The greatest tool I've used to enhance my vocabulary is using Spanish dictionary as a base, and then checking with Aleida to see if my words are correct. To motivate my parter to get work done, we go to a quiet room so we can focus. When working, our main goal is to memorize what we have to know. If we don't remember, we won't have anything to go off on when having conversations. As for my comfortableness in speaking Spanish, I'm pretty comfortable. I know my accent isn't that great, but I feel like I do well enough. I'm still a little uncomfortable when I have to roll my r's, since I can't. I'm not sure how I'd do if I'd have to have a conversation with a stranger. If it's a basic conversation, then I'll do fine, but if it's more complex, then I'd have to guess. In Spanish class, I've talked about food and the election, along with personal questions. Maybe another topic I'd like to do is something about music or reading.
I chose Carley as my partner because we get a lot of work done together, and we know each others study habits. We didn't watch any television/movies in Spanish but I did listen to Spanish music a little bit. I understood a little bit of it, but not all. As for practicing Spanish outside of class, I mainly do it on my own using my personal notes, or with Carley so we can have conversations.
I've connected the reading articles to life currently because the articles were about the current election. I picked up a few things about the election that I didn't know before.