“Lo siento. Yo estoy aprendiendo español”. That is something I feel like I say a lot. When telling people about my acceptance and placement in the teaching program, one of the first questions most people asked me was “How is your Spanish?”
Yo estoy aprendiendo espanol. I am learning Spanish. Attempting to at least.
I wish I could say that from a young age I have always had a passion for learning languages. I wish I could say that I am bilingual, trilingual and speak and read with ease. Alas, that is not the case for me. Like almost every kid, I had to pick a foreign language to study while in school and since I loved taking the road less traveled, I picked French. And I studied it for 5 years. Am I fluent in French? No. Did I retain any of this language? Growing up, I was surrounded by bilingualism because of my father’s job and I wanted so badly to be good at another language, but that just never happened. My sister picked up the language bug and was able to teach herself Japanese. My dad speaks German fluently and other languages proficiently.
And then there is me. It’s not that I didn’t like learning languages, it is just something that has never came easy to me. While I can say I am okay at reading French after studying it for so long, my speaking and listening comprehension skills are very poor.
So why did I think that learning Spanish would be any different?
For the program I am in, knowing Spanish wasn’t a requirement, as it is for some international teaching programs. They asked me about my knowledge of Spanish during my interview and I was very honest, I had never studied Spanish (besides for a trimester in the 7th grade, but that doesn’t count). Obviously, that didn’t affect me getting the job, because, here I am. When I received my placement and everything became official, back in May, I began to study Spanish. I wasn’t able to take a class but I had work books, dictionaries and apps to help. Before I left for my summer job and then when I returned, I studied almost every day for about an hour or two (ask my mom if you don’t believe me). While I probably would’ve progressed better if I had been able to take a class, I am so glad that I took advantage of that time and studied because it gave me some sort of base line for when I got here.
Let me say, studying the language from a book and actually speaking it in the moment are very different things (Well, duh, Jordan, what did you expect??) The first time I tried to speak Spanish by myself when I was in Barcelona, the first day I had arrived. All I wanted was to order lunch at a café. But when it was my turn, I felt as though I forgot all my Spanish instantly. I was also very jetlagged so that probably didn’t help. Thankfully, English is widely spoken in large cities such as Barcelona, so it wasn’t an issue. But when I arrived in Huelva with my host family, I realized how little I knew. I am really lucky that my immediate host family speaks English very well. My host parents both are at the B2 level (high intermediate) and the girls are both quite good at English for their age. But when we are with the extended family, it becomes a bit more challenging because none of them really speak much English. Right from the beginning though they have all been very patient with me whenever I would try to speak in Spanish but trying to keep up with the conversation for example at the dinner table is very difficult and exhausting at some point. I mean, I am not going to ask them to always speak slowly or to translate what they are saying all the time, and I try to follow the best I can, but often I can only pick up every 3rd word, and by the time I translate it in my head, they are on a new topic. This was more so the case in the beginning, but now it is getting easier. While I don’t understand all of what they are saying, I can often understand the general meaning of what is being said. It is often the case that I can understand more than I can say.
At school, I am not allowed to speak in Spanish in front of the students, though that doesn’t stop them from speaking to me in Spanish. I think they have caught on by now that I can often understand what they are saying. A lot of times, the younger students ask me to say something in Spanish, thinking that they are being funny. But the only students that have heard me speak in Spanish are the students that I tutor outside of school because their parents often don’t speak English. Most of the teachers I communicate with regularly all speak English very well (Bilingual school and all that), so communicating with my coworkers isn’t usually difficult. And if I have to speak with a teacher who happens to not know English well, there is almost always another teacher or student nearby who can help.
The first term I was here, finding a Spanish class wasn’t a top priority for me. I had briefly looked online for somewhere that offered classes that I could get to with my schedule, but no luck. So I was studying with books and by speaking with my host family. While that has been helpful, as you can imagine, it can be difficult to learn a language on your own without formal instruction. So while my Spanish improved greatly the first semester I was here, it wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be. But again, finding a class wasn’t a huge priority since I was getting use to teaching, tutoring and being here. Now for the second term, for poops and giggles, I looked up classes again that are offered near me. One of the language schools I had looked into recently changed their times for Spanish classes, and if luck would have it, they had some at a time I could go! (Monday mornings). The class I am in is a mix of A1-A2 level and only has about 6 people in it. Most of us are English teachers of some sort, though I am the only conversation teacher (and the only American). To get placed in that class, I had to take a placement test and speaking test, and after giving speaking exams all the time at school to students, it felt very strange to be on the opposite end of one! I now understand why many of my students get nervous and dislike doing practice tests. So far, I am really enjoying the class. It is interesting and I feel like I am learning a lot, especially because it is a small group. It is more conversation focused and has a lot of room to ask questions, which is how I like it. It is also nice to be able to speak with other Spanish learners at a similar level as me (with the supervision of our teacher). I mean, nothing beats speaking to a native to learn a language, but its nice to talk to someone at the same level (and struggle together). I also enjoy the class because it is nice to have sometime in my schedule that I enjoy and that is regular. It is forcing me to be a bit more social (which is something I have trouble with sometimes) and it is nice to do something that is unrelated to my job or my tutoring sessions.
So to answer the question that people ask me about my Spanish level, like I said, I am learning. For someone who has struggled with language learning in the past, I feel like I have made a lot of improvement, going from literally knowing no Spanish to being almost ready to take an A1 level exam (Passing the beginner level of the language). Some days, I feel as though I know nothing, and communicating is hard, and some days, it is easier. I know and can understand more than I realize and if people are patient with me, we can have something that sort of resembles a conversation. I have a lot to work on and a long ways to go, but so far, I am happy with the progress I have made so far with the language.
Hasta Luego!
Jordan's ESL Adventure 