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.
1 October 2009
My Open University course L194 “Portales” has officially finished. I have to wait until February next year before L140 “En [...]
20 September 2009
The following are language course resources which you might find useful:
Adult Education Open University Michel Thomas Pimsleur Linguaphone Hugo Spanish Websites Television Influential Books
14 September 2009
This is an enormous course, each part consists of 30 half hour lessons and the Spanish Plus gives another 10 half hour lessons. This is the one I listen to when I am ironing or doing similar mind-numbing tasks. There is enough thinking time between challenge and response that I rarely need to [...]
13 September 2009
Foundation Spanish Course – 8CDs and review 2CDs
This was my introduction to Spanish. From the first lesson Michel hypnotises you into relaxing and playing at learning Spanish and within minutes you are constructing sentences like “what is your opinion of the current political and social situation in Spain?”, he builds confidence and [...]
13 September 2009
Linguaphone all talk – 8CDs
This one didn’t work for me. It seemed rather old fashioned presenting a list of vocabulary then a little bit of narrative and a few test questions with lots of irritating “uplifting” musical breaks. There is some good vocabulary in there but I would find it tedious to [...]
19 August 2009
Hugo Spanish in 3 Months
I have a soft spot for Hugo Spanish, at least for the book. I don’t find the recordings very helpful my advice is to save money and just buy the book, you can pick it up and even in a few minutes learn a grammar [...]
14 August 2009
Open University
The Open University (OU) has been the backbone of my strategy this year. I am following the entry level Spanish course L194 Portales. I chose this course because I wanted some structure to my study and having studied French L120 a few years ago I knew roughly what to expect.
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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 |
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