of 770 days. I really enjoy it and am so pleased to have regained so much of the vocabulary I'd lost. I get to apply the Spanish I'm relearning during my twice-monthly shifts doing food distribution at the Food Bank, as many of the recipients speak little or no English.
I'd been telling my mom for some time that she would enjoy Duolingo. When my parents were in California for Trevor's Eagle Court of Honor, I set Mom up with an account. Sure enough, she loves it and has maintained an uninterrupted streak of 178 days. While I am relearning Spanish, Mom started from ground zero. She spends a lot of time each day practicing and has recently been able to use her rudimentary Spanish at her local Food Bank, where she volunteers several times a week. About a month ago, she mentioned that she wished Duolingo would skip all the vocabulary about travel, clothes, school, and chores for now and just teach her the words she needs to communicate with the Food Bank recipients. I tucked that away in my brain as a gift opportunity. Yesterday, for Mom's birthday, I gave her these:
I made these cards using PicMonkey. Some of the images were ready-made in their Graphics collections; others I had to make. Since vocabulary is not standard amongst the 20 countries whose official language is Spanish, I defaulted to the most common translation when there were differences. In some cases, I used the Mexican vocabulary word, as that's what most commonly used here. I had the cards printed on cardstock and laminated so that Mom can bring them with her to the Food Bank and use them as needed. I hope they're useful. Happy birthday, Mom!
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