My first lesson on Tuesday (el martes) went pretty well. I left the session feeling exhausted and much better about my Spanish skills. I need to practice, and to get over being self-conscious and just speak...
Yesterday, I created little flashcards (apparently Mexico doesn't carry index cards. Anywhere. Ugh.) and practiced my verbs ser and estar. I FINALLY figured out the pattern of conjugation (seriously, Mr. Levin, where was the loud-and-clear message that the conjugations are practically identical in the past/present/future tense...? I spent how long trying to learn 2 verbs, when I could have focused on one, and transferred my learning to the other? You suck, Mr. Levin.) and was kicking ass. My instructor really wants me to watch the movie Doubt (Duda) with Meryl Streep, so we'll have something to talk about. Uh...could we start with something a bit easier, perhaps? Like Curious George or Hot Rod or something? I need to get to the little rental place down the street so I can start mi tarea (my homework).
Today, I woke up feeling totally tongue-tied in English. "Wow, Spanish'll be a real treat, since I can barely form a proper sentence in my native tongue," I thought. By a stroke of luck (?), my instructor emailed me to let me know that she'd have to cancel today...
So, what did I do? Hide inside because my Spanish SUCKS today? Practice more with my little flashcards? Watch TV en espanol to get the sound back in my head? Nah...I found one of my buddies that doesn't speak a lick of the language and headed to the grocery store. Eh...at least I'm practicing, right?!
Showing posts with label learning Spanish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning Spanish. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
instrucion del Espanol - parte uno
I had my first meeting with my Spanish instructor today!
We spent an hour together at the ITESM library, and spoke entirely in Spanish. Apparently, being a language professor doesn't necessarily mean that you have to speak any another language. Cool...makes me really work for it! It is exhausting, however.
We covered some things that I'm already comfortable with (estar y ser...meaning "I am" in the temporary/permanent form, respectively). We unknowingly reviewed a lot of verb conjugation that I'd flat-out forgotten how to do, and erroneously thought I was rid of for life (the past and future tenses of estar y ser...much more difficult).
All in all, I think it went pretty well. We'll meet on Tuesdays (el martes) for one hour and Thursdays (el jueves) for two. I picked up two third-grade level (that's right...I've got mad skills) Spanish workbooks for a whopping 40P to practice with. Our focus will be fluidity and speed. I hear things well, says Maestra Lupina, but I need to speed up my hearing and speaking. It's nice to have a goal, right?!
My homework for tonight and tomorrow is to speak in only Spanish to my roommates. It will be difficult because they don't know a lot of Spanish. After my class, Rob was playing a game on his computer, and I wrote many things in Spanish in my notebook. I'm also practicing talking in the shops near my apartment.
(Mi tarea por esta noche y la manana es hablo en solamente Espanol con mis companeros. Sera dificil porque ellos no saben mucho Espanol. Despues de mi clase, Rob fue jugando una partida en su computadora, y yo escribio muchas cosas en Espanol en mi cuaderno. Practicando habler en los tiendas cerca de mi apartamento, tambien.)
Blogging in Spanglish counts as talking to my roommates en Espanol, right?! Maybe not...be it's better than nothing (es lo mejor de nada)!
We spent an hour together at the ITESM library, and spoke entirely in Spanish. Apparently, being a language professor doesn't necessarily mean that you have to speak any another language. Cool...makes me really work for it! It is exhausting, however.
We covered some things that I'm already comfortable with (estar y ser...meaning "I am" in the temporary/permanent form, respectively). We unknowingly reviewed a lot of verb conjugation that I'd flat-out forgotten how to do, and erroneously thought I was rid of for life (the past and future tenses of estar y ser...much more difficult).
All in all, I think it went pretty well. We'll meet on Tuesdays (el martes) for one hour and Thursdays (el jueves) for two. I picked up two third-grade level (that's right...I've got mad skills) Spanish workbooks for a whopping 40P to practice with. Our focus will be fluidity and speed. I hear things well, says Maestra Lupina, but I need to speed up my hearing and speaking. It's nice to have a goal, right?!
