Speaking Spanish
Aug 7th 2009 | 5:38 am
#46
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From: Kent - Gandia - Kent
Re: Speaking Spanish
very very true
my son just did his Spanish GCSE in England recently....he had to "baja" his Spanish for the exam, which went down well as you can imagine at 13 he doesnt understand why the 16 year olds are not at his level...if fact his Spanish tutor said he was good enough for A level
my son just did his Spanish GCSE in England recently....he had to "baja" his Spanish for the exam, which went down well as you can imagine at 13 he doesnt understand why the 16 year olds are not at his level...if fact his Spanish tutor said he was good enough for A level
Aug 7th 2009 | 5:45 am
#47
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From: my paradise - Jávea
Re: Speaking Spanish
very very true
my son just did his Spanish GCSE in England recently....he had to "baja" his Spanish for the exam, which went down well as you can imagine at 13 he doesnt understand why the 16 year olds are not at his level...if fact his Spanish tutor said he was good enough for A level
my son just did his Spanish GCSE in England recently....he had to "baja" his Spanish for the exam, which went down well as you can imagine at 13 he doesnt understand why the 16 year olds are not at his level...if fact his Spanish tutor said he was good enough for A level
the IGCSEs are out on Monday & on the 19th
I tutored a boy for his spanish & maths IGCSE - I hope
he passed!I gave both of my girls the 'reading' mock & I reckon the 13 year old would have scored at least 85% (higher level exam) and the then 9 year old about 65%!
with the younger one the problem really was subject matter - things a 9 year old just doesn't think about!
Last edited by lynnxa; Aug 7th 2009 at 5:59 am.
Aug 7th 2009 | 5:50 am
#48
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From: Kent - Gandia - Kent
Re: Speaking Spanish
I think thats important...I know a few people who have had lessons from Spanish "teachers" who are English...as my Spanish teacher used to say, teaching them their bad habits !!! I listened to a "teacher" once and her Spanish pronounciation was terrible and even her level of Spanish seemed questionable at times....but all her new comer expat students thought she was the bees kness...little did they know !
Aug 7th 2009 | 5:55 am
#49
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From: my paradise - Jávea
Re: Speaking Spanish
I think thats important...I know a few people who have had lessons from Spanish "teachers" who are English...as my Spanish teacher used to say, teaching them their bad habits !!! I listened to a "teacher" once and her Spanish pronounciation was terrible and even her level of Spanish seemed questionable at times....but all her new comer expat students thought she was the bees kness...little did they know !
my dds however take the mickey out my accent
theirs of course is pure spanish - something which learning as a 40+ adult I can never really achieve!
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:36 am
#50
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From: Kent - Gandia - Kent
Re: Speaking Spanish
think they are out in a couple of weeks, the school will send them
dont you love it when the kids pick us up on our Spanish and pronounciation ! bless their cotton socks 
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:38 am
#51
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From: my paradise - Jávea
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:42 am
#52
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From: Kent - Gandia - Kent
Re: Speaking Spanish
sadly that never happens for me.....but I do get my own back when he asks what soemthing is in English...he just made us laugh...he was talking about is donlop (du) (pronounced how the Spanish say Dunlop) tennis racket
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:48 am
#53
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From: my paradise - Jávea
Re: Speaking Spanish
did you keep it up while you were here
it's funny - most summers we're rreally happy when the girls play with all the spanish kids - so they don't foreget how to speak spanish (not that they would now I reckon) - I made DH laugh when I said I was going to do some English reading with them both this summer!!!
