El Espanol-o!

Today was both Halloween and the first "day" of language class. That latter is something of a misnomer, since we really just got oriented to language class. I'm so ready to start learning Spanish, I could scream. Or study.

All the language-class newbies gathered this morning to--wait for it--fill out forms! Then we broke into language groups. A few trickled out for Urdu and Vietnamese, more than you'd expect for German, a handful each for French and Arabic, not too many Mandarin Chinese, a goodly gaggle of Portuguese, then the half of the room that's starting Spanish left (about 75 of us, an FSI record!). We went to a mega-room to get assigned to small classes (max of 6 each) and went through some of the basics of texts, online and in-building resources, and class schedules. There are so many of us, they're hot-bunking the classrooms. That's a term you use on a ship when people share a bunk - when one person's standing a watch, another person's sleeping in their bunk. So one group has class in a given room from 8-10am, then we have it from 10:05 to 12:05. They come back at 12:10 to 2:10, and we get it again from 2:15 to 4:15. So a given student has four hours of instruction a day, four days a week, plus lots of time in the language lab, self-study, and area studies (Central America and Caribbean for me). Plus the odd Wednesday afternoon for doctor's appointments, banking, showings of Spanish-language movies, meetings with learning consultants (seriously, we get 'em!), and so on.

After the Spanish group session and lunch, we all got back together to undergo a battery of tests to determine our learning preferences. I felt like my answers were all schizo - yes, I want structure; no, I can't abide structure! I often can't separate daydreams from reality -- what?? We'll get the results in a few weeks. I can't imagine what it'll all mean or how the language instructors will use it. Maybe it was a trick, and anyone who said they think they'd be a great clairvoyant will be quietly shown the door...

I did a little homework tonight with a CD of MP3s that demonstrated the importance of stress and intonation. The difference between PApa (potato) and paPA (dad), for instance. Yea! The humble beginnings of my professional competency in Spanish, a language I never knew I wanted to speak until now. And I do!  Poor D. will have to learn mostly by distance learning. There were quite a few EFMs (you may know them as spouses; we know them as eligible family members) in our Spanish mega-group, enrolled in the full course. Pretty cool if you can make the time and don't have jobs or kids or dogs or unsold houses hanging around your neck.

Halloween itself was fun - went over to a colleague's apartment where we all pooled our candy, ensuring that there were tons of leftovers to replenish our depleted brain sugar reserves after language training for weeks to come. Bring on the estudio de idiomas!