An Update

As stated before, I have been experiencing a lot of difficulty being productive during the day without some sort of imposed schedule to keep me on task.  I will pick and choose those tasks that I want to do (go for a run, cook, clean) so as to distract myself from my greatest goal while here, learning Spanish.  I like learning Spanish, but in a lot of ways it's just frustrating.  I'm tired of not always understanding what's going on and not being able to just open my mouth and say what I want to.  And it's also something that requires a lot of active learning.  For example, looking things up that I don't know how to say as opposed to circumnavigating vocabulary I don't know with long explanations (ie instead of saying the word 'fish' saying those animals that swim in the ocean).  When I don't understand something, asking people to repeat themselves more slowly, as opposed to just asking Jonathan to translate for me.  And then ultimately, sitting and reviewing all of these things that I learn throughout the day.  Learning Spanish has proven to require continuous, active learning, as opposed to just studying when I feel like it.  Sometimes at lunches I will zone out an hour or two in, just because I'm tired.  I often have to remind myself to stay actively engaged and look words up I don't know.

So the area I am most in need of work in my Spanish is conversational skills.  I went to the Red Cross and attended one of their free classes for immigrants.  Unfortunately, it isn't going to work out, though it was an interesting experience.  The class was split up into two groups with each group being led by a volunteer language teacher.  In my group were 3 Moroccans and one man from Senegal.  In the other group were 2 Senegalese men and 2 Romanians.  I'm not sure about the other group, but in my group everyone seemed to be lacking literacy skills in general and probably have not had very much formal education at all.  So we spoke for 20 minutes about what a proper noun is and that they are capitalized.  Then he asked us how many minutes were in an hour, how many days in a week, and then recited the days of the week.  He also dictated things to us and we had to write them down ("Today is Wednesday October bla bla bla"), which served to be a very difficult task for most of the people in the group.  None of the people in my class seemed to be at my Spanish language level.  I spoke to the Senegalese man briefly during the break about when I went to Dakar, which is where he's from, but I had to repeat myself several times for him to understand what I was saying in Spanish.  But after class the professor approached me and said that he didn't think that these classes would be much help to me as I had a mastery of the things that they are working on.  I explained that I was looking for an avenue to practice my conversational skills and he then informed me that he thinks there may be a group of women who choose to get together weekly to practice Spanish conversational skills.

So yesterday Jonathan and I went to go see Verta, the social worker at the Red Cross who organizes the language classes and Red Cross services for immigrants.  I inquired about this group and she said that it is hard to keep the group together, as there isn't always an interest.  She did explain though that if she came across any other people who she thought might be interested in meeting with me, that she'd call me.  She then suggested taking up different activities, for example painting classes, just to practice engaging with native speakers.  I then asked her if I could volunteer at the Red Cross, an idea that I had thought of a few days ago.  I explained to her that I am a social worker and am hoping to practice bilingually once I return to the US.  Verta, of course, thought this was a great idea and hooked me up with the volunteer coordinator.  I filled out a form and should get a call from the coordinator within a few days, to set up an interview to discuss some programs I could help with.

I am very excited about the prospect of volunteering with the Red Cross as I think it should really help me progress with my Spanish.  It will also add a little more structure to my day, which I think will help me out a lot with staying productive.  Jonathan and I have decided to speak only Spanish to one another from the time we wake up (930 or so) until lunch (2 or 3), which has proven to be helpful.  We've also gotten library cards and I took out a book of short love stories by Herman Hesse (in Spanish) to work my way through.  I've also still got all of my materials from class to review.  I can also read El Pais, the newspaper, online or do some activities on the BBC website (watch the news, do crossword puzzles, etc).