Learning, Thinking, Speaking, Understanding...

A few days before we left Pisac, Jenny and I were hanging out in our room looking back at pictures from the start of the trip up until then. She turns to me and asks, “what’s that word for when you feel like you’re at the same place again after a long time?” I replied a little bewildered, “umm nostalgic? Looking back?” “Oh I’ve got it,” she said, “full circle.” And she was right. Almost a month ago we were wide eyed and amazed just to be out of the country, let alone Peru. We had to slowly remember how to listen, talk, read, and write in a different language. We were once again comfortable and in a routine of a culture. We were accustomed to eating generally the same things for meals, and not needing a map to get where we needed to go. It was a surreal feeling and just like I couldn’t believe I was arriving in Pisac, I couldn’t believe I would be leaving.

Improving my Language Skills

From the beginning of the program to the very last class, I noticed a significant improvement in my ability to understand Spanish. In English, writing and reading has always been one of my strong points which carried over to Spanish as well. However, my speaking did not come as easily. In Spanish classes at my high school usually speaking exercises were laid out in our work books, or debates and presentations in which we wrote out notes before hand. I was used to being able to take my time to figure out what I wanted to say, worry about pronunciation, and whether the verb tense I was using was correct. But speaking to a native speaker is much different. At first I struggled trying to think in Spanish and quickly respond, but having to speak it almost all the time helped my mind to switch gears. My host family was helpful in my language development as well, if I didn’t know or remember a word they would help me to describe it or come up with a synonym.
One of the things I think helped me the most was the classes. Each week we touched on a specific theme to develop our language skills and learn about the culture. Week 1’s theme was “Identity,” where we dived right into the local culture, and explaining how we had been understanding, learning, and adapting to the host culture. Week 2 was about “Creativity” which focused on more of the culture of all of Peru including art, music, food, movies, and more that all contributed to our definition of “culture.” In our project for that week we were assigned to create our own “culture magazine” to reflect what we had learned. Week 3 focused on “Discovery.” I think this was the most interesting week because we were able to learn about large issues affecting all of Peru such as the environment, political corruption, public health, and violence. Our project for the week was to make a PSA about one of these, or other issues. The issue my partner and I chose was about the aging population of Peru, and how to help and protect this growing elderly population from violence and mistreatment. The final week, “Personal Growth,” was bitter sweet as we reflected on our month long journey of how we had progressed in our language learning.

Overall these classes have been a great addition to my Spanish language learning experience. Thank you to my amazing teacher Delila, and the Level 3 class! It was challenging, engaging, fun, and I’m so grateful for this opportunity.