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As much as she has taught me since I have been here, it's only fair that I let her wear my "Teaching in Chile" jacket. |
Thursday, May 25, 2017
How to learn Spanish in 10 days ~ Michaela
I have learned more Spanish from Coni (my host family's five-year-old daughter) than from anyone else with whom I interact here. She is not afraid of making mistakes, nor is she concerned about proper social formalities. Her no-nonsense pointing and repeating, offering examples, and bluntly chiding my incorrect guesses should be studied as a language instruction pedagogy. No more Rosetta Stone or Duolingo. Instead, we pair every person interested in learning a new language with a 5-year-old native speaker who will teach them. Her attention span is perfectly aligned with my capacity for new words and phrases in a single lesson. Her disappointment when I have forgotten words she has already taught me is just heartbreaking enough that I make sure to write down anything I might otherwise forget. While everyone else coddles me and graciously overlooks my errors and mispronunciations, Coni does not hesitate to tell me I am wrong and to make me correct my mistakes. She is (as are most kids) a naturally skilled educator, and I am luck she has chosen to share that talent with me.
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