I began this week to get together in the evening with Ana Belem, Ariel, and Carlos (right to left) to learn to speak Spanish better and to help them learn to speak English better.Ariel, Ana Belem, and Ana Belem's mother, Maria, operate the cocina economica where my neighbor Armando gets his lunch each day.
Ana Belem and Carlos have both studied English in school so speak quite well, and have useful text books and lessons. Ariel has spent time in the USA so also knows a good bit of English.
Aside from the usefulness of our get togethers, in helping us learn to speak the other's language better, there are always lots of laughs. Son gentes muy amables.
6 comments:
There are really wonderful folks. After our lesson last evening I went to Jose's cantina, the Excelsior, to practice.
Speaking of laughs....
So, tell us-- What useful Spanish phrases have you learned from your new teachers? Sounds like a great arrangement-- everyone wins.
Kat,
To this point we have been concentrating on English pronunciations, pronouns, and verb tenses. Ana Belem, with whom I first agreed to teach and learn from, asked specifically with help with pronunciations. As you know, the English pronunciations of the various letter combinations seem to be the most difficult for Spanish speakers used to pronouncing every letter in a word.
As we go through the words I learn the Spanish pronunciation and meaning. Of course, unlike the others, I often have to be reminded, sometimes a few times, before I get it.
Today I will go to my favorite cantina to practice.
You are so lucky to have this group! What a great way to learn. As you know, our dog's name is URL (pronounced "Earl"). If you can get a Mexican to pronounce that, you're a genius!!
Speaking of Url. I was sitting in Parque Santa Ana Saturday evening with my neighbor Armando when Url walked by with his walker. Some nearby children expressed their excitement and Url stretched at the end of his lease wanting to play with the kids. It was pretty cute.
I was surprised when Armando turned to me and announced "that's Url", what nice folks his masters are, and that he’d met you in the park.
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