The education system in Spain has gotten worse and worse over the years with the biggest failure by far being in the area of second languages. Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with the fact that most of the teachers are native Spanish speakers. A good teacher, which I will define in a future post, will always be a good teacher!
The problem is the method, how the class is conducted. If, as children, we all learned our native language years before being taught to read and write then why do Spanish students spend the majority of their class time reading and writing? From the moment they enter the language classroom they should be interacting orally in that second language.
A language is something you do, not something you study. Memorizing a vocabulary list is useless if you can't function in a language. You can't learn to swim, ride a bike, play a sport or a musical instrument from a book.
It's no surprise that the biggest impediment for the Spanish university graduate applying for his/her first job is their lack of proficiency in English.
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You are right. To facilitate fluency or ease in any language, one must do it, speak it and not just study it academically.
I lived in different countries since 1992 before relocating here in the USA 2 years ago teaching middle school art (drama and music, too). And unlike the other expats I worked with who could easily pick up the local dialect with ease and spontaneity, I wasn't wired that way. I realized that language is not my creative medium to express myself especially if it is not English, 'though English in itself is only my second language with Filipino~ being my mother tongue.
I tried learning the language (in Egypt, Thailand and Japan to name a few) but each attempt was a disaster. I'd get a response of a quick laughter from the adoring listener et voila, I'd be crimson as the budding rose in springtime. I'd stop speaking so nothing flourished. So long as I know the basics in local language to say the phrase to "turn right, left and straight ahead and to say how to hail a cab" in local language, I was ok (laughs).
Furthermore, from my experience, learning to count in the local language is important in shopping basically. In Alexandria, Egypt, the circumstances forced me to learn how to read numbers in Arabic or I won't be able to recognize the cost of the item I was purchasing.
I'd say I am a life survivor as far as language is concerned :-)
Just my 10 cent's worth of feedback here. Hola amigo!
P.S.
Spain is lovely. I have been in Barcelona in summer '97. You must have loved it there to stay on for decades.
So isn't it fun to blog? Ciao.
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