TPR, Pig's Feet, and Cowboys

TPR
No, TPR doesn't stand for Toilet Paper Racing.

TPR is a part of our CLA (Culture and Language Acquisition) Class this semester. It stands for Total Physical Response, and it's a really cool way to learn a new language. Our class is divided into small groups, and each group is learning a different language. I'm learning German, and it's been really fun! Basically, we have several objects in front of us. For each object, we listen to a real person who speaks the language. We don't try to repeat the phrase because that can get confusing. We just try to recognize each object when we hear it. Then, we point to the object, so that our brain connects the visual representation with the sound that we're hearing. We've already learned a lot of objects, and, while I probably can't repeat them at this time, I can recognize them! Later on, we can try pronouncing, but it's often so hard to learn vocabulary and pronunciation at the same time. This kind of approach is similar to programs like Rosetta Stone.

It's been really fun so far!

German meal (wiener schnitzel) we made! YUM!

Learning objects with a native German speaker

More TPR

Pig's Feet (or Suturing)
Another fun thing I did last night was suturing! We learned how to suture using pig's feet, which was quite interesting. They have really tough skin (for all who were wondering). Here are some pics:

Suturing

Sutured pig's foot

Cowboys (and a few Indians)
This last Saturday, we had a campus-wide Western Party, which was a lot of fun! We played games, had a chili cookoff and pie contest, a cake eating contest, learned how to line dance (SUPER fun!!!), and I even learned how to rope like a real cowgirl (not that I was any good at it, but it was still fun!)

Learning to rope

So all in all, I'd say it's been a very diverse and fun week!