Free Spanish Lesson 68. Horse-n-Buggy Spanish of Old vs. Technology of Today
Vocabulary For Today’s Free Spanish Lesson – Vocabulario para el boletín
el boletín de esta semana – this week’s newsletter
son tan dedicados – you are so dedicated
muchos de ustedes usan – many of you use
cada día – each day
si nuestros maestros – if our teachers
en español – in Spanish
en el boletín de esta semana – in this week’s newsletter
en mi opinión – in my opinion
los recursos disponibles – the available resources
desde hace cien años – from 100 years ago
otro problema – another problem
maestros de español – Spanish teachers
ter minan un curso – finish a course
el problema – the problem
es muy difícil – is very difficult
las reglas – the rules
tantas personas con quien hablo – so many people that I talk to
también piensan – they also think
¿Hay esperanza? – Is there hope?
reglas de gramática – grammar rules
de muchos de ustedes – from many of you
los métodos equivocados – the wrong methods
al revés – backwards
números – numbers
colores – colors
días de la semana – days of the week
nueve años de estudios – nine years of research
que en verdad funciona – that actually works
el cerebro – the brain
al principio – at first
sin embargo – however
no han visto – have not seen
reglas de gramática – grammar rules
el hecho de que – the fact that
correctamente – correctly
es ayudarle a – is to help you to
para ganar dinero – to earn money
cienes de dólares – hundreds of dollars
I’d like to start off el boletín de esta semana by saluting all of the public-school Spanish teachers of today. Son tan dedicados and do such wonderful work usually on a shoe-string budget. Muchos de ustedes usan so much energy while teaching, and put on “performances” cada día for your students to get them to learn Spanish. You do great work and should be commended!!
Si nuestros maestros are so great, why do so many students finish Spanish classes without being able to converse en español? That is the issue I want to address en el boletín de esta semana.
En mi opinión, one of the major problems with learning Spanish today is that los recursos disponibles for people and school classes to learn Spanish are over 100 years old — the manual and the workbook. The same horse-n-buggy approach desde hace cien años is still used today, with an occasional low-budget CD.
Otro problema is that most of the textbooks available are designed to teach students how to be maestros de español and not how to speak and converse in Spanish. In other words, when students terminan un curso, they have a lot of grammar rules memorized and can regurgitate them and even conjugate different verbs but can’t actually communicate en español.
What does this do to the average person?
El problema is that most students that finish taking Spanish classes have the idea that Spanish es muy difícil because of all of las reglas and conjugations. Many of you have probably built mental blocks against learning Spanish because when you finished Spanish at school, you couldn’t speak it and much less with a native speaker. Tantas personas con quien hablo think that they were just not “made” to speak Spanish. También piensan that they were the only ones that didn’t get much out of Spanish in school. If you feel this way, don’t worry, you’re not alone, a majority of people that take Spanish in school feel the same way.
¿Hay esperanza?
Don’t worry, you’re not less intelligent or lacking a “Spanish gene”; in school you were simply trained to memorize reglas de gramática and verb conjugations but not to speak Spanish! Whew! I can already feel a sigh of relief de muchos de ustedes who thought you were sub par or damaged intellectually for the rest of your lives because of your experience with Spanish. Think of all of the wasted worries you could’ve put to rest had you known that you were simply learning with los métodos equivocados!
If you want to learn SpanishTry more free Spanish Lessons here.
En mi opinión, textbooks, even current “up-to-date” ones generally teach you Spanish al revés. Within the first few months of class, you learn números, colores, días de la semana and many verb conjugations. Then the real hope is that you’ll later pick up conversational skills.
That is why we at Visual Link Spanish™ have done nueve años de estudios and development to create our courses with modern technology and in a format que en verdad funciona. We teach you Spanish like children learn their own language but tailored to adults. First, you learn vocabulary words with computer pictures. It is done in a way that stimulates el cerebro and teaches you to build sentences.
You also learn conversational skills like asking and answering questions. We don’t teach you in-depth grammar al principio just like children don’t have grammar lessons when first learning a language. Sin embargo, you do learn to speak and converse correctly with correct grammar! If any of you no han visto how our course works, take a look at: Spanish Course Demo.
When we took English in our later school years, we finally started learning reglas de gramática. But most of us don’t even remember the grammar rules we learned in school. Does that make us less effective English speakers? NO! El hecho de que we don’t remember what a prepositional phrase is or the past participle of the word “swim” doesn’t mean we can speak English correctamente.
Moral of the Story: Nuestra meta and passion here at Visual Link Spanish™/U.S. Institute of Languages® es ayudarle a learn Spanish using the most modern and technologically advanced methods so when you are finished, you can actually speak Spanish. We are not like many companies who just throw together a Spanish course para ganar dinero at your expense and you gain nothing from it. We’ve had many customers say they’ve wasted cienes de dólares trying to learn Spanish, and finally with our course they were able to learn and communicate in Spanish.
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Written by David S. Clark President/Director, U.S. Institute of Languages. Copyright © 1999-2011 US Institute of Languages All rights reserved.
Andrew Makarik
to@welovecostarica.comAndrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.
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