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Learn Spanish for Good at Speak Shop
Cross-cultural, Live Videoconferencing
What to expect in your first Speak Shop
lesson:
Aaaah, you're sitting at your desk or maybe it's your dining room table
ready to take your first live, online Spanish lesson with a tutor living in Latin America.
You've got your headset on and a cup of your favorite beverage within reach.
You power up your computer and go to the Speak Shop website. You log in and click on the Speak Easy page.
You see your face fill in one of the small boxes on your
screen. Suddenly the tutor's face comes into view next to yours on the
screen.
As you and your tutor see each other's faces (assuming you've bought a
webcam for $30 or so) and hear each other's voices, you smile and maybe chuckle a little. She's in Guatemala or Nicaragua, and here you are in your pajamas, scrubs, work suit, sweats or whatever. It's a technological wonder, but so simple!
If you were visiting Latin America, you would be sitting across from your tutor probably on opposite sides of a small wooden desk. You can't
get any closer to that experience without leaving home. This is real,
cross-cultural Spanish tutoring.
Now that you've gotten over the wonder of it, you realize your
tutor is talking to you completely in Spanish. That's kind of scary.
She's also typing something on the text chat that's also on your
screen.
You hear her say and see her type:
"¿Hola, como se llama?"
"Yo me llamo Maria."
What to do?!
You say something in English like "I don't know. What are you saying?"
Then you realize her name is Maria. She's telling you her name, and she's asking you yours. This makes a little sense!
So you give it your best shot and say your name, maybe throw in some
Spanish you're not sure is right. That's ok with her. She will help you
get it right.
You realize she is leading you through a basic conversation about
yourself, your family, what you do…she tells you a little about herself
and life in Guatemala. She's figuring out how much you already know (or
don't know) and teaching you new words and grammar. She's getting you
to talk and think in Spanish. It's awkward sometimes because she's not
using any English, and you don't know if you've got it right. But
that's ok. If you already knew Spanish, you wouldn't need lessons
right?
Now an hour has passed and you feel like you got a mental workout.
You're tired but also excited because you learned a bunch of Spanish
today! You actually had fun talking with this nice instructor who knew
how to teach you. So you schedule your next lesson and jump up to tell
someone, anyone who'll listen, how you talked to someone in Guatemala
in Spanish today. This might actually work for you, and it's right here
in your very own computer.
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