MASTERING SPANISH

Introduction

The study of Spanish Can Be Fun• It is only with dedication

and cooperation that success will come.

• Turn your wish to learn into a will to learn.

• Recognize and master the challenge.

• Learn all the new rules. Only then will a measure of success be assured.

• To attain the goal, work will be demanding and the correction or errors relentless.

• With collaboration, the student will feel confident and the purpose to do his/her part to achieve success.

• By the end, the student will speak Spanish well enough to be understood by a native Latin American.

How to Learn

• One of the purposes of education is to develop the ability to learn.

• Tolerance and the ability to get along with others is another one.

• How to become a good citizen is part of education.• Last but not least, is to improve one’s knowledge and

skills. How to study and how to learn are personal matters. Not

all of us learn the same way. It is therefore obvious that the first step in learning is to study ourselves.

“Know Thyself!” Plato

Have a Plan

• One has to know where he wants to go before he can hope to get there.

• Some assignments require more than two hours of study, others less, but at the end your budgeted time must be enough to cover the unit.

• Schedule to study for the hardest tasks, the hours when the brain is freshest. Only then will a measure of success be assured.

• Spaced learning brings the best results. Fifty minutes is about as long as a person can concentrate and do his best work, so an occasional break is recommended.

• It is unwise to leave to the last the subject you don’t like. Then both weariness and distaste are working against attempts to study it.

• Regularity is essential, in language learning. One cannot postpone language study and let it pile up to be done just before a test. The student can cram the memorization of a vocabulary or of a verb conjugation, but repetition and time for assimilation are necessary to acquire skill in using them.

Health and Proper Surroundings• A healthy, un-tired body helps in acquiring

knowledge.• Adequate illumination will help when studying.• Comfortable study conditions include proper

room temperature. Too much warmth and coziness will make you sleepy.

• Surroundings conducive of concentration are also important. Noise, along with conversation, radio, television and loud music can keep your brain from concentrating and doing its best work.

Handicaps

• There are even greater handicaps than noise to the acquisition of knowledge.

• Belief that the subject is unimportant is one.

• Feeling that the subject is boring and distasteful is even worse.

• The belief that Spanish is hard is another handicap.

• The opposite view, that Spanish is very easy, can also be a handicap if it encourages the tendency to slight studying.

• Lack of knowledge of English grammar often makes Spanish seem incomprehensible. English grammar serves as an introduction to Spanish grammar.

• The greatest handicap to the beginning language student is the fear of making mistakes and appearing ridiculous. Everyone who tries to do anything makes mistakes. A student who can laugh at his own errors draws the sting from the amusement of the others; but he should never laugh at the mistakes of his classmates.

• Worry also slows up the learning process. For minor problems, the teacher is there to be consulted. And for the basic worry of not being able to pass the midterm or final examination, that bridge can be crossed more easily if it is boldly and fearlessly approached.

How to Start

• Language learning combines fact-accumulation and skills.

• There is a high correlation between excellence in Spanish and in Mathematics– English Grammar. Both imply an ability to use facts.

• Practice makes perfection.

• No teacher can teach anybody Spanish. He/she can explain and give information and correct errors, but the student himself must learn.

Determination is an important factor. History is full of people who have taught themselves foreign languages without an instructor. They observed, read, memorized, listened and practice at every opportunity.

A good student looks for short cuts. He learns the main rule and at first disregards unusual exceptions.

A good student hunts opportunities to use Spanish, and there are many in today’s world. He employs all the senses in the learning process: sight, hearing, speaking and feeling through writing. Spanish can also “smell right,” or wrong.

Early Steps: Pronunciation

• Spanish is a living language, meant to be spoken. Therefore the learner needs to pay attention to its sounds.

• Fluency is more important than the perfection of sound, therefore every student must make up his mind to pronounce as well as possible

• A language laboratory is especially helpful in giving the student a chance to listen, to imitate and then to hear his imitations. One can not learn to talk by thinking soundlessly.