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:55 am
#54
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From: Kent - Gandia - Kent
Re: Speaking Spanish
hes doing really well, he had to do an assesment when he first started at the new school to see what level he was at (I did raise my concern with the teacher that he may not be up to scratch in case he needed any extra help) but he come in just under par with what he should be for his age so they are not concerned at all
I used to do reading and spelling (in English) with him plus he watched English TV...well thats when I saw him
it really helped him with the language only having Spanish friends
I used to do reading and spelling (in English) with him plus he watched English TV...well thats when I saw him
it really helped him with the language only having Spanish friendshow is getting on with his English (written)
did you keep it up while you were here
it's funny - most summers we're rreally happy when the girls play with all the spanish kids - so they don't foreget how to speak spanish (not that they would now I reckon) - I made DH laugh when I said I was going to do some English reading with them both this summer!!!
did you keep it up while you were here
it's funny - most summers we're rreally happy when the girls play with all the spanish kids - so they don't foreget how to speak spanish (not that they would now I reckon) - I made DH laugh when I said I was going to do some English reading with them both this summer!!!
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:57 am
#55
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From: my paradise - Jávea
Re: Speaking Spanish
hes doing really well, he had to do an assesment when he first started at the new school to see what level he was at (I did raise my concern with the teacher that he may not be up to scratch in case he needed any extra help) but he come in just under par with what he should be for his age so they are not concerned at all
I used to do reading and spelling (in English) with him plus he watched English TV...well thats when I saw him it really helped him with the language only having Spanish friends
I used to do reading and spelling (in English) with him plus he watched English TV...well thats when I saw him
it really helped him with the language only having Spanish friendsthey are both reading at an age-appropriate level - but their spelling
Aug 7th 2009 | 9:43 am
#56
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From: Living in a good place
Re: Speaking Spanish
A' levels may have changed since I took it but a major part of it, perhaps 30% was spanish literature. Wouldn't have mattered how good your spanish was if the books weren't read and you weren't able to answer fully the questions about them you would be struggling to pass. Many of the chosen books were eg. Cervantes so there was a lot of work understanding ancient spanish. I had a good spanish a' level pass but as for getting by on the street, not very good, that came later.
Aug 7th 2009 | 4:51 pm
#57
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From: my paradise - Jávea
Re: Speaking Spanish
Its taken my 8 years of studying and practicing, I got an 8 out of 10 in one of these official fluency tests. Still, need a 9 to be able to work full time in Spanish, but almost there 
lynnxa, this isnt a criticism but an honest Q. If you arent fluent, how can you give Spanish lessons and do translations?
lynnxa, this isnt a criticism but an honest Q. If you arent fluent, how can you give Spanish lessons and do translations?
the first thing I tell all my students is that I'm not fluent - but know way more than they do!
I wouldn't dream of attempting to teach 'advanced spanish' I advertise that I teach beginners - although I've been teaching a couple of people so long now that they are in danger of catching me up (joke)
good thing I keep learning all the time eh?
as for translations, I only do spanish to english, not the other way around, and will only do an interpreting job if I know that I'm familiar enough with the vocabulary for the situation - yes, I will turn a job down & be honest as to why
I'm familiar enough with the various tenses that I don't get confused & get the message all wrong - for written translations the subject matter will often be unfamiliar territory in any case, so a good dictionary is essential
I once did a massive translation for a German International Musical Theatre company. It had originally been translated from German to Spanish, then I did the Spanish to English, while a French lady did Spanish to French. Although I have O level music (a looooooong time ago!) a lot of the vocab was very specialised, so I think anyone would have needed a dictionary.
Translating into your own language requires a good knowledge of the other language & a lot of common sense! The last thing the client wants is what might be a 'word perfect' translation that doesn't actually sound as if it's in English! A way with words also helps.
I'm a firm believer that written translations should only be done into the mother tongue, rather than the other way around!
I wouldn't dream of attempting to teach 'advanced spanish' I advertise that I teach beginners - although I've been teaching a couple of people so long now that they are in danger of catching me up
(joke)good thing I keep learning all the time eh?
as for translations, I only do spanish to english, not the other way around, and will only do an interpreting job if I know that I'm familiar enough with the vocabulary for the situation - yes, I will turn a job down & be honest as to why
I'm familiar enough with the various tenses that I don't get confused & get the message all wrong - for written translations the subject matter will often be unfamiliar territory in any case, so a good dictionary is essential
I once did a massive translation for a German International Musical Theatre company. It had originally been translated from German to Spanish, then I did the Spanish to English, while a French lady did Spanish to French. Although I have O level music (a looooooong time ago!) a lot of the vocab was very specialised, so I think anyone would have needed a dictionary.
