During my stay in Guanajuato, I´ve enrolled at a great little language school called Escuela Mexicana, located right in the historic center of the city. The entrance to the school is off of one of Guanajuato´s many winding, hilly pedestrian alleys, and I inevitably arrive at class panting from the uphill climb. Since I am already fairly fluent in Spanish, I was assigned a private instructor, and I expected our class sessions to go something like this:
Karen would blab on about something banal, like places she´s visited, or best movies she´s seen, and the teacher would, from time to time, interrupt to correct a misused indirect object or teach her a new vocabulary word that Karen would then dutifully jot down on a page in a notebook to which she would never refer again.
Boy, was I wrong. My teacher is no run-of-the-mill Spanish grammar enthusiast. While others may think it appropriate to begin a first class with some get-to-know-you icebreaker chit-chat, my teacher and I delved right into topics such as modification of the social order through education, redistribution of the world´s resources, and the influence of mythology on a nation´s collective psyche. And it hasn´t gotten any lighter since then. Try these topics on for size: biotechnology, Tolstoy, eradicating hunger, diagnosing mental illness....
Do I know anything about these topics? Not really.
Do I know how to discuss these topics in Spanish? Not on your life.
Have I resorted to researching topics like Native American creation stories on the Internet prior to class in order to appear more intellectual? You betcha.
Am I grateful for the opportunity to realize all of the things I still have to learn? Absolutely.
The topics for tomorrow? Maybe past-life regression, possibly nuclear proliferation.
My response? Bring it on. (Just let me run to the Internet cafe first.)
Stay tuned: Sufi jokes
Karen would blab on about something banal, like places she´s visited, or best movies she´s seen, and the teacher would, from time to time, interrupt to correct a misused indirect object or teach her a new vocabulary word that Karen would then dutifully jot down on a page in a notebook to which she would never refer again.
Boy, was I wrong. My teacher is no run-of-the-mill Spanish grammar enthusiast. While others may think it appropriate to begin a first class with some get-to-know-you icebreaker chit-chat, my teacher and I delved right into topics such as modification of the social order through education, redistribution of the world´s resources, and the influence of mythology on a nation´s collective psyche. And it hasn´t gotten any lighter since then. Try these topics on for size: biotechnology, Tolstoy, eradicating hunger, diagnosing mental illness....
Do I know anything about these topics? Not really.
Do I know how to discuss these topics in Spanish? Not on your life.
Have I resorted to researching topics like Native American creation stories on the Internet prior to class in order to appear more intellectual? You betcha.
Am I grateful for the opportunity to realize all of the things I still have to learn? Absolutely.
The topics for tomorrow? Maybe past-life regression, possibly nuclear proliferation.
My response? Bring it on. (Just let me run to the Internet cafe first.)
Stay tuned: Sufi jokes
I'm loving it! If we ever get around to skyping, I can't wait to speak Spanish. I am in withdrawl from Spain and I need to speak it in my everyday life. :) Our Salamanca prof made us learn jargon that will never come in handy anywhere other than Salamanca. So we have strictly Wisconsin slang? I will be looking into that.
ReplyDeletexoxo, J
Karen, you are going to be able to talk about any topic anyone throws at you from now on -- in Spanish or English. What a great experience!
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