Por Telefono

As the semester is coming to an end, everything is piling up. As always, I have an oral exam in my Spanish IV class as part of the final. This time, it is a paired exam. Since my professor is so fantastic, we got to pick our partners. This not only eases my nerves because I get to pick someone who I can depend on, but it also makes studying and practicing easier. As usual when it comes to Spanish, my friend Megan and I are together. She encourages the use of Spanish as much as possible, so I called her to discuss when we would practice instead of just texting about it or discussing it in class. This was a great way to get some speaking down, and I mostly felt comfortable because it was a friend. Her enthusiasm is quite contagious. This conversation was very helpful because Megan wasn't afraid to correct me. I have a tendency to over-conjugate, like saying "necesitamos pracitcamos" instead of "necesitamos practicar." Megan, although she hasn't taken any education classes yet, has picked up on recasting. When I made that mistake, she said "Es verdad! Necesitamos practicar pronto!" She and I decided that we should have more phone conversations about everyday things in Spanish. We do try to speak mostly in Spanish when we're in class together, but to willingly use it outside of class is something that I believe will greatly improve both our fluency and our overall comfort in using the language. I'm not sure how I could have proof of my future students having conversations on the phone in Spanish, but I do believe it would be a good thing for them to do because I don't think that scripted or in-class pretend conversations would lead to the same results.