Grammar, skills and Spanish course for foreigners<

Grammar, skills and Spanish course for foreigners

In a first place, and with regard to my education I can say that: I have a degree in Germanic language and literature, I have a master in Translation and Interpretation of texts for specific purposes and of course, I have Pedagogical Aptitude Course, somewhat outdated. I love languages, and therefore I develop more or less in German and English.

I taught Spanish at a German school to primary school students through the Comenius Scholarship 2B that I obtained after my career. It only lasted three months but it was an enriching experience for a lot of reasons: to get to know another culture, precisely that of the country that has caught my attention for many years. I gave classes to twelve-year students, for which I had not been trained precisely and especially about the education system that was used in this school. It was a teaching system based not only on the use of the blackboard – which have now been replaced by modern whiteboards – but based on games, discussions of people outside the school, which recounted their experiences about a topic related to what students were taking at the time, etc. I had, in short, the good fortune to share intimate moments not only with the students but also with my colleagues. Also, as I had a lot of leisure time, I gave Spanish classes to some of the student´s mothers, who were already on a particular level.
On the other side I have already worked here in Spain as instructor for the program of linguistic support to immigrants. My students had very little knowledge of Spanish, though there were in different levels, since they came from different countries and each one had stayed more or less time in our country. They came from Armenia, Morocco and Russia. Similarly, it was a rewarding and endearing experience.
Currently, and after passing the Spanish language examinations, I am a temporary teacher, but unfortunately and for known causes I am unemployed.
Thus, and because the contact with people from other cultures has always been fascinating me, I have decided to take this course to search for new opportunities and experiences, which fill my professional experiences and my poor intellectual culture.
Regarding the best way to teach other languages and after the experience as a student of foreign languages, it´s not precise which is, at least it existed when I was studying in the university. There was too much theory and it hardly offered you opportunities to practice speaking the language, which, unless you could find either language exchanges or were able to visiting the foreign-speaking countries due to grants, your level was just at sufficient to carry out a basic conversation. With this course I have put into practice learning strategies based on interaction between the students and between the students and the teacher.
As a teacher, I know clearly that the language is learned, perfected and enriched essentially interrelated using the four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. “To talk and write with correctness and accuracy, the grammar rules are less important than the grammar that you are actively taught”. This categorical statement of Unamuno perfectly sums up the goals that we set early on: look for other approaches, other methods, other ways to approach the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language.
Hence, the distribution of content does not intend to give a mass of knowledge, theories of grammar or an endless list of verbs and vocabulary, but a wide range of proposed activities, designed to practice the correct use of language, the grammatical knowledge of the mechanisms underlying this use as well as reflective knowledge of Spanish culture. We intend that students learn to read, speak, write and know the Spanish language as their own.
In conclusion, I am very satisfied that I took this course; I found it really challenging, interesting and useful. Similarly, I have learned a lot about the mythologies to continue in this field of teaching. I am a Spanish language teacher but in reality I am a German language teacher and I have rediscovered an area of teaching in which I would definitely work.
At last, I would like to thank Instituto Hemingway and particularly those who I was in contact with during the course (including the tutor), for all the provided help to carry out this course.