What Should I Be Able To Do By Now ?
Hello,
I have taken lesson by Skype since February 2009. I have done one hour Mondays to Fridays and then two hours each Saturday and Sunday. Obviously I have missed classes for various events, holidays and business travel.
I haven't studied outside of the class, and my concentration in class is, shall we say, somewhat lax. On the weekends I will watch football or rugby during my on-line class and I have never taken any notes or studied vocabulary. Monday to Friday I will generally surf the net during my class.
My class has always been me trying to speak and the teacher correcting me. Sometimes they do most of the speaking and I just 'listen" - especially if it is a good game that I am watching.
Where on the language curve would you expect me to be ?
Thank you.
13 Answers
I don't know you, but going off of what you said I would say you are a low-beginner (A1).
Here is what the CEFR says:
Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has.
Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
Since you said you don't pay attention during your lessons, I don't know how much of those things you are able to do.
Like I said, I don't know you, so I could be wrong. =) Why don't you have a look at the link and try to figure out where you fit in?
It is never to late to get back on track! Good luck with your studies.
I am sorry, but I cannot take the tact of the other respondents.
If I were paying for lessons via Skype, I would not waste them watching football.
If you want to learn a foreign language, you make the most of the opportunities given. If you don't why bother.
If someone else is forcing you why bother.
It is the one thing that gives me difficulty with paying for college for people- if you have no stake in it and don't care- why am I paying for it with my tax dollars. For a teenage in High School there is no hope, but for an adult I expect better.
The way you wrote the question it is hard to take you seriously, but...
When I try to teach someone something, the most rewarding thing is when they listen and learn something from it, and the most disheartening thing is when they don't seem to have even paid attention.
Please don't treat whoever is trying to teach you something via Skype this way. Pay attention or don't waste their time.
I'm going to take a bit of a radical approach and say there is no set sequence of how to get better.
That being said, (in my opinion) the most important thing you can work on it one-on-one interaction with native Spanish. This is the learner's most valuable tool. What is this? It's anything that a native speaker produced. So youtube videos, books, conversations with natives, etc. This is one of the reasons I dislike classes (you spend too much time hearing your classmates, who are learners, speak).
Try your hand at the following: Can you follow this woman without looking at the screen? What about with Spanish subtitles? If you can do that, try following this (you can look at the screen). Now try this one. If you can do that, try reading a page (the beginning is hard, try the middle) of this.
Those I'd say move in a progression from slower to faster/more complex. The lat one is reading to see if maybe you're more of a reading person (like me).
Tell me how you do.
He's basically trolling or he knows more than he let us know.
He's expecting an answer to something he can only know.
I am no mind reader either.
TO:-NikkiRivera and Margherite,
I went to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages link and with a little more surfing I found this:- http://diplomas.cervantes.es/en/information/sample_examination_papers_audios.html
My weekend teacher is going to send me the exam which she thinks I can do. I will do it in the first part of my class, and she will mark it in the second part.
I will let you know if I pass or fail and at what grade.
Well, I don't understand why one would take years of Spanish lessons and not study outside of class. I've got a smart phone loaded with Spanish stuff: (1) songs by my favorite latin artists (accompanied by song translations that I view on a split screen until I totally know the Spanish lyrics and their meaning). (2) Synopses of lessons with review material to keep concepts fresh in my memory. (3) A bunch of Pimsleur audio files (4) a Quizlet app that keeps Spanish vocabulary fresh in my mind. (5) Other audio files focused on understanding spoken Spanish.
I could go on and on. I don't think anyone learns much just from a lesson in a class. One has to review material, make sure it is understood, and practice applying one's learning using a variety of methods including nteracting with Spanish speakers as often as possible, and going out of one's way to create opportunities to interact with Spanish speakers.
I could go on and on...but I think you get my drift.
There is no easy/set answer to this question since it is a personal thng which will depend to a great extent on your ability to learn, retain and apply what you have learnt in appropriate ways, and also how much work you do outside of your lessons whether on Skype or through a teacher in a more formal class situation!
It will also depend on your exposure to listening to native speakers speaking the language. For example, If you (or anyone else) were a motivated student and were living and working in a Spanish-speaking country, listening to natives speak the language around you will make faster and greater progress with your Spanish if you apply everyhing/almost everything you have learnt than if you were sitting at home doing other things instead!
However, it does beg the question: why make all the effort to learn if you are then going to waste the time watching football at the same time as your teacher is trying to help you learn Spanish?! Learning a second or third language is not something that can usually be done without much focused time and effort.. Even if a student were gifted in languages it still requires considerable focused time and effort to be expended to obtain good results!
If you are truly serious about learning Spanish, or any other language, and your teacher is making the effort to plan and deliver an interesting lesson to help you make progress you really should treat them with the respect they deserve and giive them your full (Ie; undivided) attention...or you are wasting your time and theirs....and you are limiting your potential for learning!
Wherever you want to be ! There are no limits , and no limitations on how you learn ,
we are all so different in that we learn at different paces and have so many and
varied ways of studying that the outcome will be different also . Try not to judge yourself
on some other persons level , just realize that you know so much more than when
you started and be happy with your achievements, and move ahead from there.
Buena suerte roberto .
Hang on. I just searched again and now it says:-
LEVEL B1 The final grade is either PASS or FAIL. To obtain a diploma you must get a minimum of 60 points out of 100 in the examination, provided that you get at least 30 points out of 50 in each group of tests
http://diplomas.cervantes.es/en/information/levels/level_b1.html
•Group 1 •Reading comprehension test (70 min) •Written expression and interaction test (60 min)
•Group 2 •Listening comprehension test (40 min) •Oral expression and interaction test (15 min + 15 min to prepare
So right now I have got 35 marks our of 60. So if I got 25 /40 on the written expression and oral expression I would pass.
35/60 is 58% so I am only 2 off a pass from the ones that I could do and mark.
I did the reading exam and listening exam for B1 and failed. 70% is the pass mark and I got 58%. 17/30 for comprehension and 18/30 for the listening. So I am a mile off being B1.
EDIT -- see below the pass mark is 60% and I would still have two other sections to go, so there is a possibility that I could have scrapped a pass.
Well given the lack of attention and dedication to learning I am not surprised that you did not pass the B1 test. You are spending good money for Skype lessons yet you are not trying. For every hour of lessons you should be doing at a minimum one hour of self study and I would recommend two or three hours of self study to every hour of tutoring. Not to mention turning off the TV during lessons.
But only you can decide if your rate of learning is acceptable to you.
Sabes decir :¿ Hola, gracias, de nada ?
I only come to SD for the dictionary but was attracted to this thread when I saw it. I have taken the trouble to set up an account to say I just can't believe the number of unsolicited self righteous and insulting comments that made. Someone asked a question and was subject to abuse, and ridicule and some deep personal comments -from what I assume are adults. No wonder cyber bullying is a real problem in our schools.
Some of you need to re read your comments and consider if they really were appropriate.
Here ends my first and last post.
