Hablo Espanol (Learning a Foreign Language)

Member Name: missbrowneyedgirl

Product:	Learning a Foreign Language
Date:	01/04/04 (204 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keep your brain working, Communicate

Disadvantages: Back to school!

Do you remember languages at school? When you missed one accent or word, or pronounced something incorrectly you were wrong. WRONG, no arguments, end of story and no marks for that answer. I did GCSE French and German and though I was quite good, I hated them and that was mainly because of us having no error margin.

So, what could possibly make me want to go back to school 12 years later and put myself through all that again? Well, the embarrassment of being British was the main reason. We are the most ignorant nation when it comes to languages, expecting everyone else to speak English.

The final push came whilst snowboarding in France. I found myself about to buy paninis and translating their contents signs to my non French speaking friends, before ordering them in English! How crazy is that? And I realised, that although I had spent 5 years studying French, and have a Grade A GCSE to show for it, it was useless as I darenâ??t speak the language!

I needed to do something about it so decided I was going to try learning languages again, and this time with Spanish. I had a look through our local college prospectus and found myself an OCN Spanish For Beginners Course at a school near where I live. I soon convinced a friend to join me and we enrolled to start this January.

Come January, Monday night was a school night, of sorts: We have Spanish class from 7pm until 9pm with a 10 minute break at 8pm! The course costs £70 for 20 weeks (a 30 week course starting last September would have cost £106 each) and I think I got my moneyâ??s worth in the first 10 minutes when our teacher explained that the point of learning a language is to communicate. It doesnâ??t matter if itâ??s spelt wrong, pronounced wrong or in the wrong order so long as you can make yourself understood.

With that once concept, she gave me the ability to make use of 5 years of French and 3 years of German, and thatâ??s before I even started to learn Spanish!
If you think about it, you must have had a foreigner wave a cigarette at you and ask you for â??Fire?â?? before. Itâ??s happened to me lots and although it was amusing to me, I knew they wanted a lighter and gave them one. There you go, proof that itâ??s just about making yourself understood.

The class at the start of the year had about 30 pupils. Now, three months later I'd say there are only 15 or so regular attendees (which seems a bit crazy when you've paid for the course!). The course is held in a local secondary school in an ordinary classroom, which isn't too different from how I remember them, although I never had a TV and video in each classroom!

The syllabus for the 20 week course contains two basic units: one that teaches you to talk about yourself and your family, and the second that covers finding and ordering in shops and restaurants. Assessment is mainly done informally during the class, most of the time you don't notice the teacher ticking you off for certain items. We also have to record a conversation to tape but that can be redone until you are happy with it.

As well as the initial cost, we were also recommended to buy a Spanish dictionary and a course text book: BBC Espana Viva which is £11.99. It is helpful to have the books, not only for homework and revision, but also if you have to miss a class you can catch up at home. The BBC book also covers units which we wont cover in class so the studious can further their studies. We were also given a tape which has the basics on and supports the course. This is brilliant to help with pronunciation, particularly in traffic jams!

So far I have been really enjoying Spanish. It's a very phonetic language which makes it easy to learn, and also once you have mastered the alphabet, you can sound quite convincingly Spanish. As well as that it's good for the soul to keep learning, and know your grey matter isn't going to waste!

My upcom
ing visit to Venezuela later in the year will be the true test! watch this space...

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