Soraya
Establishing content and context for student learning (Spanish for anglo and russian students) As a professional teacher of Spanish, it is extreeeemely important to me to have a long interview (an hour should be enough and I don’t charge for it) with my student before planning a course for him. Why? Because in language, contexts are everything! And this especially true if you need to speak that language as fast as possible, which is quite common. Think about it. A person does not talk the same if he is a lawyer or he is working at a restaurant as a cook, and he does not need the same level of command of the language when he is traveling around Spain every summer or he actually needs the language to find a job and settle in Madrid. That is the reason why my course is personalized. One of my Russian students (not Italki yet), Natasha, she is a psychologist. She actually has a high cultural level which helps her to understand complex texts about psychology in Spanish and I use that for her own good. What do we do? We read together long texts about physiology or philosophy and she actually understands more than me :-) as that subject is known to her. That exercise helps her to acquire the terminology she needs. If the student is an immigrant, he/she actually will need to acquire expertise in certain fields as he will have different global objectives. He will need to introduce himself and give personal data so, upon completion of this level, students can use Spanish to greet, introduce himself and handle situations where he has to provide personal information. The student will also have to know the city, neighborhood or town, so the students may use the Spanish to locate places of interest in his area. He will need using public transport, so the student will be able to use Spanish to travel in public transport in his town. He also will need to make purchases in the shops, going to the doctor, find a flat to rent, search for a job, arrange documentation etc. I also have another student who is buying housing in the south of Spain and travel 3 months every year. What does he do when he comes to Spain? Meet business people, go to restaurants, to arrange his house, to contract services…his life is sooo different... He needs a different level of support and that is why my course to him is also different. Finally, in 2-4 years’ time, they both will be able to manage almost all standards situations of life, but that is impossible to get it in just 40 lessons or 3 months. Time and persistence will bring that.
Oct 24, 2014 9:53 AM