• Intonation should also be learned as early as possible, again through repetition using the language lab, this can be accomplished.

• Much Spanish should be practiced aloud. Conjugate verbs aloud. Read aloud, look away from the page and repeat aloud. Rehearse the sentences. Form other sentences and say them. Repetition aids the memory, and a large part of the early stages of language learning is memorizing.

Get a Feeling for Spanish

• Hard work is necessary before a person can feel Spanish or think in Spanish

• Simple translation is not enough.• Spanish sounds must be visualized associated

with the object or the action rather than their English equivalent.

• Spanish sentences must be pictured, not turned into English. They should be dramatized.

• Spanish poetry and prose must be memorized.

Grammar

• The test is the ability to apply Spanish.• The student should be encouraged to formulate his own

grammatical rules to clarify his thinking, and write them down in his notebook.

• Language ability means automatic response, but until the rules and their use become automatic, at least they aid in accuracy.

• The student should be warned that some grammar rules seem illogical. Grammar represents growth and development.

• Grammar rules are meant to be accepted, not argued.

The Verb

• Verbs are one of the chief difficulties of grammar therefore, special attention is needed from the students.

• Verbs must be mastered from the beginning and while being presented in the textbook.

• Special attention must be paid to the verb’s infinitive.

• Verb tenses are best studied in series and with temporal adverbs. They should also be studied in complete sentences.11

Vocabulary

• There are several sorts of vocabulary: the active vocabulary used in speaking and writing, and the passive or recognizable vocabulary for listening and reading. But words can best be learned in context.

• Memorizing for recognition is the poorest method of learning. It is more preferable to make sentences or define in Spanish the term.

• The more a word is written or spoken or worked into sentences, the longer it will stick in the memory.

Note Taking

• A good student listens, analyzes, tries to pick out the most important points, especially if new to him, and sets them down clearly and concisely.

• Notes are for the personal use of a student. What he knows need not be repeated in them.

• Students should never write notes on the books unless they have purchased their own.

Memorizing

• The early weeks of language study require a lot of memorization, so if it is possible to avoid any part of it, that is a gain. A logical glance may save some of it.

• Application of the principal of cognates and observation of similarities and differences between English and the Spanish languages may make unnecessary some of the work.

• Discover the logic in idioms. Observe the pattern in verb conjugation. Generalize rather than seeking out all possible differences.

• For more efficient memorizing, you can use the chanting method, but make sure you memorize the rule along with an example and use all of one’s senses. Say it aloud to remember it, for the tongue to shape it and the ears to hear it; write it for the fingers to feel it and the eyes to see it.

Reading

• In reading, a student profits by all his previous learning. If he has accumulated an extensive vocabulary, he will not need to thumb the pages in the back of the book.

• There are several kinds of reading: slow and intensive to permit observation of constructions and relationships; fast and extensive to get the thought or the story.

• The more one reads, the easier it becomes. All kinds can be practiced in class: careful and analytical or fast reading with enunciation and expression will help express unfamiliar terms.

Examinations

• Only by attempting to recall can a student discover how much he has really learned. This is the purpose of examinations

• Self-examination ought always to be part of the learning process. Study a rule, observe the examples, then tell yourself briefly what you have learned. Read a paragraph or story and test your comprehension by trying to put its content into your own words.

• Once is not enough to review. The material must be impress on the brain by repetition. Flash cards help to study through out the unit.

• Grammar notes, written sentences and various entries in the note book , deserve a second glance at intervals.

• Midterm and final examinations are only glorified versions of those self-examinations, and, therefore; ought not to terrify any student. Anyone who has worked consistently throughout the term has no cause to worry or cram for the finals in Spanish.

Conclusion

• There is no short way to learn a language. Work hard and efficiently to earn success.

• You will achieve facility and know the fun and joy of accomplishment. That is your reward and satisfaction as a conscientious student.