Spanish Learning

As an English teacher I found it very difficult to practice Spanish. For one, my Spanish was at a basic level when I first moved there. Whenever I communicated with anyone who had a basic level of English they saw an opportunity to practice their English. A few of the friends that we made saw us as practice time, and I didn't help myself as I would offer advice (the teacher inside of came out).

The first year I was there I was doing lots of studying, but the silent kind that involved reading, grammar exercises and watching television. It wasn't until the second year that I really started to improve. I landed a role in an academy and I had lessons with children as young as ten. I was told that I had to be able to communicate well with them in Spanish, as unlike the business lessons I taught in the first year, I obviously couldn't just rely on English.

I started to gain confidence and my group of friends soon started to talk to me in Spanish rather than English. This gave me more practice and I was soon talking in Spanish very often. Looking back at my first year I should have done more to put myself out there and part of the reason why people spoke to me in English was because I was afraid of making mistakes, and therefore I sometimes reverted to English. This can really stop you from talking and it is difficult to get out of this mind frame.

It took a group of ten year old children to make me more confident and not afraid to make mistakes; making a mistake in front of your friends is much less embarrassing than in front of a group of unforgiving ten year olds!