Poco A Poco - Little by Little

While it's been raining everyday here in Panama we have started to really dig into our Spanish classes.

Our classes have just started.   I have 7 new students and we have been having so much fun.

 Everyday we have been focusing on new vocabulary, conversational phrases, and conjugating verbs. These kids aren't your average first year freshman Spanish kids. They are international students. They are living in a Spanish Speaking culture where almost everything outside of their home is in Spanish. They want to be able to talk to others in Spanish.

 How do you do that?

 Well as I 've been sharing with my kids they need to put themselves out there and interact in the culture! 

 It may sound amusing that you can live in a Spanish world and not speak Spanish! So many people just do that. They only speak to friends that speak their native language, speak the minimal Spanish to get by, and just don't have the extra energy to put out to learn a new language. Anyone could get stuck not learning the language of the country they live in. It just seems overwhelming at times! I have seen this many times while living in California. There are so many immigrants from Asian, Latin America, and other countries with their own communities. Everyone has heard of China town! Well did you know there is a China town here in Panama City, Panama too?

 So if your finding yourself stuck in this rut of wanting to learn another language but just can't seem to - what do you do? Well let me give you some simple steps to follow that I am encouraging my students to do:

Poco a Poco- Little by little

1. Practice, practice, practice - every day!

Any chance you get try to practice the language. Put on the subtitles when your watching movies. Pay attention to the words in songs. Communicate with people in that language. Add a new word to your vocabulary journal everyday! Write it down! Look it up in a Spanish-English dictionary! Then try to use it again very soon.


2. Make efforts to understand why certain words or phrases are used. Make meaning out of them! Don't just try to memorize them because they won't stick!


3. Understand the grammar of the language your learning - at least a little bit! If you can find patterns you will be able to use them later in a conversation. For example understand the patterns for verb conjugations in Spanish. You may find yourself in the middle of a conversation and learn a new verb.  You can then apply your knowledge of verb conjugations and continue on with your sentence and conversation!


4. Finally step on that pride and embarrassment and just speak! The more you practice the better you will get. If you snooze you loose, right? Another wards keep at it, don't give up. Learning a language can be a lot of work and a times saturate your brain! You may at times feel like you have no room left in your brain to learn ! Just take a break and get back to it when your rested up!

5.  Don't forget to have fun while learning!


Recently some of my students had "light-bulb" moments with verb conjugations. They started to get it! It happened while we were playing some of our verb conjugation games...they were put on the spot to conjugate on their own and add new vocabulary while talking with their peers! Here is one that we were playing "I have who has " in Spanish.
















You can download this freebie in the download preview on TPT or just click on the pictures above or go here to google docs! I hope you and your students have many more "light-bulb" moments! That's what makes learning fun:)

I'm linking up with (where you can find other wonderful freebies and ideas)

What do you do to learn your foreign language? How do you teach your students? I would love to hear your insights and what works for your students. Leave me a comment and please share:)

Feel free to enter the Giveaway below to win a Beaded Indian Bracelet from Panama for you and to share with your classroom!