Things have been going well with my learning overall. I have sincerely enjoyed my conversations with my iTalki tutor Maria (who goes by Mafi) and feel as though we have been able to have genuine conversations and establish some level of connection whilst entirely speaking in Spanish. There are a few things that have changed since I formulated my learning plan, 1) I have used Memrize less than expected due to difficulty in getting the application to be at the appropriate level and a paywall, and 2) I did not have as many conversations in Spanish in Puerto Rico as I had expected. Discussions in class have helped improve my understanding of language families and where Spanish falls in the Indo-European language family in addition to being a part of the Romance Language category. I would describe my engagement with the target language as largely informal in my conversations with Maria, with an occasional grammatical, tense, and vocabulary focus. We have had conversations about different words that mean the same thing depending on the nationality of the Spanish that is being spoken (for example, el guagua para el autobus in Puerto Rican Spanish and el cambio para change-back in Puerto Rican Spanish and los vueltos para change-back in Colombian Spanish). I would describe my engagement with the target culture as mainly having taken place during my time in Puerto Rico through food, cooking, dancing, music, and speaking when possible. I was able to have a conversation with an uber driver about bachata music and various Romeo Santos songs which I enjoyed and we listened to his music together. In order to improve my communicative competence, I need to improve my confidence with my Spanish and my sociolinguistic competence (especially improving my knowledge of which words that mean the same thing to use at which times). I would often try to speak Spanish with people in restaurants and other locations and they would respond in English, which I too promptly gave into out of a lack of confidence and not wanting to inconvenience anyone if I were to mess something up. Based on the readings by H.D. Brown, I am emphasizing language competence in my learning plan. Lastly, another thing that has changed in my learning plan is how I plan to continue my learning after graduation. I have applied to the Middlebury College Spanish Language school with the goal of securing Spanish fluency by the end of the summer.
You need to be a member of The SDLAP Ning to add comments!
Replies
I'm glad that your experience has been good overall! I also had some issues with Memrise; you might be interested in trying the LinguaLeo app instead. Music has also been extremely valuable in my personal language learning, so I'm happy you were able to speak to someone about Romeo Santos. If you are interested in using more music in your studies, I have some Spanish playlists that may be helpful :) I also wish you luck with your Middlebury application!
Thank you so much Kaylee! I'll be sure to check out the LinguaLeo app that's a great recommendation! And thank you for your offer with the Spanish playlists, I have many and have enjoyed paying closer attention to the lyrics in the Latin music I listen to to further my language learning! I'm so glad music has been valuable in your language learning as well!