Classes Have Begun!

I am a bit behind in posting because Spanish language classes began on Monday, three days ago, and I have been very busy, between 4 hours of class each morning, afternoon activities, and homework! The classes began with us diving right in the deep end! La profesora es muy rapido! I am not sure that is proper construction, but for you English only speakers, my professor, a woman named Ana Lema, began in Spanish and continues almost exclusively in Spanish. It is a true immersion teaching technique. The class is small, myself and one other student, Philip, from San Francisco. Out teacher is very nice, very good, but she expects a lot! When we slow her down and ask questions properly in Espanol, she slows down and takes time with us. But then she is ready to move on to the next concept and away we go!

The second day I forgot my student books! Muy stupido! I left in a hurry and assumed they were in my backpack, but they weren't. So I had to borrow a book, take notes in my journal, and later transcribe them to my student notepad! The classes are very taxing. My brain definitely feels on overload by the time we finish. We have 4 hours of lessons, with about a 30 minute break, and the time seems to fly by. As I said, we move from one concept to another quickly. We have been conjugating verbs galore and I have learned that there are mucho, mucho irregular verbs in Spanish. There are a few rules to help with them, but to know which ones the rules apply to, you basically have to memorize them. As Ana says, that is why it is so difficult for Spanish speakers to speak properly, even those who learn from very young. And I always thought English was a tough language because of all the exceptions to the rules. Doesn't seem that way to me right now!

On a positive note, though, I noticed today that I am actually beginning to understand the teacher. So I have a feeling that my brain is actually beginning to shift. I have hope that by the end of my six weeks of lessons I will actually have some ability to speak and understand Spanish. But right now, it still feels a long way to go. Yesterday she asked us to compose some dialogues, similar to some examples, but not exactly, not copied, and I was stunned! We have been doing some verbs, but until today, very few nouns, so I was at a real loss. But I worked at it and came up with something. I do think the approach will work, but it is mind-blowing and mind-numbing at the same time.