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5 Days to Learn Spanish: Day 1


Don Quijote School, Valencia, Spain
My first day of school is already so much fun!
I've been placed with two college boys on "gap years" from Britain and Switzerland, neither of whom speaks Spanish.
So we're starting from scratch together.
Hilarious!
This school is stunning. Looks and feels like a 5-star hotel.
Don Quijote has schools all over Spain and Mexico.
And the whole week of instruction (5 days, 5 hours/day) costs 285 euro ($334 US).
I think that's a deal, especially considering a semester of this in college would have cost at least $15K!
Ooops, it's 9am.
Off to class!
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Okay, this is so fun!
First, let me remind you, I am starting with absolutely no basic knowledge of Spanish.
Zip. Nada.
Our 5-hour sessions are broken down into 3 segments, each with a different teacher.
They are not to speak any English at all, but every now and then they slip in an English phrase to explain tricky concepts.
We do a combination of grammar instruction, oral question and answer to build vocabulary, and a tiny bit of workbook exercises to cement concepts.
We change classrooms with each teacher rotation, with 10 minute breaks between sessions.

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My classmates are adorable!
Luis is 22 and from the UK, and Jules is 19 and from the French part of Switzerland.

Luis graduated college with a degree in anthropology and owes $50,000 in student loans.
He stayed out till 5am partying, is starving, and has the shakes.

Luis


Jules is just 19 and from the French part of Switzerland. He speaks French, German, English and is learning Spanish here in Valencia before he begins his veterinarian studies. He will study medicine for the first 18 months in English; the latter 3 in Spanish. The kid is brilliant!


Jules (left), Luis (right), Happy Tracy (middle)


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My favorite part of Day One is standing at the front of the class, trying to write/spell out what the teacher asks.
It feels like learning music by ear.
We three students take turns.
I love how the teachers use practical conversation to build oral comprehension.

I WISH I had a photo from my proudest moment: after filling up two massive white boards with Spanish words with fancy accents and punctuation,  I turn to my classmates and declare, "anything else I can teach you boys?!"

Our 1st period teacher


We all laugh.
I think they would hate me except for the fact I am a "periodista de televisione" and they think I'm famous!

Seriously, this is a BLAST! All 3 of us struggle a ton, but we try our best to compose sentences and help each other when we're stuck. We keep recalling French words instead of Spanish, but we're quickly catching on.

The 5 hours flies by!
Jules stays for a 6th hour. ( His mom made him.)
Luis, who is ready to pass out, heads home for nap.

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