Learning Article : Los Tiempos Verbales En Español

Discuss the Article : Los Tiempos Verbales En Español

<a href='/article/336/los-tiempos-verbales-en-espanol' target='_blank'>Los Tiempos Verbales En Español</a>

Si hay un capítulo de nuestro idioma que desconcierta al estudiante del idioma español es el de las formas verbales del pasado y, más específicamente, el dilema de cuándo debe emplearse uno u otro. (This article is written in Spanish.)

‘Mary’s cat has a blue tie but it doesn’t like honey’ I remember when I studied English at school, we used to have books with texts I was unable to be interested in, and it could be something as ‘Mary’s cat has a blue tie but it doesn’t like honey’. After a short while, it is very difficult to be interested in “English language” when you read texts like that in a book all the time. So, when I teach Spanish, I am especially interested in selecting texts that the student may follow without getting horribly bored. It is important that the prepared types of text for each student fit the objectives of each activity. We also have to take into account that the language’s samples we select, whether oral or written, are presented in real contexts, linked to communication situations that student needs at each stage of the program. The same text may serve as a model for subsequent comprehension and expression activities (oral or written), intonation and pronunciation. Moreover, the text should offer the following possibilities: • Include vocabulary (in recorded or written texts). • Show grammatical examples. • Recognize different types of text (print ads, tickets). • Identify the relevant information (in printed contracts.). • produce similar texts (writing a notice of demand for labor). • Role playing. We could start with short and simple texts and to observe the student’s progression to increase the level of difficulty as it should be according to students’ skills. It is more interesting and motivating for a student when a teacher prepares the material based on the own students’ experiences and activities. Among others, I suggest the following types of texts for comprehension and expression: a. Oral texts: • Telephone conversations. • Notices published by pagers. • Dialogues or conversations. • Job interviews. • Songs. b. Written texts: • Commercials, billboards and signals. • Tickets. • Official Formularies. • Notes and messages (written, phone…) • Prescriptions. • Supermarket signs and shops. • Labels for goods. Learning language should prepare us for real life experiences and these should contribute to feedback the process of learning.

LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS In Spain, we usually say “La experiencia es un grado”, which means “experience is a plus”…experience is sometimes, even more important than formal education. Many of the things I have learnt as a teacher were not learnt at the university, but from the practice of the teaching, as well as the practice of being a student of foreign languages myself. That really helps me to understand what the real need for the student is. When I define the basic content, context and order of the materials of each course for a student who starts learning Spanish from the scratch, I start defining the concept of ‘function’ or ‘what the student need the language for as A MUST’. A standard person would need a limited number of functions in the every day life, let’s say, to meet people and say hello and goodbye, to ask and understand instructions if he needs to go somewhere, to spell the words and to pronounce the words properly, to ask for a ticket in the bus/train/plane, to answer the phone, to ask the price of any article, to explain the symptoms of a disease, etc. Obviously, the function of the language is related to other components of the course program like grammar, lexicon, and type of text or language. All the elements have to be defined in such a way that the student can be able to use oral and written skills to communicate. The overall objective is, if the student is already living in our country, to allow his/her language integration as soon as possible, attending those personal situations that can be important. As an example, one my students is already living with her Spanish husband and she is currently learning the language. Her husband enjoys to talk for hours with friends about certain subjects like the weather or his dogs as they live surrounded by many of them in a natural environment. She needs a specific type of support of her every day’s life, so we use as much time as we can to learn the lexicon she needs related to animals, plants, land uses, weather, etc. If the student is learning a foreign language as a part of the curricula, the issue is much easier as the content is already prepared by the standard course or school so the student provides the material to me and I support his/her learning process and skills with his own content and similar type of material, and I also help her to improve the oral communication practices. Again, content, context, function and person…all is related and has to be designed in a tailor made course.

Establishing content and context for student learning (Spanish for anglo and russian students) As a professional teacher of Spanish, it is extreeeemely important to me to have a long interview (an hour should be enough and I don’t charge for it) with my student before planning a course for him. Why? Because in language, contexts are everything! And this especially true if you need to speak that language as fast as possible, which is quite common. Think about it. A person does not talk the same if he is a lawyer or he is working at a restaurant as a cook, and he does not need the same level of command of the language when he is traveling around Spain every summer or he actually needs the language to find a job and settle in Madrid. That is the reason why my course is personalized. One of my Russian students (not Italki yet), Natasha, she is a psychologist. She actually has a high cultural level which helps her to understand complex texts about psychology in Spanish and I use that for her own good. What do we do? We read together long texts about physiology or philosophy and she actually understands more than me :-) as that subject is known to her. That exercise helps her to acquire the terminology she needs. If the student is an immigrant, he/she actually will need to acquire expertise in certain fields as he will have different global objectives. He will need to introduce himself and give personal data so, upon completion of this level, students can use Spanish to greet, introduce himself and handle situations where he has to provide personal information. The student will also have to know the city, neighborhood or town, so the students may use the Spanish to locate places of interest in his area. He will need using public transport, so the student will be able to use Spanish to travel in public transport in his town. He also will need to make purchases in the shops, going to the doctor, find a flat to rent, search for a job, arrange documentation etc. I also have another student who is buying housing in the south of Spain and travel 3 months every year. What does he do when he comes to Spain? Meet business people, go to restaurants, to arrange his house, to contract services…his life is sooo different... He needs a different level of support and that is why my course to him is also different. Finally, in 2-4 years’ time, they both will be able to manage almost all standards situations of life, but that is impossible to get it in just 40 lessons or 3 months. Time and persistence will bring that.