Today was my next-to-last day of classes. I will definitely miss the folks in my group, and part of me wishes I could stay for longer, at least to go through the next level. At the same time, though, I'm ready to head home to my favorite Spanish speaker. :) I plan to keep studying on my own, of course, and lucky for me, I'm surrounded by Spanish pros who can help me.
One of the best things about this experience has been switching from my role of teacher to that of student. It's almost a little surreal participating in activities like the ones I do with my students - work with your partner to describe such-and-such, fill in the blanks to the lyrics of this song, give your partner the information that s/he is missing, etc. Now I understand how challenging and/or confusing it can be sometimes. The teachers here are awesome, though. They are energetic and enthusiastic, which is the kind of teacher I strive to be. The other huge thing is that everything is in Spanish, even for students who come here starting from scratch. It's a major signal to me that I need to use the target language in class way more often, if not exclusively. This will not be a problem for the upper-level classes, but even for beginners I think it's super important.
Being in Spain, I've had a major baptism in the "vosotros" form of verbs and all the other words that go along with that. I've learned that "coger" is not a bad word here, that you don't "lavar" the dishes here, rather you "fregar" them. The list of linguistic differences goes on and on, and it's fascinating to figure them out. Since my host is from Argentina, she also has her own perspective on the language, and her own accent. Sometimes the letter s disappears from certain words, replaced by a kind of breathy sound. We were also talking about how direct people are here. I noted it in the way that people use "tú" with just about everybody, and she mentioned that there's no need to preface your inquiry with an elaborate, "Excuse me, but would you happen to know...," rather you just ask your question.
At the end of your course, you have the option of taking an exit exam. I don't need it for anything, since I'm not getting college credits and I get a certificate of completion regardless, but I decided to take it. Part of me actually enjoys taking tests because they're a challenge, and I also want to know what I still need to work on. Plus, I was curious to see the test format. I took it today after six hours of classes, which included one hour of salsa, bachata, and cha cha cha. Ha. Anyway, it was hard. Not an impossible kind of hard, but definitely challenging. There's no multiple choice on these tests; it's pure production. Respond to such-and-such a scenario, choose the correct word for this sentence, etc. I'm anxious to see get my results. I felt decent afterwards, although I know I didn't completely ace it.
A fellow student, Paul form Belgium, took the test at the same time as I did. We went out for a drink afterwards. We were discussing the various possibilities for some of the questions and talking about how different it is speaking a language and having to produce it on paper. But of course, in order to speak it properly you have to understand some basic grammar concepts. He's only been here a week and said something like, "I feel like I don't know anything!" after the test. At the end of last week, I felt the same way. It's humbling not being able to express yourself to the fullest extent possible. But then you find yourself in a situation where you're able to and you feel like you're on top of the world.
One of the best things about this experience has been switching from my role of teacher to that of student. It's almost a little surreal participating in activities like the ones I do with my students - work with your partner to describe such-and-such, fill in the blanks to the lyrics of this song, give your partner the information that s/he is missing, etc. Now I understand how challenging and/or confusing it can be sometimes. The teachers here are awesome, though. They are energetic and enthusiastic, which is the kind of teacher I strive to be. The other huge thing is that everything is in Spanish, even for students who come here starting from scratch. It's a major signal to me that I need to use the target language in class way more often, if not exclusively. This will not be a problem for the upper-level classes, but even for beginners I think it's super important.
Being in Spain, I've had a major baptism in the "vosotros" form of verbs and all the other words that go along with that. I've learned that "coger" is not a bad word here, that you don't "lavar" the dishes here, rather you "fregar" them. The list of linguistic differences goes on and on, and it's fascinating to figure them out. Since my host is from Argentina, she also has her own perspective on the language, and her own accent. Sometimes the letter s disappears from certain words, replaced by a kind of breathy sound. We were also talking about how direct people are here. I noted it in the way that people use "tú" with just about everybody, and she mentioned that there's no need to preface your inquiry with an elaborate, "Excuse me, but would you happen to know...," rather you just ask your question.
At the end of your course, you have the option of taking an exit exam. I don't need it for anything, since I'm not getting college credits and I get a certificate of completion regardless, but I decided to take it. Part of me actually enjoys taking tests because they're a challenge, and I also want to know what I still need to work on. Plus, I was curious to see the test format. I took it today after six hours of classes, which included one hour of salsa, bachata, and cha cha cha. Ha. Anyway, it was hard. Not an impossible kind of hard, but definitely challenging. There's no multiple choice on these tests; it's pure production. Respond to such-and-such a scenario, choose the correct word for this sentence, etc. I'm anxious to see get my results. I felt decent afterwards, although I know I didn't completely ace it.
A fellow student, Paul form Belgium, took the test at the same time as I did. We went out for a drink afterwards. We were discussing the various possibilities for some of the questions and talking about how different it is speaking a language and having to produce it on paper. But of course, in order to speak it properly you have to understand some basic grammar concepts. He's only been here a week and said something like, "I feel like I don't know anything!" after the test. At the end of last week, I felt the same way. It's humbling not being able to express yourself to the fullest extent possible. But then you find yourself in a situation where you're able to and you feel like you're on top of the world.
Juan and all the ladies from our class. The guys have been absent for the last couple of days.
Elvira, Yolanda, and the conversation class.
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