My homework for tonight and tomorrow is to speak in only Spanish to my roommates. It will be difficult because they don't know a lot of Spanish. After my class, Rob was playing a game on his computer, and I wrote many things in Spanish in my notebook. I'm also practicing talking in the shops near my apartment.
(Mi tarea por esta noche y la manana es hablo en solamente Espanol con mis companeros. Sera dificil porque ellos no saben mucho Espanol. Despues de mi clase, Rob fue jugando una partida en su computadora, y yo escribio muchas cosas en Espanol en mi cuaderno. Practicando habler en los tiendas cerca de mi apartamento, tambien.)
Blogging in Spanglish counts as talking to my roommates en Espanol, right?! Maybe not...be it's better than nothing (es lo mejor de nada)!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Macroplaza...not so Macro...
On Friday, a few companeros and I headed to the Macroplaza, toted as the "third largest plaza in the world". Ann-Marie, Chris, Eric and I hopped in a cab, and since I spoke the most Spanish in the group (eek!), I asked to be taken there...
We drove though an area that I hadn't been through before, and arrived in a park surrounded by cobblestone streets and gothic buildings. Standing in the center of the Macroplaza was a HUGE obelisk (named "the big red wall" by our group). We wandered through the plaza and into an outdoor mall of sorts. Every 12 feet or so, there was a shoestore (una zapateria), a 7-11 (they're EVERYWHERE) or a TelCel kiosk (selling cellphones and SIM cards). Repeat. Twelve more feet, same three things. Over and over and over for several blocks.
the big red wall
Moral of the story: the Macroplaza wasn't so big. We easily covered it in two hours...oh, well.
My Spanish definitely got some practice as Chris picked up a cellphone. The true test came while standing in a long line at Office Depot (yup, they've got those here, too): a Mexican guy came up to me with a gluestick he'd intended to purchase, but needed to get back to work. In rapid Spanish, he asked if he could give me money to pay for his item, since I was next in line. The nervous look on my face, followed by my request to speak mas demasiado (more slowly) told him that I'm not exactly fluent. I was super-proud of myself when I worked my way through it, figured out what he was asking, and made the purchase.
The best part of the Macroplaza, since it wasn't nearly as Macro as it claimed to be, was the crosswalk signal...it's freaking animated. No joke. When it's safe to cross, the signal is a guy (a white guy, no less) who walks. As the time decreases, he speeds up...he runs!
SPANISH INSTRUCTION UPDATE: My first meeting with the professor is on Tuesday (el martes), and I'm obviously super-excited. I've picked up a little book that's ALL Spanish to practice with, and have been pushing myself really hard to practice while we're out and about (to the point that I won't let Spanish-speakers speak for me). Hope you'll all still be able to read these posts when they're in full Spanish... ; ]
We drove though an area that I hadn't been through before, and arrived in a park surrounded by cobblestone streets and gothic buildings. Standing in the center of the Macroplaza was a HUGE obelisk (named "the big red wall" by our group). We wandered through the plaza and into an outdoor mall of sorts. Every 12 feet or so, there was a shoestore (una zapateria), a 7-11 (they're EVERYWHERE) or a TelCel kiosk (selling cellphones and SIM cards). Repeat. Twelve more feet, same three things. Over and over and over for several blocks.
the big red wallMoral of the story: the Macroplaza wasn't so big. We easily covered it in two hours...oh, well.
My Spanish definitely got some practice as Chris picked up a cellphone. The true test came while standing in a long line at Office Depot (yup, they've got those here, too): a Mexican guy came up to me with a gluestick he'd intended to purchase, but needed to get back to work. In rapid Spanish, he asked if he could give me money to pay for his item, since I was next in line. The nervous look on my face, followed by my request to speak mas demasiado (more slowly) told him that I'm not exactly fluent. I was super-proud of myself when I worked my way through it, figured out what he was asking, and made the purchase.
The best part of the Macroplaza, since it wasn't nearly as Macro as it claimed to be, was the crosswalk signal...it's freaking animated. No joke. When it's safe to cross, the signal is a guy (a white guy, no less) who walks. As the time decreases, he speeds up...he runs!
(my apologies for the sideways, shaky video...but you get the picture)
SPANISH INSTRUCTION UPDATE: My first meeting with the professor is on Tuesday (el martes), and I'm obviously super-excited. I've picked up a little book that's ALL Spanish to practice with, and have been pushing myself really hard to practice while we're out and about (to the point that I won't let Spanish-speakers speak for me). Hope you'll all still be able to read these posts when they're in full Spanish... ; ]
Thursday, January 29, 2009
SCHWEEET!
It looks like my Spanish language search may be winding down: I've been contacted by the professor from the undergrad campus, and she's willing to work with me twice a week on campus! WOOT!!! I was out and about a bit today, sans-Rob or any other Spanish speaker, and I sense that I'm already growing in my speech and listening...yay! : ]
Rob, pretending to be a willing participant in my photoshoots
a tiny green cab...it's not even a SMART car, but is the same size as one!
a rad Bug we found whilst wandering
I took a bunch of pics yesterday with my D70 (my other love), and couldn't figure out what was up with the settings. None of the pics came out right, and my colors were all wonky. Alas, I'm posting the shots anyway, although they're not great:
a new view from our rooftop terrace
a new view from our rooftop terrace
Rob, pretending to be a willing participant in my photoshoots
a tiny green cab...it's not even a SMART car, but is the same size as one!
a rad Bug we found whilst wandering (why are some of my best shots created when I hold the camera at hip-height, and therefore have no idea what is actually within the frame??)
Now that I've fixed the settings on my camera, I hope to post some BETTER pics soon!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
fingers crossed
We may have made a HUGE amount of progress within the Spanish instruction search:
As we've been checking out all of the various eateries near our apartments, we've come across some cool people. Generally, folks in Monterrey have been extremely warm and hospitable...to the point that they'll try to speak in English to accommodate us. We met one such individual, Ruben, at Lolo's Tortas a few nights ago. He figured out that we weren't from around here, and started to speak (very good) English to us. Rob took the opportunity to ask if he knew of any spanish courses around us...at all other ventures so far, the answer would have been no.
With Ruben, we were pleasantly surprised when he mentioned that he knows a woman who teaches at the undergrad University (I can't take a course there without enrolling, and we won't be here for the length of the semester), and would be happy to check with her to see if she'd be interested in outside work. He suggested we come back in a day or so to see what developed.
We went back tonight, and were in the place less than fifteen seconds before he provided me with his business card with contact info for the professor on the back! I was STOKED, to say the least. He mentioned that she'd asked what level we were at, which shows that he legitimately connected with her!
In the twelve minutes since this exchange, I've emailed the professor, and Rob and I are already brainstorming what sort of "thank you" gift we can get for Ruben...
My fingers, toes, and eyeballs are crossed right now.
As we've been checking out all of the various eateries near our apartments, we've come across some cool people. Generally, folks in Monterrey have been extremely warm and hospitable...to the point that they'll try to speak in English to accommodate us. We met one such individual, Ruben, at Lolo's Tortas a few nights ago. He figured out that we weren't from around here, and started to speak (very good) English to us. Rob took the opportunity to ask if he knew of any spanish courses around us...at all other ventures so far, the answer would have been no.
With Ruben, we were pleasantly surprised when he mentioned that he knows a woman who teaches at the undergrad University (I can't take a course there without enrolling, and we won't be here for the length of the semester), and would be happy to check with her to see if she'd be interested in outside work. He suggested we come back in a day or so to see what developed.
We went back tonight, and were in the place less than fifteen seconds before he provided me with his business card with contact info for the professor on the back! I was STOKED, to say the least. He mentioned that she'd asked what level we were at, which shows that he legitimately connected with her!
In the twelve minutes since this exchange, I've emailed the professor, and Rob and I are already brainstorming what sort of "thank you" gift we can get for Ruben...
My fingers, toes, and eyeballs are crossed right now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
.JPG)
