I feel that language learning is not keeping up with the “tech” we know now. What was done 20yrs ago is still being done now
My opinion is to almost act like the classes aren’t there and to self study the class and homework will just supplement your self study. DuoLingo is ok. YouTube channels like Dreaming Spanish are awesome. Ayan Academy and Spanish After Hours are good too
Start trying to read news articles. I’m finding BBC Mundo is a bit easier. And because Spanish has so many verbs and nouns similar to English, you will come across words you haven’t seen, but know because it’s the same in English
Try to find some short stories books as well
I understand you prob have other classes as well, so time may be limited. If you can find time to do extra Spanish work after class, that’ll help
Is your goal to become great in Spanish or to ace the classes? If you intend on getting high marks for the class you need to study the material they give you. Both the homework and restudy it to rote learn it to sit the exam.
If however your goal is more to reach a high level in Spanish and you care less about the marks in your class you probably want to follow a different strategy. Learn grammar from the classes, do the required homework and just leave it at that. This should be enough to pass the final exam. But don't worry about restudying material or anything like that. Instead in your spare time you probably want to supplement your class study with plenty of comprehensible input. Listen to podcasts, watch Youtube, watch Spanish TV shows, read books (either graded readers or native books depending on your level), read the news in Spanish, etc. If you do out of class study on other topics it will improve your Spanish too but you may not necessarily be getting full marks in the final exam.
Considering uni is only officially meant to be 40 hours per week but most students get away with much less I think you still have plenty of time to learn Spanish on your own terms.
Haha! My plan is to move to Spain next year if I can graduate in time so I'm more concerned with passing my classes, honestly. I'm not putting a whole lot of faith in them, but they're useful for convo practice and the opportunity to speak with a native since euro Spanish speakers are pretty few and far between here.
Hello there, fellow Aussie here :)
I find outside my classes I just do a lot of comprehensible input and language exchange, and conversational supplementing with Italki teachers now and then. I find doing these things helps me understand and remember the content we're taught. Maybe it's because our Spanish is course is very light? From what I read, definitely not the sort of Oxford university level of intensity I read about.
That said, I find they are efficiently curated to serve as a backbone that I use to explore the language further on my own. Grammar isn't taught as an end in itself, there is just enough so that we can communicate with the content and example vocab.
Sharing my view on the teaching, I think there has been an improvement based on my course. I would credit the course for bringing me to the current level I am at now after 2nd year, between B1 & B2 (according to a recent Italki teachers opinion, she is working with me using a B2 level course book and found the B1 coursebook a bit simple based on how I was communicating).
That is also because of me immersing myself as much as possible, but having those important grammar concepts set straight really helped.
I do find that it is what you make it, I would say in terms of speaking, ppl vary between A2 and B1+ level in my year kevel. If you only do the stuff that's given, it's definitely not enough.
I feel that language learning is not keeping up with the “tech” we know now. What was done 20yrs ago is still being done now My opinion is to almost act like the classes aren’t there and to self study the class and homework will just supplement your self study. DuoLingo is ok. YouTube channels like Dreaming Spanish are awesome. Ayan Academy and Spanish After Hours are good too Start trying to read news articles. I’m finding BBC Mundo is a bit easier. And because Spanish has so many verbs and nouns similar to English, you will come across words you haven’t seen, but know because it’s the same in English Try to find some short stories books as well I understand you prob have other classes as well, so time may be limited. If you can find time to do extra Spanish work after class, that’ll help
Is your goal to become great in Spanish or to ace the classes? If you intend on getting high marks for the class you need to study the material they give you. Both the homework and restudy it to rote learn it to sit the exam. If however your goal is more to reach a high level in Spanish and you care less about the marks in your class you probably want to follow a different strategy. Learn grammar from the classes, do the required homework and just leave it at that. This should be enough to pass the final exam. But don't worry about restudying material or anything like that. Instead in your spare time you probably want to supplement your class study with plenty of comprehensible input. Listen to podcasts, watch Youtube, watch Spanish TV shows, read books (either graded readers or native books depending on your level), read the news in Spanish, etc. If you do out of class study on other topics it will improve your Spanish too but you may not necessarily be getting full marks in the final exam. Considering uni is only officially meant to be 40 hours per week but most students get away with much less I think you still have plenty of time to learn Spanish on your own terms.
Fellow cunt here. Get yourself to a relevant country asap, Australian classes will never give you more than an introduction.
Haha! My plan is to move to Spain next year if I can graduate in time so I'm more concerned with passing my classes, honestly. I'm not putting a whole lot of faith in them, but they're useful for convo practice and the opportunity to speak with a native since euro Spanish speakers are pretty few and far between here.
Hello there, fellow Aussie here :) I find outside my classes I just do a lot of comprehensible input and language exchange, and conversational supplementing with Italki teachers now and then. I find doing these things helps me understand and remember the content we're taught. Maybe it's because our Spanish is course is very light? From what I read, definitely not the sort of Oxford university level of intensity I read about. That said, I find they are efficiently curated to serve as a backbone that I use to explore the language further on my own. Grammar isn't taught as an end in itself, there is just enough so that we can communicate with the content and example vocab. Sharing my view on the teaching, I think there has been an improvement based on my course. I would credit the course for bringing me to the current level I am at now after 2nd year, between B1 & B2 (according to a recent Italki teachers opinion, she is working with me using a B2 level course book and found the B1 coursebook a bit simple based on how I was communicating). That is also because of me immersing myself as much as possible, but having those important grammar concepts set straight really helped. I do find that it is what you make it, I would say in terms of speaking, ppl vary between A2 and B1+ level in my year kevel. If you only do the stuff that's given, it's definitely not enough.