Aero: Stephanie Strassner – Costa Rica 2013 – Life at School
Aero: Stephanie Strassner – Costa Rica 2013 – Life at School
Aero: Stephanie Strassner – Costa Rica 2013 – Life at School
During our trip to Costa Rica we attended a Spanish class. This class covered the basics of the Spanish language; different tenses and how to conjugate words, everyday vocabulary, and it emphasized the importance of repetition and speaking. It was only our group of eight students in the class, which I really liked. A smaller group allowed us to be more interactive and have more individual practice. I also think that our group became comfortable with each other pretty quick, which helped with the classroom atmosphere. We were comfortable speaking and working in pairs or groups, even if we did make mistakes. It helped that we also had a great teacher. She lives in and grew up in Costa Rica and she really wanted us to learn and improve as much as we could, both inside and outside of the classroom. As I have learned over my years of schooling a good teacher can make or break a class for you, and our teacher was definitely a positive aspect of our learning.
If I had to pick one thing that I liked about this class it would be the emphasis on speaking. I have taken many Spanish classes, through middle and high school and then into college, and almost all of them had this huge focus on reading and writing. I have taken very few classes where we had to just speak in Spanish. It was not because speaking was discouraged by any means, but the material and the structure of the class just did not really call for much speaking beyond reading from a text or answering short questions. With this class we took, from day one, we were told that speaking was a major part of this class; that repetition is a huge factor in retaining information. Now, I know that I just said I was excited for the speaking aspect of this class but I was also nervous because of my lack of confidence with speaking; but soon that nervousness decreased because I did feel comfortable in making mistakes and working with my peers.
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I have also sat through many classes where we sat at our desks and got talked at, there may have been some interaction, but more times than not we would be talked at by the teacher while we took some notes. With this class, and it was only a two week session, every class we were doing had some sort of activity. These activities ranged from question and response, to partner work, to group work, to games, to actually going into the center of town and talking with locals. If anything, this class really helped to pull me out of my comfort zone, and it helped me practice and trust the skills that I already had and news ones I was learning.
In regards to technology, the classroom we were in had the standard desks and white board. There weren’t smartboards or even a television (the one time we used a television it had to be brought in). What I have learned, though, is that it is not necessarily what technology that is available that makes a good class, it is how that technology is used. I have had plenty of teachers who have had technology available to them and just let it sit there and not take advantage of it. With this class we took I do not think that higher technology was really needed. Our teacher made the most of what she had and I had a great time learning from her.
– Stephanie Strassner
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