improve my spanish

It takes about two days for my brain to switch over into Spanish mode.

I’m happy that this switch occurs, but lately, my holidays into Spanish-speaking territory only last 2-3 days, so as soon as my brain is thinking Spanish, I’m back into needing to speak Arabic on a daily basis..

Which makes me think that I should try to get a teaching gig in a Spanish-speaking place some day..

definitely helped me with my Spanish language skills.

It was 90% nice/ 10% language fatigue to have just about everyone speak Spanish to us, and leave us to listen, comprehend, and respond in Spanish.

We had a bunch of funny little mix-ups throughout the course of the week, but I think that is to be expected.

We were well-received by everyone we came across and the experience was definitely a positive one.. so positive, that I am kicking around the idea of one day going back to Morelia to take classes at the language school we stayed at.

Pictured: the street view of the Baden-Powell Institute

I’m glad that my language requirement for my master’s degree has been satisfied, but unfortunately, taking this class has not helped me learn much, if anything.

My instructor structured the course so that we do lots and lots of busy work, but none of it is authentic or interesting. My attitude toward this may have something to do with it, but at this point, the course is over, and I have not learned much.

Ho-hum.

I took Spanish 101 at my local city college last semester, and while I earned almost 100% in the class, I did not learn a thing.

Class was a complete joke and the “teacher” has no business being in front of a classroom. After the second week, I hardly ever went to class because I had seen enough stacks of xeroxed worksheets and heard enough of her rants about America’s problems (abortions and homosexuals).

I would like to say that I am hopeful that I will learn something this semester.. but after my last class.. not so much.

At least 102 is online, so I don’t have to waste a few hours a week for nothing. I don’t like to have a bad attitude about this, but given my previous experience with this school.. still, I cannot rationalize paying 4x per credit hour what I am paying now, and then having to be on campus three more days per week, and like 6 hours before my other classes start.

If I really want my language skills to improve, I should look into immersion, and I know this.. maybe I should just pack my bags and head to Morelia now..

In addition to my linguistics courses, I have enrolled in Spanish 101 for this semester.

I took the equivalent in high school, and while the thought of CLEP’ng out of it was a possibility, I decided to just do it because I really do want to improve my Spanish.

Instead of taking this at my Uni and paying Uni prices, I am taking it at the local city school/community college, which happens to be three whole blocks from the cave wherein I live. Score!

I need to take nine credits of a foreign language for my MA in Linguistics, and I need to be proficient enough in any one non-English language to pass the IL state exam for my bilingual endorsement.

This goal will likely take me a while – I don’t anticipate finishing the Spanish language classes until the end of Spring 2010 semester.