The Homestay

When I first went to La Paz, Mexico (about two hours north of Cabo San Lucas) to learn a little Spanish I though doing a homestay would be a benefit.  Reflecting back, I’m not so sure it was much of a help.  Gloria was a very nice, older Mexican lady.  She had some small rooms behind her house that she rented out to students and others.  I and a young lady who was studying to become a teacher usually ate breakfast with Gloria in the mornings and then I sometimes ate later in the day.  In my case breakfast and lunch were the two meals provided.  The food was good, and more than adequate.  

The problem?  I simply didn’t know enough Spanish to get started.  Mostly I had a blank look on my face.  Everyone talked too fast, but even if that hadn’t been the case, I would have been lost because I didn’t have the vocabulary or the understanding to follow much of anything.  And while some might be bright enough to piece it together, I’m not one of those.

By my third homestay, I could converse a little.  This was at a place different than Gloria’s.  In fact each of my homestay’s was at a different house.  All great people, and each visit slowly getting better than the previous one.  I could see that if a person were staying for a month, two, or longer it could be of great benefit.

However, in my case I think I would have preferred to have had the free time after class to wander and inflict my Spanish on the shopkeepers and other locals.  I’m not bashful about getting out and trying the language, early on I had successes and mostly failures, but each time I learned a little more and was fortified for the next adventure.  

Resources for Learning Spanish

What are there in the way of resources for “independent” learning of Spanish?  And resources for those who might be in a more structured setting?  Get online and there are "About 65,300,000 results (0.44 seconds)”.  Amazing! This tells us a couple of things; first, there are a lot of people wanting to learn Spanish, and second, there are a lot of people trying to sell those people something that purports to make it faster and more painless.  Over my next few blogs I’m going to take a closer look at some of the things that have worked for me and why, and some of the things that didn’t work and why not.  Take what I say with a grain of salt and the understanding that we all learn differently.  Also, that I am 65 years old, I have a low threshold of boredom, and am not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

 

I’ve used resources from all types of mediums.  When I first started I found a young woman, recommended to me by a college professor, who was a native speaker.  I had her come to my house Saturday mornings for a couple of hours and we practiced pronunciation, we practiced simple vocabulary and we practiced the present tense.  I used a college textbook and worked through the first few chapters with her.

Soon I wanted to accelerate my learning.  My wife and I visited Cabo San Lucas in Mexico frequently and I found a school close to Cabo in La Paz, Mexico.  Spending a couple of weeks at “Se Habla La Paz” (http://www.sehablalapaz.com/photos.html) and learning from a structured program was the best investment I could have made in my attempts to learn Spanish.  We had classes in the mornings and in the afternoons I was free to roam.  Mostly I went to a beach bar located at Playa de Tecolote (Tecolote Beach) and inflicted my Spanish on un mesero (a waiter).  The setting was beautiful, the beer cold and I learned the difference in pronunciation between “casado” (married) and “cansado” (tired).  All those letters are important in pronunciation, don’t get lazy!

Here’s what to take away from this.  You can learn a lot on your own, but finding a structured learning setting will help move things along immensely.  Once you have an idea of how the language is built (i.e. verbs changing endings to denote who performs the action, etc.), then your independent learning will be much more successful.  

Your structured learning might be in a classroom in another country as mine began.  It might be via Skype, or in a local classroom.  I’m not sure that it is critical where as much as it is important to have expectations and a structure to begin to understand some of the basics.  More next time….

Get Out and Practice!

Once you have a grasp of Spanish I think it is important to use it in the real world.  Every day I try to find a place to practice and speak some Spanish.  It may be a restaurant, a tienda (shop), or simply inflicting it on some casual acquaintance.  One of the places I’ve found where I can get a lot of practice is at a Topeka organization called VIDA.  VIDA teaches English as a second language to non English speakers, and in Topeka that means Spanish speakers.  Now the point of this program is for the Spanish speaker to learn English, but I’ve found that my knowledge of Spanish has been helpful as I teach them English.  Last night we discussed some similar sounding words in English; there, they’re, their and so forth.  We laughed and it reminded me of a mistake I made early on in Spanish.  Reading a story there was something about “pintar cabello”, but I interpreted it to be “pintar caballo”.  The first means to dye one’s hair, the second would be something like dying or painting a horse.  We all got a laugh as I related my story.

My point is there are many opportunities to practice your Spanish outside of the classroom.  Topeka has two or three panaderías (bakeries).  I like to take my grandchildren to the panadería for galletas (cookies) and pan (bread).  I encourage them to engage the dependiente (sales clerk) to ask questions.  

There are Spanish clubs, “Meetup” has many listings (http://www.meetup.com), for example in Kansas City there is ¡ClaroKC! (http://www.meetup.com/ClaroKC/).  Most cities of any size and many university towns have similar groups.

Shawnee County also has learning Spanish classes through the Parks and Recreation Department.  They are pretty basic, but one can attend and practice speaking with the instructor at whatever level you’ve obtained.

I eat a lot at one particular Mexican restaurant.  Both here in Topeka and when I travel I have my favorites.  But in those restaurants certain waitresses (camerara, mesera)think I’m a little strange, but work with me in my Spanish.  Frequently I’m reading something in Spanish and when I run across an idiom they can tell me what it really means.  I appreciate them, refer to them as my teacher (maestra) and tip them generously for their help.   

You will make mistakes.  Learn to laugh at yourself.  After your attempt replay it in your mind.  What did you want to say?  What words completely vaporized when you tried to recall them?  How might you have conjugated it differently?  Replay it a couple of times in your mind so that the next time you have an easier time of it.  But above all, get out there and do it!

Fun With Spanish!

About 7 years ago I decided that I wanted to learn Spanish.  In this blog I am going to record and detail some of the things that helped me and keep somewhat of a log of my ongoing Spanish adventures.  You can read a little bit about me in the about me section.  You will soon see that if I can learn Spanish, you can learn Spanish.  I’m not claiming to be an expert, but I can carry on a conversation, I can read, and I’d like to share what has worked for me.

More than that, I am going to use this blog to motivate me to have more “adventures” in Spanish.  I am not bashful about using my Spanish.  I am not embarrassed by my mistakes, and I make plenty of them.  I’ve never found a single native speaker who was angry or upset because my Spanish was lacking.  Most have been appreciative of my efforts to learn, many have been willing to help me fine tune my skills.  We’ve laughed together at some of my mis-interpretations, mispronunciations, and my clumsiness.  As we’ve laughed I have learned.
So together, you and I, we may go on Spanish speaking adventures, restaurants, taco trucks, tiendas (shops), and other places where I can practice my Spanish with, or inflict my Spanish on an unsuspecting victim.  I’ll try to draw a quick lesson or two from each encounter and encourage my readers to get out of the classroom and actually use and misuse the language.
I’m going to endeavor to make three posts a week.  Some will be usage adventures, others tools that I’ve found helpful.  Thank you for reading, let me know what you find interesting.