26 January 2010
I’m getting started on the L140 Open University course, one of the suggestions is that students arrange some conversation practice with native Spanish speakers. No problem you might think. I put out lots of feelers but so far I haven’t found anyone to practice with, so I started looking for conversation classes.
According to Wikipedia, Spanish is the 2nd most widely spoken language in the world. You wouldn’t think so if you lived in Kent. I have been trying unsuccessfully, to find a Spanish conversation class for the past few days, today I got through to a very helpful person at KAE (Kent Adult Education) who looked through their database on my behalf and confirmed what I thought – there are currently no Spanish conversation classes run by KAE in the entire county. I knew that foreign languages were having a hard time but I didn’t realise just how bad things were.
Maybe my comments on KAE were more apocryphal than I realised at the time (http://thirdlanguage.co.uk/adult-education/local-authority-adult-education-classes/ ), perhaps the bureaucracy has worn down the teachers and the hard-to-navigate website has put off enough potential students so the classes have withered and died.
I haven’t given up yet, there is a possible lead I am following. I will write more when I know more.
12 January 2010
The L140 course materials from the Open University arrived today. I haven’t done much with it yet apart from open the box. Inside there are three books, a couple of DVD things, a calendar, a study guide and a letter of encouragement. Don’t know why but I feel like a nervous teenager . . . in a nice way!
Here is a picture of the contents. I might just look at the covers for a day or two, savour the experience . . . is it just me, does anyone else feel a bit weird when the new OU course arrives?
Open University L140 Course Materials |
2 January 2010
While in Spain I found my recordings useful, Michel Thomas and Pimsleur. I also found my notes helpful, I’ll come back to that . . .
One of the strange things I have found when going to Spain, or France, is the disappearance of vocabulary after one use. You prepare for the trip, have several prepared phrases ready, you use them on day one, everyone is impressed then you suddenly revert to "imbicile" mode – mind goes blank – can’t conjugate beyond present tense. What is going on!!
Michel Thomas and Pimsleur help enormously, don’t leave them at home!
Next tip is to lay your notes out in a way that makes it easy to revise:
Tip 1
If it is worth writing down – give it a line to itself
Tip 2
Buy a solid notebook – you are more likely to use it
Here is an example from my notebook. I write down some phrases from a lesson that I want to be able to use. I test myself by covering up either the English or the Spanish and say out loud what I think the translation is, if I am testing English to Spanish I work up the page – Spanish to English I work down the page. I do this every day for 5 -10 minutes. Try it, see if it works for you..
2 January 2010
A subtle cultural difference between England and Spain (at least in the Canaries) is how you position your knife and fork on the plate to indicate that you have finished eating. Both use the parallel position but while the English have the fork tines pointing up, in Spain (I’m told) the fork is placed with the tines pointing down.
Good to know these things!
Cutlery – wrong way around when meal finished |
Cutlery – right way round when meal finished |
16 December 2009
At last the results are here. I am very happy to have passed with a distinction! So far so good. My next Open University course is due to start in February, this is L140 En Rumbo and I am already concerned that it doesn’t have any tutorials with it. The course team suggest that students enrol for a conversational class. That’s fine if you live in a city but out here in deepest, darkest Kent it’s a challenge to find one. Does anyone know of a conversational Spanish class in the TN30 (Tenterden, Kent) area?
I’ve already bought the course books for L140: The Oxford Spanish dictionary is huge and I risk spraining a wrist if I try to pick it up with one hand. The grammar book looks scary, I hope it is only for reference. Here are some pictures of the book covers, I will let you know how I get on with them during the course, but so far the dictionary hasn’t let me down.
24 November 2009
TVEi has definitely left Sky, they blame Sky for withdrawing from the agreement to retransmit their programs and they suggest any complaints go to Sky. They are still transmitting for free from Eutelsat Hotbird 8 but for most people in the UK with Sky systems this is not much help.
The cheapest way of getting the programs is from the TVEi website, the next alternative is to invest in a second dish/LNB set up that will work separately from Sky.
14 November 2009
Here are the books for learning spanish that I use all the time:
8 October 2009
It looks like TVE has gone from the Sky listings. It disappeared from channel 795 about a week ago, for a couple of days it was possible to select it manually through “Other Channels” in the menu, but even that doesn’t work any longer.
Some good news is that the TVE website carries a lot of the same video clips and short programs that were shown daily on the satellite channel. Go to http://www.rtve.es/television/ and click on “Videos y audios” to get up to date news, weather and topical items.
1 October 2009
My Open University course L194 “Portales” has officially finished. I have to wait until February next year before L140 “En Rumbo” begins.
I enjoyed the course although the last section seemed rather pressured, I had the impression that the course team dumped everything that had been left out into the 6th and final section of the course and the calender didn’t allow time for it to be properly studied. Perhaps the idea is for students to work on that material while waiting for the next course.
My other gripe about what was otherwise an excellent course is to do with the admin: after submitting all the assignments online it seemed very odd to have to post the last one, especially given the precarious state of the mail service at the moment. And then there is the length of time it takes for the results to get back to the student. Why we have to wait until December to get the result of a 10 minute oral exam in September is a mystery.
20 September 2009
The following are language course resources which you might find useful:
|
Author
Bill Ferguson |
Spanish Teaching Resources Getting good quality teaching and resources
The information I am going to share is an honest account of what I have tried over the past year and my opinions are just that, opinions. I will share my likes and dislikes, what works for me and what doesn't. This is a personal experience, I am not an expert but if you share my ambition of learning to communicate in a third, foreign language, then maybe we can help each other along the way.
According to Friedrich Nietzsche: "One who speaks a foreign language just a little takes more pleasure in it than one who speaks it well. Enjoyment belongs to those who know things halfway."
I think he is right. Its hard to define halfway but I think the fun starts when you know enough of a language to be able to make yourself understood, given sufficient time to think. At this stage you are not merely tolerated but treated as an honoured guest in a foreign country. People see you bravely struggling to speak and understand, and give you credit for trying. They are nearly always kind and supportive.
Go beyond this to fluency and its like a toddler growing up, you are no longer cute and vulnerable. You are competing for resources, in the adolescence of language acquisition unless you have a definite role you are treated with suspicion. Maybe that is the stage to consider moving on to another new language ...
Getting good quality teaching and resources is vital to success: encouraged by an influential book by Harry Ferber I now view language acquisition as a military campaign, I need to use my resources efficiently to overcome all resistance, I need to capture vocabulary and not let it escape. I need to wear down the opposition by attacking daily and not allowing it time to regroup. I need to learn the predictable tricks that the new language will play on me and be ready for them (this means learning grammar). Like any military campaign good quality intelligence is vital. Learning a Third Language My current ambition is to be able to communicate comfortably in English, French and Spanish. I began to study Spanish in 2008. I have been a student of French, on and off, for about 30 years and up to last year ....read more Strategic Planning When I started to think about taking on a third language I realised I had two main worries: firstly I didn't want to lose my second language ...read more Fear of Losing French As I see it there is a simple choice ....read more |
Resources Getting good quality language teaching and resources |
Recent Comments