Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Let The Semester Begin

Today was day 2 of Spanish classes at La Union and I think that I will leave the school with a headache every single day.  It is amazing how I am able to have a one-on-one tutor for the next 15 weeks who wants to have a friendship with me,  but right now I am on information overload with the amount of Spanish I am needing to correct from past Spanish classes.  I feel like I am starting over at square one.  I literally spent my first day learning the Spanish alphabet for 2 hours and on day two I learned my colors and salutations.  I want to move ahead to where I am at after three years of college level Spanish, but I guess my teacher knows best and will put me where I need to go.  I am grateful to have this opportunity, but I want to feel like I am actually learning something new and not simply reviewing the Spanish classes I have already taken.  I have found, though, that learning the language is much easier in Spanish than in English.  What I mean is that as my teacher (Patty) is teaching me how to conjugate verbs in the present tense, she talks using multiple examples of present tense conjugation and I can hear the examples in Spanish while learning it.  I'm glad I am learning this way!

I think the most frustrating part for me is that I have to go from 8:00-12:00 without speaking any English.  It is much harder than it seems because in English I sound like an educated senior in college, but in Spanish I sound like a six year old who is still learning basic vocabulary.  Whoever reads this, I dare you to spend 4 straight hours talking to someone in a second language.  You might think it is easy, but after you describe your day and your life back home you have pretty much run out of your vocabulary list and simply sit there and nod while saying "si."  My teacher told me I look like a dog because I either nod my head constantly and say "si" or I cock my head to the side and give a very confused look when I don't understand what she is saying.  My goal is that my the end of the first three weeks I will be able to hold a conversation with my host mom and actually understand what she is saying.  I want so badly to just have a casual conversation with my host family and attempt to fit in with their culture and language.

Well tomorrow is day 3 of classes and people always say that the third time is a charm, so we will see how it goes.  I'm hoping to gain a lot from these Spanish lessons.    

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