Well no we don’t, but clearly for a successful life in Spain we really need to conquer the language and have set ourselves a target for learning Spanish before we leave to start our new life there. I am however very proud of my longest Spanish sentence which was a large(ish) list of drinks ordered at Bar Ortega in Comares!
Its not for want of trying as I have enrolled on a number of Spanish courses in the past but have never completed one and have enough courseware, books and tapes to last a lifetime!
We recently discovered an on-line learning tool called Busuu which is fun to do and has a peer to peer option for native speakers to comment and grade submitted work and to practice with native speakers too.
Study is divided into vocabulary, grammar, tests, and live units. So far we haven’t had the confidence to actually chat on line, but this is something we will definitely look to do in the future. The basic site is free and really useful, you can upgrade to access more resources if you are really serious about your learning and set targets dependent on the time you have available to study.
To date we have covered ¡Bienvendo!, ¿Como estás?, Ser o no ser and about to start basic numbers! This site has certainly superseded Chris’ iPhone app where he has had hours of fun translating rude words and phrases, then getting me to guess what he is saying!!!! He has also developed a rather loud Mexican bandit accent when practising his Spanish!
I’ve compiled a list of vocabulary and phrases for both Chris and I to learn this week, we want to incorporate as much Spanish into our discussions as possible but may end up not speaking to each other for an easier life, (should be fun)!
Chris has also found another on-line learning tool at Learn Direct which covers four levels and costs £29 per level. We are too late to enrol on an Adult Leaning class for this year (Oct 2012), but there does seem a lot of other options available.
The Lonely Planet Guide to Andalucía recommends an easy-to-grasp Spanish language course at the Universidad de Málaga, something we would both like to do on a future visit. Hopefully when we return for a week in February.
And if anyone knows of an easier way to add acute and grave accents and upside down question and exclamation marks please let me know!
Re: Universidad de Malaga Spanish language courses .....
I completed one semester and did learn a lot. However we had to complain about 1 of out of our 3 teachers a month into the course (we kept putting it off! hoping things would improve but they didn't), not just a bad teacher but also an extremely rude and abrupt attitude too.
The situation did improve after complaining.
As an experienced language teacher myself I was disappointed with the lack of use of visual aids/video (just one at Christmas!), the lack of Role-play, the amount of time students had to spend listening passively.
The amount of TTT .... that is to say a lot of Teacher Talking Time!
The class was large with 15 students. Plenty of homework, sometimes from all 3 teachers on the same day. Although, fair enough it didn't always have to be handed in the very next day.
I would say compared to other language schools very competitive prices but hit and miss as far as the teaching goes. Just to end on a positive note, I had friends in higher levels that had "awesome" teachers
Thanks Barbara for your feedback. Our friends here in Comares have recommended a local lady which probably suits us better. We will try to visit the university this week, here until Sunday.