Student of the Season - Winter 2019
Pamela is our Student of the Season for Winter 2019. Pamela started going on holiday to Spain in 2000 and has always loved the country and culture; she realised early on that the more Spanish you speak the better your experience. Having never studied Spanish at school, the only Spanish she had was ‘holiday Spanish’ and, as we all know, that often just includes a few set phrases like “un tinto de Verano por favor” or “más cerveza por favor”. With this in mind, Pamela had been thinking about having formal Spanish lessons for years and years but never did anything about it; she not only wanted to learn Spanish for her holidays but also for her own self-development. When she heard about Private Spanish Tuition IOM she thought “Go for it!” and never looked back.
The hardest thing for Pamela about learning a new language is her tendency not to practise and to be a bit lazy and last-minute minded. Having been the same at school, Pamela knows that she has to be proactive in order to reap the rewards of learning Spanish; there’s no worse feeling than turning up to a lesson unprepared not having done the homework. Pamela notices a massive difference when she does do work ahead of the lesson and feels much more switched on.
The best thing for Pamela about learning a new language was realising she knew more than she thought she did. She especially loves going through all the different tense and verb conjugations. Having studied French and German at school, she was dreading the grammatical side of the language but it has definitely been one of Pamela’s’ strongest points. Spanish seems to make more sense than the languages she did at High School and each week Pamela feels like she’s achieving and learning so much that she can now see how far she’s come. The best reality check is when she gets given a huge para-graph to translate, begins feeling slightly overwhelmed at the sight of it then tackles it without a problem. Doing that gives Pamela a huge sense of achievement.
Pamela’s TOP TIP is to practise, practise, practise. Practise tense and verb endings. Practise vocabulary: you can know the grammar rules off by heart but without the vocabulary you still can’t say anything. Practise speaking to build your confidence; reading and writing always seem easier but put yourself out there and practise more. Pamela also suggests reading bilingual Spanish magazines and having the two languages side by side to compare, this is very useful and helps build vocab.
Pamela uses Duolingo and JW language apps which are great for learning vocabulary and basic greetings. She also loves Spanish dict and finds it far more reliable than Google Translate. It also has the handy conjugation drop down menu which can be a life saver. She also listens to Coffee Break Spanish podcasts which are a great way to learn and listen.
In October Pamela is going to Spain on holiday and would love to be confidently conversational by then. She has also got her eye on sitting a Spanish GCSE at some point.
Pamela says her most useful tool is by far having a teacher; one to one lessons have been the cornerstone of Pamela’s learning. Looking at news articles in lessons, translations, tackling various topics and continuing the grammar journey are particular high-lights.
Well done, Pamela, you have achieved so much in such a short space of time. We want to wish you all the best in your future plans and are looking forward to helping you be-come conversationally confident by October. Brilliant achievement thus far.
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