What can I do to be successful?
There are many things students can do at home apart from homework that will help their understanding of Spanish. Here are some that I find helpful:
The most important piece of advice I can give is to surround yourself as much as possible with the language. We live in Maine and we do not have the opportunity to practice outside of class so we have to actively seek out opportunities.
Here is a tip from the author of the blog Fluent in 3 Months
...create a very amusing, animated, unforgettable image in your mind that links both words to each other! This means that if you are translating either to or from the target language (unlike just from which most people will master easier), you will access the other word just as easily. This is especially important when the words look nothing alike...
ex: el tobillo-ankle
Picture a small dog named Toby nipping at your ankles as you walk down a hallway.
- Watch your favorite DVD’s with Spanish subtitles-or with Spanish language and English subtitles
- Find your learning style! When you know how you learn best, studying is easier.
- Talk to yourself in Spanish. You won’t look THAT strange...you might even impress someone with your knowledge.
- Buy or download some Spanish music and learn the lyrics to sing along. This will help improve pronunciation. Try lyricstraining.com for more of a challenge.
- Keep a list of Spanish phrases on the bathroom mirror to go over while brushing your teeth.
- Play some online games in Spanish.
- Set Facebook, Twitter or your phone to Spanish. All common vocabulary (like “post,” “reply,” “password”) will be in Spanish.
- Spend 3 minutes a day on www.conjuguemos.com practicing vocabulary or conjugating.
- Do you know what you shouldn’t do to master a language? What NOT to do advice.
The most important piece of advice I can give is to surround yourself as much as possible with the language. We live in Maine and we do not have the opportunity to practice outside of class so we have to actively seek out opportunities.
Here is a tip from the author of the blog Fluent in 3 Months
...create a very amusing, animated, unforgettable image in your mind that links both words to each other! This means that if you are translating either to or from the target language (unlike just from which most people will master easier), you will access the other word just as easily. This is especially important when the words look nothing alike...
ex: el tobillo-ankle
Picture a small dog named Toby nipping at your ankles as you walk down a hallway.