Spanish language class: A tale of two teachers

So, as part of the deal for me to study here as an Erasmus student (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERASMUS_programme), I have to enrol on a Spanish course for foreigners.

On Monday we had a exam to test our level of Spanish. Interestingly, those found to be in the lowest and highest level brackets (i.e. beginners and very advanced students) are not accepted onto the course. Having been forewarned by friends that the exam is quite easy and not wanting to miss out on the course for being too good, I threw in some equivocal answers for the harder questions.

Whatever I did, it worked – I was put into a group at the top level. For reasons that are too dull to witter on about here, I ended up going to the introduction class for two groups. Two groups, with two very different teachers…

The first was a self-proclaimed former hippie. The entire lesson (3 hours) was devoted to ‘getting to know each other’. Our first activity was to pair up with someone you’ve never met before, leave the classroom and learn as much as possible about the other person in 10 minutes. On our return to the class, we had to present ourselves to the group as the other person. (Out of interest, my partner was a Greek chap called Nicolaos).

Next, we moved into a circle and wrote our name at the top of an A4 piece of paper. This paper was then passed to the person sitting to the right. The teacher put music on and we had to start writing about the person whose name was at the top of the paper. In describing them we could right about what we knew, or, more interestingly, what we guessed they were like. When the music stopped, the paper was passed to the right again and the music started again. Eventually we made it round the whole circle till everyone had commented on everyone else in the group.

I had written descriptions such as ‘He has always dreamt of working in a bakery’ or ‘She prefers lying on the beach than skiing’. Others copped out by writing ‘she seems friendly’ or ‘has a nice smile’ etc. etc. Anyway, once we had our original paper back in our hands we had to present to the group one thing about us that someone had guessed right, and one thing that wasn’t true. Someone guessed right that I like to read. Someone guessed wrongly that I’m rich ‘because I’m from England’. I pointed out that I might be from England, but that I’m still a student..!

These were just a couple of the group-bonding activities which culminated with a 10-minute learn everyone’s name session. According to the teacher, she likes to use music and film regularly in her classes and has suggested that we don’t take the (normally compulsory) language exam at the term, but instead that she just mark us depending on our class involvement and improvement.

So, all in all, quite interesting.

In contrast, today’s teacher was less fun. We arrived at the classroom: it was tiny and there were only 10 seats (for a group of at least 15 people). The latecomers had to stand! The teacher asked each of us in turn the same questions: name, course and country of origin. She handed out the course programme (inc. an exam and a presentation on a topic of our choice), which listed all the grammatical points that we’d be covering, and then sent us on our way after 15 minutes (which was a great relief for those who had been standing/sitting on the floor!). The course starts proper on Monday. She stressed the importance of attendance. She didn’t smile.

What teaching style would you prefer?

(Well, for me, it doesn’t matter either way. I can’t make the ‘hippie teacher’ group because it clashes with one of my modules. Maybe the other teacher will warm up after a few weeks…)