Translating into your own language requires a good knowledge of the other language & a lot of common sense! The last thing the client wants is what might be a 'word perfect' translation that doesn't actually sound as if it's in English! A way with words also helps.
I'm a firm believer that written translations should only be done into the mother tongue, rather than the other way around!
when I was training to be a teacher (BEd) one of the first things we learned that if you know how to teach, you can teach anything as long as you know more than your students!
there are a lot of 'teachers' who might know the 'subject' better than I do, who have no idea how to teach!
Aug 7th 2009 | 6:48 pm
#58
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Posts: 3,081
Re: Speaking Spanish
too late to edit, so I'll do it this way
when I was training to be a teacher (BEd) one of the first things we learned that if you know how to teach, you can teach anything as long as you know more than your students!
there are a lot of 'teachers' who might know the 'subject' better than I do, who have no idea how to teach!
when I was training to be a teacher (BEd) one of the first things we learned that if you know how to teach, you can teach anything as long as you know more than your students!
there are a lot of 'teachers' who might know the 'subject' better than I do, who have no idea how to teach!
The tone of voice and manner of presenting the lesson, does not make it easy for the pupil to learn.
I have sat through classes and not been able to remember a single thing we did, because the art of teaching was lacking.
Some of the teachers were so clever they could have split the atom with a jamjar and a rusty knife, but could not pass their knowledge on.
A child who becomes a great musician starts by banging a drum and making a terrible din and a complete cock up of the words.
The first teacher does not really "teach" the child anything anything about music.
Their job is to awaken the pupils interest in the subject. Bung in the "fun factor" so the child wants to carry on.
The teacher can be tone deaf and unable to play any instrument that is more advanced than the triangle (my chosen speciality)
JLFS
Aug 7th 2009 | 7:04 pm
#59
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 13,330
From: my paradise - Jávea
Re: Speaking Spanish
We have all had teachers in school who are a wizz in the subject, usually the maths and science subjects, who cannot get the point across.
The tone of voice and manner of presenting the lesson, does not make it easy for the pupil to learn.
I have sat through classes and not been able to remember a single thing we did, because the art of teaching was lacking.
Some of the teachers were so clever they could have split the atom with a jamjar and a rusty knife, but could not pass their knowledge on.
A child who becomes a great musician starts by banging a drum and making a terrible din and a complete cock up of the words.
The first teacher does not really "teach" the child anything anything about music.
Their job is to awaken the pupils interest in the subject. Bung in the "fun factor" so the child wants to carry on.
The teacher can be tone deaf and unable to play any instrument that is more advanced than the triangle (my chosen speciality)
JLFS
The tone of voice and manner of presenting the lesson, does not make it easy for the pupil to learn.
I have sat through classes and not been able to remember a single thing we did, because the art of teaching was lacking.
Some of the teachers were so clever they could have split the atom with a jamjar and a rusty knife, but could not pass their knowledge on.
A child who becomes a great musician starts by banging a drum and making a terrible din and a complete cock up of the words.
The first teacher does not really "teach" the child anything anything about music.
Their job is to awaken the pupils interest in the subject. Bung in the "fun factor" so the child wants to carry on.
The teacher can be tone deaf and unable to play any instrument that is more advanced than the triangle (my chosen speciality)
JLFS
lol
my OH sometimes listens in on my groups - he reckons it's not work cos we all laugh so much!
I wish he'd listen more carefully he might actually learn some spanish
Aug 7th 2009 | 7:06 pm
#60
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,081
Re: Speaking Spanish
It makes a refreshing change for a teacher to admit their "limitations" for want of a better word.
Most will never admit that, and if they come across something they dont really know the answer to, they make it up.
JLFS
Most will never admit that, and if they come across something they dont really know the answer to, they make it up.
JLFS
