READ THESE TIPS BY NOMEN GLOBAL’S ESL TEACHER ANDRES
Like my ESL students at Nomen Global, I too was a student of a foreign language many years ago. I studied Spanish for four years in high school and then another four years at BYU, where I made Spanish my major. Believe it or not, I majored in Secondary Ed to be a Spanish high school teacher, but my lack of confidence in my abilities with the Spanish language prevented me from pursuing a career in the public education system, and I have been very happy teaching my minor ESL, which I am much more comfortable with. Why didn’t I teach in public school? Well, one reason is that even though I took all the necessary requirements to graduate in Spanish teaching, I just never felt I reached my full potential with Spanish. I had spent a semester abroad in Madrid in my very first year of BYU, but even that was not enough for me to feel accomplished in the Spanish language. I would like to give suggestions for YOU who are living right here in Utah Valley so that one day you will have more confidence with your English than I ever had with my Spanish!
It’s not enough to simply study at a school or even to live in the country (as I did when I was in Spain). You have to go beyond that if you want to feel confident about your second language speaking abilities. When I was in Spain, I decided that I would speak only Spanish as much as possible in addition to studying the classes I was taking in Madrid. My problem was that I was with 22 other Americans who did not care as much about their Spanish learning as I did. One American girl would speak Spanish with me, but we were both making mistakes, I am sure. I wanted the full Spanish speaking experience! I had three Spanish roommates with whom I shared my bedroom in the residencia. None of them had time for me, so even though I was the only American who chose to room with Spanish speakers, I never got experience speaking with the Spanish girls. My practice with Spanish was sadly lacking. However, I did the best I could under the circumstances, and I spoke Spanish as often as I could.
Despite not having ideal speaking experiences with my uncommunicative roommates, I DID hear a lot of Spanish, and I did TRY to communicate as often as I could by going shopping and trying to purchase things by myself. I even took Flamenco lessons in Spanish and took excursions around the city on the public buses. On some weekends, our group took tours to famous cities of Spain, and we listened to tour guides who sometimes spoke Spanish. Also I was hearing Spanish in the Spanish classes I took at the Residencia. My small group of American students went to LDS church meetings held In Spanish and I participated in talent shows using Spanish.
When I left Spain four months later, I felt sad because I felt I was on the BRINK of GETTING IT!!! I just needed a little more time! I had awakened a few times from dreams in which I was actually speaking and listening to Spanish, and in my dreams I felt fluent! I still remember my three Spanish roommates who gave me a little party the day before I left. One said to me, “I can tell you have progressed in Spanish” (I felt like saying to her, “No thanks to you and your friends who rarely even talked to me!”)
Please, if you are an ESL student here in the U.S.A., TAKE ADVANTAGE of all the time and circumstances that are afforded you to practice your English. Take road trips. Shop in stores and go to restaurants practicing English. Try to find friends to speak English with. With some luck, you might get roommates or friends who are patient with you and will take the time to converse with you. Actively search for friendships. If you are religious, attend meetings in ENGLISH. If your school offers any programs or has parties for you, attend them and speak in English. Speak in English at your school and OUTSIDE your school. I was speaking Spanish whenever I was able to in Spain, but because my time got cut short, I never reached my full potential.
I came back to the USA and finished my Spanish major, but my opportunity to be immersed in Spanish culture had slipped away. For the past fifty years, I have had hardly any opportunities to use Spanish except a few times trying to explain things to level 1 students in my classroom or unexpectedly meeting a Spanish speaker outside of the school with whom I have been forced to use Spanish. I would give anything to return to Madrid and surround myself with good friends who would take the time to converse with me in Spanish. I feel like I needed only a year or two longer to really GET Spanish (back when I was in Madrid). Today I would feel much more confident in my abilities if only I had stayed in Spain a little longer. I hope you are able to spend at least a year or longer in the USA, but don’t waste that time if you have it. Immerse yourself in our culture here, and I bet you will be waking up from dreams where you are speaking English fluently and very soon, you will be living those dreams in the real world as well!