Espanol

by AJ

OK. Ive decided to embarrass myself. It is time to follow my own advice.

As many who read this blog know,... while Im an extremely passionate English teacher, I am, in fact, a lazy-as-hell language student. Language learning... the old-school kind of crunching through textbooks, memorizing vocab, analyzing grammar, etc. BORES THE HELL OUT OF ME. I find it to be pure torture.

But recently Ive been inspired by "J."-- my Korean student. She is using comprehension based self-study methods to Zoom Ahead in English. She's learning very quickly... racing past the other students in my class.

J. has inspired me. She's made me realize its time to stop saying "do as I say, not as I do". Thats a lame attitude that convinces no one.

And so I have begun "studying" Spanish again. But I will not return to traditional methods. I will use free reading and free listening. Like J., I will use an MP3 player. Ill listen to Spanish audiobooks & podcasts during free moments each day: eating lunch, walking to work, etc.

And just to up the ante a bit, Ive decided to start a Spanish language blog. On this blog, I will document my daily "comprehensible input" efforts. I will write in Spanish-- lame, error-ridden, "level 1", low-beginners Spanish.

I invite Spanish speakers to visit this blog. Feel free to point out my errors (or, better yet, rewrite them using correct Spanish). Also... please suggest low level authentic Spanish materials. Im especially interested in easy Spanish podcasts (preferably with accompanying text) and audiobooks.

Hopefully (fingers crossed), this blog might serve as documentation of my progress with the language. If not, it will at least give me some writing practice in the language.

My Spanish Learning Blog:
Espanol Natural

San Francisco, CA