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Everything you need to know about acquiring Spanish

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What is this class all about?

It’s about Conversation and Communication …. in Spanish, not in English.

What we do in here is backed by research

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Communication Express your ideas. Figure out what someone else’s ideas mean. Make sure you’re understood, and make sure

you can understand someone else’s Spanish.

Can you communicate all in Spanish by the end of first semester?

Sí!

But it takes commitment and work on your part.

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Second Language Acquisition Research Do you want to earn an ‘A’?

Here are some basics to help you do that.

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The Affective Filter Hypothesis

What is a Filter?

Example?

Researchers tell us we have an “Affective Filter” in our minds that can help or hinder our progress.

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The Affective Filter implies … The more comfortable you are with

your classmates, the faster you learn to speak Spanish.

Positive support for each other helps everyone learn to speak Spanish. We’re a community.

No cut-downs of anyone allowed. Ever. Period. Starting right now.

No-Fear-Here Zone

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Comprehensible Input Hypothesis Getting lots and lots of

“Comprehensible Input” is how we learn to speak any language.

Comprehensible input is Spanish that you hear and/or read that is at a level just a little beyond what you can understand. You understand most, but usually not all, of what the Spanish speaker says to you.

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Comprehensible Input Even absolute beginners don’t start at zero

Spanish. El taco … hola… excelente… fantástico…

Listening to and reading lots of Spanish input is how we learn to understand, read, speak and write Spanish.

It’s the fuel that drives your speech motor. Without plenty of input, you won’t learn to

comprehend and speak much Spanish at all.

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Comprehensible Input implies: The more Spanish you hear in class, the

faster you learn to speak it.

Students must put forth effort to learn how to listen, read and think in Spanish.

Students and Teacher make a pledge: only Spanish! (unless you ask permission to speak English.)

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Acquisition Vs. Learning Acquiring a language is “picking it up” in context,

from input. Learning a language means knowing how Spanish

language works after we study the rules.

Do you see any parallels to how students start playing basketball?

We acquire (pick up) our first language from family, friends and others around us. by using it. Practice

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Acquisition Vs. Learning We learn about our first language—usually—in

school. We learn about how our language works by studying its structure and rules.

Learning about how Spanish works can help us with some tasks. editing your writing to polish it. Crafting a speech to sound articulate. Satisfying your curiosity about how Spanish

and English are similar and different.

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Your examples of….. Acquisition activities?

Learning activities?

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The Monitor There’s a “judge” in our heads who helps polish our

writing IF he stays in the corner like he’s supposed to. OR, if he gets too big and pushy, he interferes with our speaking because he makes us feel self-conscious.

He’s a little bit of a rule bully who gets bigger and bigger the more you worry about making errors or when you worry about what other people think.

Use him when you write. Ignore him when you speak.

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Natural Order of AcquisitionWe all pass through the same stages of acquisition, but at different rates.

What does this mean for you?

Some students in class will start speaking Spanish faster than others. That’s normal.

The more you listen, study vocabulary and use phrases your teacher gives you to communicate in class, the more quickly you proceed through stages of Acquisition.

Your first important goal: stick to Spanish and avoid English in class.

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Good news about speaking Spanish! It takes a long, long time to speak

Spanish fluently and without errors, so long that you might as well not worry about speaking perfectly.

Mistakes are inevitable when you start speaking Spanish in a natural way.

Beginners can’t control mistakes when they speak Spanish.

In class, we’re interested in what you say, not how you say it.

You can ALWAYS come speak to me outside of class time in English if you need to.

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Quick tips: Have faith in your teacher’s skills Let go of English. Avoid translating for your classmates. Remember that classroom work is only part of

your quest to speak another language. There is ALWAYS a reason for why we are doing something

Be patient: you’ll communicate fairly quickly, but, at the same time, it’s a lifetime adventure to learn to speak another language well.

Always ask for help (in Spanish) and let the teacher decide to use English or Spanish to help you right now.

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Let’s have a great year!