Spanish this fall
I was going to start Spanish classes in summer, after doing as poorly as possible without lying on any Spanish placement test. Those plans have changed.
First of all, the local community college is much more worried about people starting at too high of a level than about people ruining the curve for true beginners, so they don't require a placement test.
But much more importantly, I found out at Chikuru's and Raaga123's end-of-summer party that Fraeuleinchen was going to take Spanish I this fall with P, someone we know from ballroom dancing, two weekday nights from 6:30 until 8:50 at a convenient location that actually has parking and isn't scary at night. Robin had the idea that we could join them (no, I don't know why I did not also have this idea until it was handed to me). Fraeuleinchen and P also liked this idea, and we have now all registered and gotten into the class. Woo hoo!
Automatic study group! Of course, we all know that study groups made out of your friends don't always work well and could possibly even ruin the friendships (or, at least, that's what I've heard about roommates), but I'm not too worried about this happening. I actually think everyone will be a good study group person unless they just don't have time in which case they will just be nonexistent.
I've decided it will be best if I take the bus directly there from work instead of hoping I get home before 6:00 like I often don't and then dealing with rush-hour traffic. Unfortunately, this will mean I need to bring lunch and dinner to work with me. That's easy enough in itself. The question is, how can I keep myself from gobbling down all my food before lunch starts, like I sometimes do? (Like I often do.) My best plan is to bring peanut butter and pumpkin butter sandwiches for dinner. I like them and they are semi healthy (protein, fiber, vitamin A), but I don't crave them. Especially at work, I generally want something hot and savory. So that might work. And if I bring two, and cut them in half, then even if I do eat some early, the serving size of 1/2 sandwich may slow me down enough so that I'm not hungry during class.
Another question is how to find enough time to study. It looks like 1 hour per day on other weekdays and 2 hours per day on the weekends would officially be enough--that seems possible. But nothing else will be happening on those class days but work and class.
I'm not sure what text we're using yet--if they go the same route as recent years, it will be one of those text + online-stuff-requiring-an-expiring-one-person-only-code things. That's fine for me; the money's coming out of my long-term fun fund (normally used for vacations and electronics).
I've looked up resources at the college. They have some sort of study lab with rooms you can reserve for study groups and with free tutoring (even in Spanish) as well as free online tutoring. Wow.
In the past, I've felt that anyone who "needs" tutoring is a failure, but being a tutor made me realize that (at least for statistics), tutoring can make the learning more efficient. I'm not sure how that works with language learning--I'm generally good at understanding concepts and terrible at memorizing vocabulary. We'll see.
I also thought it might be good to find a recommended text to have an extra source of info. Instead, online research led me to the Practice Makes Perfect series, so I've gotten Spanish Verbs and Spanish Nouns/Adjectives (used).
I've also tried to find the awesome flashcard ap I'd read about a while ago (I think it's Anki) which shows you the harder cards much more often than the easier cards, but still shows you the easier cards occasionally so you don't forget them. It uses science! My favorite! I haven't tried downloading it, seeing if it works for my iToy (portable) and computer (easy to type into) and sincs well between them and if I can get past the learning curve.
Finally, I do want to look for immersion opportunities--telenovelas, children's books, movies, etc. Then you can learn some things almost magically, where you know something's right because it sounds right even if you don't know why.
First of all, the local community college is much more worried about people starting at too high of a level than about people ruining the curve for true beginners, so they don't require a placement test.
But much more importantly, I found out at Chikuru's and Raaga123's end-of-summer party that Fraeuleinchen was going to take Spanish I this fall with P, someone we know from ballroom dancing, two weekday nights from 6:30 until 8:50 at a convenient location that actually has parking and isn't scary at night. Robin had the idea that we could join them (no, I don't know why I did not also have this idea until it was handed to me). Fraeuleinchen and P also liked this idea, and we have now all registered and gotten into the class. Woo hoo!
Automatic study group! Of course, we all know that study groups made out of your friends don't always work well and could possibly even ruin the friendships (or, at least, that's what I've heard about roommates), but I'm not too worried about this happening. I actually think everyone will be a good study group person unless they just don't have time in which case they will just be nonexistent.
I've decided it will be best if I take the bus directly there from work instead of hoping I get home before 6:00 like I often don't and then dealing with rush-hour traffic. Unfortunately, this will mean I need to bring lunch and dinner to work with me. That's easy enough in itself. The question is, how can I keep myself from gobbling down all my food before lunch starts, like I sometimes do? (Like I often do.) My best plan is to bring peanut butter and pumpkin butter sandwiches for dinner. I like them and they are semi healthy (protein, fiber, vitamin A), but I don't crave them. Especially at work, I generally want something hot and savory. So that might work. And if I bring two, and cut them in half, then even if I do eat some early, the serving size of 1/2 sandwich may slow me down enough so that I'm not hungry during class.
Another question is how to find enough time to study. It looks like 1 hour per day on other weekdays and 2 hours per day on the weekends would officially be enough--that seems possible. But nothing else will be happening on those class days but work and class.
I'm not sure what text we're using yet--if they go the same route as recent years, it will be one of those text + online-stuff-requiring-an-expiring-one-person-only-code things. That's fine for me; the money's coming out of my long-term fun fund (normally used for vacations and electronics).
I've looked up resources at the college. They have some sort of study lab with rooms you can reserve for study groups and with free tutoring (even in Spanish) as well as free online tutoring. Wow.
In the past, I've felt that anyone who "needs" tutoring is a failure, but being a tutor made me realize that (at least for statistics), tutoring can make the learning more efficient. I'm not sure how that works with language learning--I'm generally good at understanding concepts and terrible at memorizing vocabulary. We'll see.
I also thought it might be good to find a recommended text to have an extra source of info. Instead, online research led me to the Practice Makes Perfect series, so I've gotten Spanish Verbs and Spanish Nouns/Adjectives (used).
I've also tried to find the awesome flashcard ap I'd read about a while ago (I think it's Anki) which shows you the harder cards much more often than the easier cards, but still shows you the easier cards occasionally so you don't forget them. It uses science! My favorite! I haven't tried downloading it, seeing if it works for my iToy (portable) and computer (easy to type into) and sincs well between them and if I can get past the learning curve.
Finally, I do want to look for immersion opportunities--telenovelas, children's books, movies, etc. Then you can learn some things almost magically, where you know something's right because it sounds right even if you don't know why.