So I’ve pretty much decided that my current Spanish class (LCC300S, Reading & Writing for Communication) is basically an easier version of last year’s Spanish 9-10 class with Loca Zinke. That’s good – I always forget the tiny little rules with grammar, so I need them to be constantly smashed into my lazy, stubborn brain. I still love taking Spanish, but one of my weaknesses is that I really couldn’t give a crap about all of the exceptions to the rules when it comes to grammar. I also can’t manage the subjunctive or reflexive forms.
This became really clear to me today… I got 2 tests back. One was an essay, the other was a grammar test. The essay was 95%, and had “Truly well done- you write well” in the comments.
The other was a grammar test. 76%. Not horrible, but I expect more out of myself. Blah.
Why can’t I get the darned grammatical rules down? I think that I really, really need to study abroad and immerse myself in the language for a few months. I’m working on it; I’ll probably go to Spain and/or Latin America next year sometime. CSU has one of the best study abroad programs around (CSU’s motto is “Knowledge to Go Places”) and they have partnerships with a lot of schools in Spain- including several Business schools. Since a lot of my business core curriculum is really boring in the first place, I might be able to kill two birds with one stone and just take ’em in Spain.
And maybe if I go somewhere for a while, I’ll just have to learn the proper grammatical skills.
Zeke Weeks 