Immersion is the Best!

On the value of immersion: My friend with whom I traveled for the early time of my stay, Cindy, took her first month of Spanish last summer in Antigua, at Christian Spanish Academy, CSA. She returned to CSA for two weeks before I arrived in Xela. When she joined me here, at the very beginning of my second week, we compared our knowledge and skill with the language. I had two years of Spanish in college, used that learning for a six-week trip to Bolivia soon after, then have spoken very little since. By the end of my second week here in PLQ, I had surpassed everything I learned in college and added more grammatical structure to my writing and speaking. In six weeks of study over the past 7 months, Cindy had surpassed the amount of content and speaking skill that she would have taken in two years of classes in a university or in a very long time of using software like Rosetta Stone.

Immersion is the best way to learn, in this model of intensive classes, home stay, and getting around in a Spanish speaking country. Not everyone has the blessing of taking five weeks away, as I have been able to do. This is a kind of gift of my unemployment, and the hiatus before starting residency in chaplaincy at Clarian. I will have a degree of fluency that will definitely enable me to listen well, to speak fairly well, and to read well. I can build upon this foundation for the rest of my life. Already, I have begun to read novels. When I listen to presentations at the school, I understand at least all of the context and the concept of what is being said, and at least half of the specific words. I worked for two weeks with one of the best grammarians in the school.

When I am with my family, Spanish language flies through the air at a speed that gives me whiplash, and gives me a reality check on the idea of fluency. Everyone is so nice to take time a meals to slow down and talk with me, give me the corrections I need, and help me understand more about the language. Gloria hopes one day to get her degree and teach at PLQ. Having students in her home will be a big help to her, too, because she gets the practice of hearing the kinds of mistakes we make!

I hope my next teacher can help me move along in the fluency of my speaking. With the help of my Guatemalan family and my intensive courses, I have confidence that my use of Spanish in my work will be effective.

[I am posting this because I did encounter some questions and doubts about this experience when I applied for grants. I can now explain with absolute certainty that if one has the time, and wants or needs to learn a language, this is the way to do it.]