Friday, June 1, 2012

Me querido esposo

I'm participating in Spanish Friday over at Latinaish. English translation is at the bottom.

Hoy por la tarde fui con mi esposo (P-Daddy) a Home Depot. De regreso, decidí que fue (era?) buen tiempo para practicar el español con él. Hay que entender que él casi no habla español. Tiene "Español de Dora y Diego" debido a mirar con Pooh, pero realmente no se puede conversar. Pero si vamos a mudarnos a latinoamerica, será necesario que él aprende. Por eso trato de conversar con él de vez en cuando. Hoy la conversación fue así:
Chayo: Mi amor, practicamos el español, vale?
P-Daddy: huh?
Chayo: Quieres hablar español conmigo?
P-Daddy: [silencio]
Chayo: oh, no quieres practicar español; estás cansado?
P-Daddy: huh?
Chayo: [repitiendo con un bostezo y gestos que indican sueño] Estás cansado?
P-Daddy: oh. si.
Chayo: ah, estás muy cansado. tambien estás muy casado. jajajaja
P-Daddy: [en inglés] I have no idea what you are saying.


Les digo dos cosas. Primero, acabo de aprender una palabra nueva en español porque no sabía como decir "yawn" y tuve que buscarlo en diccionario. Bostezo. Voy a tener que recordar esta palabra y practicarla. Segundo, usar estas dos palabras "cansado" y "casado" es, para mi, un chiste (no se confunden con chisme!) porque cuando estaba aprendiendo español nunca pudo recordar cual era "tired" y cual era "married". Pero P-Daddy no entendió nada de mi chiste. Creo que tendremos que practicar mucho mas!

Y ahora, tengo una pregunta. Necesito recomendaciones para ayudar a P-Daddy aprender el español. Cuando hablo yo con él, siempre cambiamos rapidamente a inglés. No quiero pagar un curso de gramática, porque creo que hay que aprender los idiomas con un enfoque comunicativo. Pero no conozco a ningún lugar donde dan clases de español con un enfoque comunicativo. Qué piensan? Cómo ayudar a un adulto con aprender y practicar el español?



This afternoon P-Daddy and I went to Home Depot. On the way home, I decided that it was a great time to practice Spanish. Now, you have to understand that P-Daddy really speaks almost no Spanish at all. He has "Dora and Diego Spanish" due to watching it with Pooh, but he can't really converse at all. But if we are going to move to Latin America, it's going to be necessary for him to learn, so I try to talk to him in Spanish sometimes. Today our conversation went something like this:
Chayo: Hey Honey, let's practice our Spanish, okay?
P-Daddy: huh?
Chayo: Do you want to talk Spanish with me?
P-Daddy: [silencio]
Chayo: oh, you don't want to speak Spanish. Are you tired?
P-Daddy: huh?
Chayo: [repeating with a yawn and gestures to indicate sleep] Are you tired?
P-Daddy: oh. yes.
Chayo: ah, you're very tired. And also very married. hahahaha
P-Daddy: [in English] I have no idea what you are saying.
I'll tell you two things. First, I just learned a new word in Spanish! I didn't know how to say "yawn" and had to look it up. Bostezo. I'm going to have to remember that and use it. Second, to use the words "tired" (cansado) and "married" (casado) is a little joke to me because when I was learning Spanish I could never remember which was which. But P-Daddy didn't understand my joke at all! I think we are going to have to practice a lot more Spanish!

And now, the real question: I need some recommendations for helping P-Daddy learn some Spanish. Us conversing doesn't really work because we just revert back to English. I have no desire to pay money for a grammar class, because the language acquisitionist and TESOList in my truly believes that the communicative approach is the way to go. But I don't know too many (okay, any) places where Spanish is taught communicatively. So, any ideas? What's a good way to give an adult some exposure and practice with Spanish?

1 comment:

  1. Jajaja... I still mix up cansada y casada when I'm talking too fast sometimes. I also always forget the word for yawn.

    As for resources for helping him learn Spanish, besides immersion and just a lot of time/patience, you could try having him watch TV only in Spanish, and listening to more music in Spanish. It's going to be difficult unless he himself has a desire to learn. When the passion (or necessity) is there, it's a lot easier!

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