How did I fall in love with the Spanish language

Good morning, how do you do? Since I just adore Spanish, I'm going to write about it. When I was 11 years old, we were able to notice a new TV program... It was unusual, because we used to listen only Serbian or English on TV (because of so many programs about science, travel, animals, ... and movies...from the USA mostly) and that TV series was in Spanish. Since I'm so curious girl, I used to watch it very carefully...and I behaved like a baby... I was observing everything (how did they behave, I was listening to their intonations, their accents, ...and the actors were so handsome). So, I would repeat everything out loud, no matter I understood just a bit (mostly it was guessing because of their situations)... The next day, I'd play at school with my friends...acting like those actors and actresses but in Serbian... it was so goofy. I was so impressed with everything about that TV show...so I decided to watch the repetition of that episode the next day... My mom would tell me "Are you OK? Why are you watching the same all over again...you already know what happened" She did not understand it was part of my language learning. I used to repeat the whole process with all possible future TV soups from Latin America (Mostly they were from Mexico...and some of them were from Colombia)... My first friends and teachers were from Colombia...they were so patient and nice to me... They taught me a lot. Then I mostly communicated with Mexicans...sometimes with people from Ecuador and then from Venezuela, etc I discovered even the Latin American music and from the first melody, I fell in love... So, that was the moment when I told to myself "One day I'm gonna speak like those actresses, I swear" and 15 years later, I made my dream come true with a lot of love, dedication and discipline. I'm still in love with the Spanish language like from the first day... ¡¡¡QUE VIVA ESPAÑOL!! 

How have you helped a student reach fluency from scratch?

https://www.italki.com/teacher/1448117

https://amphy.com/referral/5fcf57ea-7067-4d0a-936e-7bbb4155abba

 Learning foreign languages sometimes can be challenging… but with a strong approach, a lot of fun, and hard work, anything and everything is possible. I think your WILLPOWER is the key for success. Plus, if you have a good teacher or friend with a good command of that language who’s able to help you…then what else can you ask for? 

The person I’m going to speak about is Ante. He’s from Croatia. The first time we started working together was in 2017. When I saw his name for the first time, I thought it was probably some American who had origins from Croatia and wanted to learn Croatian, but that was not the case. Instead, he wanted to learn English. I was happy because I felt I could help somebody from the Balkans who spoke almost the same language as I do. 

I think the biggest challenge was teaching him grammar, and that is why I did my best to mix different methods…such as: using the book English grammar in use + comparing different aspects of grammar with Serbo-Croatian grammar as much as it was possible + writing some short stories on Google Docs.  

I also used to give him a lot of homework so that he could practice as much as possible since he was not the type of person who would start learning by himself (especially because he would work so much and, of course, he would spend the rest of his time with his family). So that was the only way to make him practice his English a bit more before he went to work… 

I would like to compliment his determination and his discipline. He was finishing his homework almost always on time. Plus, our lessons were NEVER boring. He is such an energetic and smart man. I also used to joke a lot with him so that he could embrace his mistakes much easier, and most importantly, learn from them. 

I truly believe that was exactly the reason why he became one of my great friends and not only a student. I also used to remind him about his homework when necessary. I will never forget one of his jokes: 

- I will not let you go to Bratislava for the Polyglot Gathering because I won’t have you to remind me about my homework. I will get up super early and tell everybody that I was going to work, when in reality, I’d be making a deal with my friends from Belgrade (later I ended up teaching them English as well because Ante recommended me as a teacher) and we would all show up at the bus station in order to convince you not to go, and we wouldn’t leave that place until you came with us. And if you still get on the bus, I will put a needle in the tires so you can’t go. 

Of course, he was just joking, but that was the sweetest joke ever. I knew they would never actually do it (and they didn’t), but those words showed how much of a loved and important teacher I was. That was priceless. 

When I came back from the Polyglot Gathering, we worked together for a very looong time after. I also used to organize free online English video conferences and of course, native speakers were invited as well. These conferences were the best opportunity for him to practice both his listening and conversational skills at the same time. These conferences were the best opportunity for him to practice both his listening and conversational skills at the same time. After that, one day, he started to understand English grammar much better that he even started correcting his boss at work. His boss told him, “Wow, you have an amazing teacher. She taught you so well.” 

Ante is definitely one of the students I will never forget. I hope we are going to keep working together and also, I hope he´s gonna keep learning English in order to master it one day.