OK...so at this moment in time, technically I'm studying vocabulary, but either way you still don't really know what I'm talking about. So, in short, I'm talking about the S word...
Spanish
I used to love studying Spanish. It was the one subject that got me through the day at school. Now I'm at college? It's the one subject that ruins my day. I'm assuming you can see my dilemma...
I mean...everybody knows that Ser is used for professions, nationalities (note: I just spelt that 'nacional'... I hate being a languages student sometimes) etc and Estar is used for conditions, illnesses, emotions etc, right? It's incredibly simple to conjugate irregular verbs and memorise all verb forms, right? It's positively easy to have full spontaneous conversations about Live 8, right? Wrong.
Did I think AS Level Spanish would be easy? No. Did I think I'd enjoy it? Yes. Am I enjoying it? No. It's a ridiculous circle that seems to go on forever. Even being a pessimist hasn't prepared me well for the hideous fact that Spanish is currently the most horrible thing I know of. You know what's more frustrating? I always LOVED it. Always. For the past three years of studying it, I have never lost my enthusiasm for it. And now, when it's more important than ever? Ugh...
I don't think there's a real technique to studying languages...particularly Spanish...you just have to study in the way that works best for you. But what do you do when the way that works best for you is the complete opposite of the way the teacher likes you to study? Do you go ahead and use your own methods or do you force yourself into doing what your teacher wants, even if you know it's having no positive effect on your learning?
As odd as it sounds, I'd never met a Spanish person until I met our teacher, Ester, so it's pretty odd just getting used to talking to somebody who is actually Spanish. There are obvious advantages to my teacher being from Spain, the main one being that she's fluent...so there's no consulting of gigantic dictionaries to find words when students need them. Her accent is much purer than that of an English person teaching Spanish, so it's easier to pronounce words correctly. She obviously has a good knowledge of her country. I could go on listing advantages, but they'd probably become a bit silly and make no sense. The glaring disadvantage is that she never chose to study Spanish, so there's a general lack of enthusiasm during lessons that was constantly present at GCSE. It's hard to be enthusiastic and passionate about something so difficult when the teacher has never been in your position. Yes, obviously she learnt English...but it's different.
On the plus side, I got through today's lesson without wanting to cry and/or quit college so clearly things are slowly improving. I'm hoping that it'll slowly get back round to being fun and that I'll find my enthusiasm again. I'm highly doubting it at the moment, but I'm hoping for it nonetheless.
(At least I got in a few good adverbs during this post...my English Language teacher would be impressed ;P)
Besos ♥
Rachel
"When we stand in the face of the world falling down, in your hands you hold the pen. What's your answer for the end?"
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