Classes

On Tuesday, vacation ended and our Spanish classes began. I am in the Advanced class with Jasmin, Katie, Regan, Debora, Bailey, and Nicole. Our teacher lives here in Mérida, and she has studied in the United States as well. Of course, she speaks to us only in Spanish. At first it was challenging to keep up with her, but after only three days, we can understand her much easier. We began classes Tuesday with introductions and expectations for the class. We had an exam so she can see at which level of Spanish each of us is. We did several activities, and ended the class talking with the teacher one by one. I was last, so I was late for lunch :)

Wednesday we went downtown for our first field trip. Every week we will have some type of educational excursion. Our trip to the Centro deserves its own post, and I will add pictures as well. Thursday we studied out of our books and did oral activities. For a break, we played Scrabble...in Spanish! Believe it or not, it was my first time playing Scrabble, and I didn't think it was fair that I was alone and the other girls had partners! :)

Val and my teacher are working together to challenge me still further. I have always pushed myself to learn as much Spanish as possible, and teaching Spanish I last year really helped me reinforce my own Spanish. During this spring semester, I spent 40+ hours in the Mrs. Morgan's Spanish III & IV classroom in Mitchell High School. I like reading Spanish books in my free time. For all these reasons, this class is not difficult enough for me. I love our oral activities and learning more about the culture, but I already understand the grammar and much of the vocabulary.

Because the goal is for each student to learn as much as possible, Val has arranged an extra class for me. Beginning next week, I will be taking a class in Latin American Literature. My homework will be reading and writing about the literature, and in class I will be listening to and talking with the professor. I am truly excited about this class. I will still be with the other girls part of the time, but I will have more homework. Verbally expressing how I feel about the literature I read for this class will push me to a whole new level of Spanish.

It is hard to believe that our first week of classes is over! We have classes Monday through Thursday, so only three weeks remain! Tomorrow we have a field trip to Celestún during the day, and when we get back, I move into my new home with doña Carmencita. Saturday we are going to the beach during the day, and in the evening we have a convivencia (fiesta, party, gathering) to meet our new language partners. These are students from the local universities who will spend time with us during our time in Mérida. We may visit their families, meet their friends, or hang out in their favorite places.

Leave questions or comments below, and look for another post soon about our field trip to El Centro (downtown).