It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Looking back - Spanish Lessons


Looking back on our time here in Buenos Aires, I remember when we finally decided to get a teacher and learn some "proper" Spanish.

After a year of the total "immersion" method of learning to speak Spanish or Castellano ... we finally managed to get a teacher and we began our lessons !

I dreaded it a tiny bit. .. I was intimidated with the idea of being the clueless student with a teacher half my age ...feeling completely stupid... just a total dope.

At the end of our first class, we asked if we could take two classes a week... This was Fun!

Not only Fun but it all makes so much more sense!

I have a good vocabulary. ..I know a lot of Big Words... I use them when I can... I like them.

But they are all in English!

Now .. I am reduced to 3 word sentences .. a lot of mime and hand signals.

It is amazingly frustrating when you have so much to say .. most of it terribly witty ..but you don't know the words!


I loved having my new notebook , my new pencils and new pens.

I did my homework and studied with my husband who was a better student than I.

He studied every morning.

I studied the night before class.

He was the star student.

I got all excited when I knew the answers on the days papers and thought how pathetically excited I was when she said " Muy Bien " .. If only I had been this good a student when I was a kid.

I might even speak Spanish already. . but no .. not with that teacher, who took such delight in embarrassing me in front of the class... grabbing my face and shmushing my mouth up and telling me to say "Oooooh "..." Oooooh ', "without sounding Southern."..

Not sound Southern?

I lived in North Carolina!

I would sound British if I had a choice but so far, I could only manage Southern... and be embarrassed in front of the class.


Our teacher here made up for all of that. Muy Bien !





3 comments:

  1. Hello:
    We do understand! Hungarian, as you may imagine, is not the easiest of languages and we too have been through the total immersion, the one to one, the regular classes, etc. etc.
    However, after some years we are getting there, as we are sure that you are, and who cares about how we all sound? The world, believe us, loves a foreign accent!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have lost count of how many times I have tried to say something in Spanish and the person replies to me in English lol .. they appreciate it that we try anyway ~
    Hungarian would be beyond me, I think ..

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always loved getting the organizational folders for class - they came in such pretty colors :) Such a dork, I know!

    I think if I took Spanish classes with my husband, we'd get competitive - in a good way. He has a knack for languages. XoL

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome..Thank you.

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