INTRODUCTION
The platform that you are about to use has been created exclusively for your class, SPA 205 Medical Spanish. Inspired by ConTextos, the work of some colleagues at the Spanish and Portuguese department, ConTextos médicos differs from its predecessor since so far, we only use videos made with the purpose of complement the course material. On top of that, the focus is on the medical and the cultural content of the medical encounter.ConTextos médicos wants to be a model for the different types of medical interviews with Latino patients. The actors you are going to see are all native speakers and followed a script, but also included some spontaneity using their own Spanish variety and personal contributions.
You might use it as pleased: with subtitles or without, regular speed or slower. Watch once or a thousand times. You should explore the different highlighted areas organized by Medical content (includes medical vocabulary), Cultural content (includes regional expressions), and Grammar.
Please enjoy the performances by actors that are workers from different areas of the Princeton community. The encounters closely simulate real medical interviews. The actors are volunteers and not professionally trained. The most important point is that they all are native speakers. They studied a script but were given flexibility for the performance, especially for the less medical parts. We should embrace their spontaneity as something that you will encounter in a real interaction with Latino patients. We should enjoy the nine different accents (Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Colombian, Mexican, Argentinian, and Venezuelan) regional vocabulary and real body language.
Note as well the doctor’s empathy and ways to connect with the patients. Learn from them how to make a Latino patient more comfortable in order to gain their trust.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
First of all, thanks to all the actors:
Kathy Valdez, Luis Arévalo, Darleny Cepín, Natalina Córdova, Jose Espinoza, Yamile Pérez, Margarita Nosker, Andrea Lopera
Lance Herrington from McGraw is the magician that makes everything look effortless with impressive results on the cameras and the editing. Marie Li was giving a hand and encouraging Lance and me during the shootings.
Ben Johnston from McGraw developed the fantastic website.
And finally, to my sister and nurse of many years and many talents, Carmen Moscardó Vallés, who checked that the medical content of the videos was coherent.
The beautiful banner is the original work of Sara Marzo, an incredible young artist.
