Spanish School Experiences

Well we’ve been through a full week of class now and also had the opportunity to travel a little outside of Antigua. We thought it might be best if we each wrote separate entries about our experiences this week to give you each of our perspectives.

John – on our first day of school, my teacher, Evelyn, arrived a bit late due to a broken down bus from her town. I sat with Amanda and her teacher Manuel for awhile and we just talked about ourselves for awhile. I spent the first hour or so with my teacher doing the same thing. It took a little while for her to figure out where to start because while I have a decent vocabulary in Spanish, but my grammar was pretty terrible. I was a bit scared at first because she was actually speaking faster than any other Guatemalans I had talked to up to that point. By Friday we had covered the past, imperfect and some future verb tenses. One activity that I feel has been most beneficial is reading a short article from a local paper or a magazine out loud in Spanish, then trying to describe to Evelyn what I’ve just read using some of the new vocabulary from the article. Evelyn is also good about correcting my pronunciation and grammar every time I mess up, which is sometimes frustrating but it has helped me speak better by the end of the week. I felt like I improved in my ability to understand my teacher when she is speaking fast, and I am trying to work on thinking in Spanish and understanding what I’m hearing without having to translate it in my head. Sometimes its frustrating, but we’ll get there! I love y’all, thanks for your prayers and for checking us out.

Amanda – My first week at Spanish school was very exciting. After the first day, my brain was so full it almost hurt because I was thinking so hard. Every morning was a little easier to adjust to the intense four hours of “only Spanish.” My teacher, Manuel, speaks fairly slow so I can understand, but fast enough so that I am constantly being challenged. He knows a lot of English so he is able to help me if I don’t understand. For the first week, we focused on articles (un, uno, el, la, etc.), positive and negative expressions (always, never, no one, someone), vocabulary building, opposites, and adjectives. I am also reading out loud and speaking everyday to practice pronunciation and using the grammar in conversation. Similar to John, my teacher had to figure out where to start because I have a fairly good base in vocabulary and grammar from my classes at A&M, but it is not consistent. The hardest part is thinking in Spanish and making conversation. I talk very slow, but I eventually say what I need to with the help of Manuel. Manuel and I start the morning talking about the day before or a subject in the newspaper, and then we move to pronunciation and grammar. On Thursday the 20th, we took a field trip with John and his teacher, Evelyn. We visited a church named after a man named San Francisco. His tomb is at the church and we were able to converse in Spanish with our teachers about the church and the culture in Guatemala. I am looking forward to next week where I will be learning more Spanish! It’s amazing how much I am learning everyday! Thank you for your continued prayers for our language acquisition. Love to you all. –Amanda

*If you have a specific question about our life or the culture here in Guatemala, please post a comment or send us an email (mountainmann42@hotmail.com or beachwomann42@hotmail.com). We would love to answer all your questions!
Volcano pictures coming soon!