Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Never Letting Go!

After reading through some of the latest blog posts, I just have to agree with everyone on how awesome this class was. I didn't even care how late it was all semester because I was always so excited to come to class. Something that really stuck out to me personally when we had dinner at Dr. A’s house was the importance of keeping our bilingual skills active and how important it is.

This is something I have heard all my life. My first language was Spanish but as I grew up I lost a little bit of my fluency over the years, and now I consider English my first language. It is not something I am proud of, and I'm really working on regaining my fluency and confidence. When I’m in Athens at school, I am away from my most prominent connection to the Spanish language—my parents. That is why I decided to minor in Spanish instead of continuing French or learning a new language. At the beginning of the semester, I was worried about being almost done with my minor. With this class, I realized I didn't need to be tested on grammar to hold on to my second language. I just needed to be around it. I just needed to watch TV!

Obviously practicing a second language is the most beneficial way of learning and keeping it but just listening to it helps so much. I plan to continue watching telenovelas, not just to keep my Spanish in tact, but because I really love them.


Thank you Dr. A for being such an awesome telenovela wizard. You astounded me every day with your extensive knowledge and passion. I don't think any of us knew how much of a big deal you are in the world of telenovelas in the beginning of the semester, but we all definitely do now. This class has been such an amazing experience and I can definitely say it will be missed!

2 comments:

  1. Michelle, thank you so much for bringing this up! Spanish is my second language but I learned it in a pretty intense environment growing up. Coming to college, I can actually feel my Spanish skills slipping away because class three hours a week just isn't enough to keep it up. I was actually really happy when an episode of "La Reina del Sur" came on without subtitles, because I actually had to work a little to understand what was going on. I've already decided to start "Escobar" once exams are over. I'm so thankful that I've had this experience and that it gave me a new way to practice my Spanish while knowing that I am really going to enjoy it.

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  2. I had the same feeling at Dr. A's house - especially when she closed with how important it is to use our language skills in our lives. This class, along with my Spanish courses this semester, have really shown me how beneficial it is to understand more than one language. I will definitely miss this class!

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