This document provides a lesson on greetings and introductions in Spanish. It includes cultural notes about physical contact and goodbyes when meeting people. The objectives are to greet and introduce ourselves to each other. To achieve this, students will read about gestures used for greetings like shaking hands, kissing cheeks, and touching shoulders depending on the people and context. They will also read that saying "adiós" implies a more definite goodbye, while phrases like "hasta luego" are used for less permanent separations. The main ideas of the cultural notes are assessed through questions.

1. LECCIÓN 1
SALUDARSE Y
PRESENTARSE (2)
M. José Suarez Febrero
2015
SPA14-
0023

2. Nuestros (our) objetivos
En esta lección nuestros objetivos son
saludarnos (say hello to one another) y
presentarnos (introduce ourselves) el uno
al otro.
In order to achieve these objectives, we’re
going to:
 Read (leer) a cultural note about physical
contact.
 Read a cultural note about saying good-bye.
 Get the main ideas from each reading.
 Remember that we don’t have to understand
every word of a text to get the main idea.2

3. Nota cultural – El contacto físico3

4. Antes de leer – Answer the questions above
to the best of your ability.
1. A cognate is a word in a foreign language that
looks like and has the same meaning as an
English word. Can you guess what these
cognates mean?
contacto físico gesto frecuente persona
normal típico tocar
2. Based on the pictures, what do you think the
following words mean?
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el hombro
la
mano
besarla mejilla
el hombre
♂
la mujer ♀

5. Antes de leer – Answer the questions above
to the best of your ability.
1. What do you already know about the gestures
that go along with greetings and introductions in
Spanish-speaking cultures? There may be more
than one possible answer.
a. They shake hands. b. They touch each other’s shoulders. c. They
kiss on the cheek.
 Which gesture do people usually use when
introducing themselves?
 Which gesture can two women use when saying
hello?
 Which gestures can a man and a woman use when
saying hello?
 Which gestures are likely when two friends (both
men) say hello?
2. In Spanish-speaking cultures, you can usually
touch your friend’s shoulder while shaking hands.5

6. Leamos.6
El contacto físico
Estos hombres se dan la mano.
Darse la mano es un gesto muy frecuente. Dos personas
normalmente se dan la mano cuando se presentan la una a
la otra.

7. Leamos.7
El contacto físico
Este hombre le toca el hombro a su amigo.
Cuando se saludan, los amigos (♂♂) normalmente se tocan
la espalda o el hombro y se dan la mano.

8. Leamos.8
El contacto físico
Estas personas se besan en la mejilla.
Besarse en la mejilla es también muy frecuente. Las amigas (♀♀)
típicamente se besan al saludarse. Un amigo (♂) y una amiga (♀)
pueden besarse también, pero dos amigos (♂♂) típicamente no
se besan.

9. Después de leer – Answer the questions
above to the best of your ability.
1. Were your initial ideas correct? Remember, there may
be more than one possible answer.
a. Se dan la mano. b. Se tocan el hombro. c. Se besan en la
mejilla.
 Which gesture do people usually use when introducing
themselves?
 Which gestures can two women use when saying hello?
 Which gestures can a man and a woman use when saying
hello?
 Which gestures are likely when two friends (both men) say
hello?
 Bonus: Which gesture is probably the safest if you are
unsure about what to do?
2. In Spanish-speaking cultures, you can usually touch
your friend’s shoulder while shaking hands.
CIERTO FALSO9

10. Nota cultural – Las despedidas (good-
byes)
10

11. Antes de leer – Answer the questions above
to the best of your ability.11
1. Can you guess what these cognates mean?
es común tradicional contexto
ejemplo
definitivo probable usar mucho
2. Based on the picture to the
right,
what do you think triste
means?
La chica está triste.

12. Antes de leer12
Here are some possible main ideas for the
following cultural note. Keep them in mind as we
read.
A. When people are going to see each other
tomorrow, it’s more likely that they will say
goodbye with adiós.
B. When people aren’t going to see each other for
a long time, they are more likely to say goodbye
with adiós.
C. When people aren’t going to see each other for
a long time, they try to stay cheerful and say “See
you later!”

13. Leamos.13
Las despedidas
Saben ya algunas despedidas, ¿verdad?
Se puede decir por ejemplo:
¡Hasta
luego!
¡Hasta
mañana! ¡Nos vemos!
¡Adiós!

14. Leamos.14
Hoy en día (nowadays) el «adiós» es muy común
en muchos contextos, pero tradicionalmente era
(used to be) una despedida más definitiva.
Las despedidas

15. Leamos.15
Las despedidas
Entonces, si la despedida es triste o final, no es
apropiado decir “¡Hasta luego!”, sino “¡Adiós!”

16. Después de leer16
What do you think was the main idea of the
cultural note?
A. When people are going to see each other
tomorrow, it’s more likely that they will say
goodbye with adiós.
B. When people aren’t going to see each other for
a long time, they are more likely to say goodbye
with adiós.
C. When people aren’t going to see each other for
a long time, they try to stay cheerful and say “See
you later!”

17. Evaluación
¡Excelente trabajo!
 ¿Alcanzamos (did we reach) nuestro
objetivo?
 What was the easiest part of this lesson?
 What was the most difficult part?
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