Posted by giveawayboy on September 17, 2002 at 01:55:46:
Before I state this let me clarify that none of what I'm about to say should be taken as a burden. This is a suggestion. It is not meant to be something that any one person should feel burdened by. I say this since I know often when a suggestion is made some feel the necessity to list every reason why it is not practical or feasible, etc. I'm not asking for commitments from anyone. I'm just making a suggestion.
This is my suggestion:
I think it would be neat for those who felt so inclined to practice our spanish together. This might take on the form of weekly or bi-monthly jam sessions where we all gather and speak to each other only in Spanish or it could be something facilitated by an instructor. I realize taht many of us could not afford to bring in a teacher or go and attend a class, but if we were to find another way to do this we could most likely have a great learning experience. If those of us who spike Spanish would want to help facilitate a group like this and could bear with our accents, then we could perhaps buy them dinner or something and they could try and jumpstart conversations and keep them going. Perhaps we could concentrate on many ways of saying the same words and phrases. For instance pick one verb and use it in every possible conjugation. Or perhaps we could learn helpful common phrases. The use of books in personal study is great, but never a substitute for actually speaking a language. I have learned this through studying Portuguese alone vs. in a group context. However, I feel that our group of friends has a great capacity for Spanish and let's face it, we do live in Tampa. I for one would love to speak Spanish more often with anyone who is willing. But, I also hope that if someone is a fluent speaker, they will be patient with me and not demand quick responses as it might take me a while to think up original things to say. Anyway, if anyone likes this idea, please email me and then we can begin to coordinate. I'd be happy to use my home for a home base. Even if we started out without a facilitator who spoke Spanish, I have several tapes and CDs that we could begin to use.
Let me know. Bill wondermagazine@aol.com