Estoy aprendiendo Español

Now that I have taken care of getting a job, an apartment, familiarizing myself to my new surroundings, and adjusting to most of the Spanish lifestyle, I finally feel settled and ready to focus on learning Spanish.

Everyday, I listen to my lessons from Coffee Break Spanish, a free podcast you can download from itunes. I have also invested on a mini English - Spanish/Spanish - English dictionary that I carry with me everywhere. When I teach, I also learn new Spanish words from my students. Ideally, Spanish should NOT be allowed at all in the classroom. This rule forces the student to really know and understand English. But every once in a while, when all my explanations, my examples, my amateur acting, and horrible drawings are still not sinking in, one higher level student will usually tell the whole class the Spanish translation.

My roommates and I also made a deal. Every week, a different language will be spoken in the apartment. This week was English week (whew!), and next week is Spanish week (I will be in my room a lot!). Every morning, they also write Spanish words they don't know in English on the washboard. When I come home from work, I look up the English translation, write it on the board, and we talk about it at night.

Last night, I had my first intercambio. An intercambio means an exchange. In this context, an intercambio is when two people help each other practice the other's language. I set one up with this guy, Nacho. I met Nacho when I was looking for an apartment. He was renting a bedroom in his piso and I went to check it out. Although I liked his apartment, it was just too far from the center. But I really liked Nacho not only because he has an awesome name, but also because he was very nice. He told me he was learning English and wanted to improve his speaking skills. So I decided to set up an intercambio with him so we can help each other out.

For our first meeting, I thought it went pretty well. I think that was the most Spanish I've spoken since I've gotten here. My spoken spanish was muy terible and at times it was frustrating, but I think it was helpful. It made me realize that I know a lot more Spanish than I think, and that if I really just force myself to speak it, I can do it.

So hopefully we will meet again and practice, practice, practice. That is all I need. Well, that and the Spanish Verb Conjugation book.