How to continue learning Spanish after high school?
Hi, right now I'm in AP Spanish. I'll be done with the class within the next few weeks, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips as to how one continues studying the language? When the class ends, I will have a summer, a school year(my 12th year), and then another summer of no Spanish classes. I want to improve/retain my Spanish before I start college (I plan on minoring in Spanish in college).
Would it be beneficial to buy Rosetta Stone? Or just watch and listen to a lot of spanish movies and tv-shows? Or just converse in Spanish with my friends and surround myself with Spanish speaking people? What would be most beneficial to maintaining, or improving, my Spanish while I wait for college to come around?
BTW: I don't think reviewing lessons will be beneficial to me due to the fact that I've taken Spanish 1, 2, 3, 4 and AP in school, so I know the basics of the language.
Also, I live in Florida, but I don't live in a community with a high Hispanic population.
Gracias por su ayuda!
Thank you all so much for replying! I really appreciate it! It seems that the best way is to try and live more Spanish-orientated. I'll be watching more spanish shows; scrolling through the spanish side of Facebook; speaking in Spanish more often and plan to spend my upcoming summer in either Spain or Mexico for my senior trip. Thank you all again so much, and I will be following everyone's advice. I almost forgot there was life after highschool, haha
6 Answers
Hi Gansotonto. Excellent question. Well, there is life after high school. : ) When I returned to college, I started with Spanish 101, having intended to take two or four courses and be done with it. (I took nineteen semesters because I fell in love with it.)
Consider your future study plans, and how you might incorporate an ongoing study of Spanish into them. You don’t have to go nuts and minor or major in it!
However, academic Spanish is just that: it ends up being mostly about the study of grammar, reading, and writing. But, as you know, in the “real” world, listening and speaking skills are much more useful. So, how to you get more fluent? Do a study abroad program if you can afford it. One month abroad = one year of studying at the college level or three years of studying at the high school level, in terms of fluency gains due to immersion. I don’t know much about Spain, Central America, or South America in terms of study-abroad schools. Since I have lived in Mexico twice, though, I can tell you about Mexico. Cuernavaca is no longer a very safe city to study in. I’d choose Guanajuato or Puebla.
Join a “practice conversation” website, such as My Language Exchange. There are others out there, and other SD members will probably list other examples and ideas. Find someone to practice with on Skype. Better yet, look around or near your own community. You’d be surprised.
By the way, I don’t recommend RosettaStone. It’s very expensive. I have used it with my ESL students, and it helps them marginally at best.
Good luck to you!
Good questions, and kudos for being so concerned and engaged,
Or just watch and listen to a lot of spanish movies and tv-shows?
That will certainly help your understanding of others.
Songs can be good too. A lot of times, one requires finding the lyrics (letra.com, for example) and then working on translating, and then listening again. Good exercize.
There are lots of good Spanish podcasts too.
Coffee break Spanish is good review, even if you´ll probably find the first 25 or 30 to be mostly review.
Another called Spanish Only Spanish is really good. Even if you don´t understand all of it, good practice at least jisting.
The second half of the 100 Pimsleur lessons would probably be good too.
Or just converse in Spanish with my friends and surround myself with Spanish speaking people?
^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^ EsO!
I've been using this site and community college classes too, and have been in class with some young folks, including a few AP high schoolers. I've noted that they're generally pretty good at the grammar and writing, but except for the ones that were involved in one end or the other of an exchange program, usually struggle to speak much. As such, find locals to practice with if you possibly can. It is ThE thing to do, in my opinion.
And of course this site is great for assisting you with any of the above suggestions.
Buena suerte en tus metas.
Make friends that are from Latin America, watch spanish channels on the tv (telenovelas, news...), the radio, newspapers, music videos on youtube, go on facebook and put it in spanish, go on facebook and click on "me gusta" on a few of the pages that are in spanish and learn the new lexico but at the same time enjoy, student exchange program, buy books in spanish, etc
High school isn't the end of everything. There are colleges you could attend that have Spanish classes. You might consider traveling, too. Maybe you could go to Spanish-speaking countries to practice.
I can't tell you much since I'm only in eighth grade so try looking at Brian's.
rosetta stone helps so much i have it.
There are a ton of great resources on the internet and you don't have to spend a dime.
Start by looking here:
