Practice Basic Spanish Grammar: Tandem Learning

Tandem Learning: Real Life Practice in Basic Spanish Grammar

Language Practice Want to practice basic Spanish grammar? Try a tandem. My tandem learning is a voluntary one-on-one Spanish exchange between two students in basic Spanish grammar. In my case, I am learning Spanish and my tandem is learning English. The goal is for each of us to help the other with our native language. It is, in short, a Spanish tutorial. The structure is left to the participating pair, with an expectation that we will share the time equitably between the two languages, and good things will follow…

Terry and I are delighted with how well our individual one-on-one Spanish sessions are going. His tandem (or, in Spanish, tamden) is a young architect who owns her own business and is very enthusiastic about learning English. Mine is a young travel agent who needs English for his work in guiding people to their hotels upon arrival in Cusco. Both caught on quickly to the importance of practical drills for learning basic Spanish grammar. They are quite the task masters. Terry’s tandem actually gives him homework. For more about Terry’s tandem, please see Spanish Tutorial.

Working with Juan: A Travel Agent Works on Needs Specific to his Work

Lesson Learned

Think outside the book in developing new language learning material relevant to your needs and to increase motivation.

Juan’s job plunges him into an English-fueled world, even though his agency seems to cater to German tourists. He’s the guy who holds up a sign with designated names and meets the agency’s clients at the airport. He makes sure the bags are collected, ushers travelers to their hotels, later picks them up from their lodging, and makes sure they have the proper tickets and gear for their tours. And he is preparing to be the tour guide who explains the sites his clients are seeing.

We have used his guide book to refine his spoken English. He reads the basic text for various tours his agency offers, and we work on pronunciation and intonation. We discuss words he doesn’t understand and use the text to expand his vocabulary. The added benefit is that I am learning about Peru culture and history beyond what I have been able to pick up in our own tourist outings.

Juan is extremely knowledgeable about English grammar – he can quickly name grammatical forms, such as present participles and past perfect, which most American students have forgotten by the time they graduate from high school. But pronunciation and intonation tend to be stumbling blocks. I have seen him make big strides in understanding and using words in his guidebook and in conversational English.

In return, he has given me one-on-one Spanish instruction, which has been great for my Walkabout Language Learning™ excursions, such as the exchange of a battery recharger we bought that didn’t work when we got it home, and various other errands. He corrects my basic Spanish grammar and is also is a patient drill master for my pronunciation.

The Next Adventure: Create Your Own Tandem

Every foreign language course can be enhanced by a one-on-one tutorial. I’m sure they can come in as many flavors as the mind can invent.

At least one website is dedicated to language exchange through email correspondence. It claims to help people in more than 100 languages, as I recall.
Several U.S. cities have initiated cross-cultural exchanges in which people of different languages and cultures are invited to come together, share experiences, and, as possible, establish face-to-face relationships through which they can improve their ability in another language. We have joined such a “Meetup” group in our community.
I have friend who teaches one-on-one Spanish by telephone to a student in the U.S. They have a two-hour conversation once a week. My friend tells me the land-line phone cost for the U.S. resident to talk for two hours is about US$5 an hour. If that is too steep for you to refine your basic Spanish grammar, you can use a voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP), such as Skype, which is free. Some VOIP fans use video cameras so they can actually see one another on their computers. On the downside, you need high-speed internet, and the quality of transmission may vary. The cost of instruction is on top of the phone cost, but also quite reasonable.

We are thinking about working out suggestions for people who want to develop this kind of voluntary language exchange. These suggestions would be for people working through an established program like the one we have at Maximo Nivel, or in more informal arrangements among people who want to improve their ability in another language by working with native speakers.

If readers of this blog express an interest in this kind of information, we could put it in a future web page. Contact Us and let us know.

--Posted by Ann, October 20

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