Spanish Classes

One of my life goals is to become fluent in Spanish. I've been taking Spanish classes since the 7th grade, and I have an undergraduate minor in the language. I also studied intensively in Guatemala for seven weeks several years ago, and I had to pass a Spanish translation exam as part of the exit criteria for my Master's program. I've read a few full-length books in Spanish, in addition to plenty of short stories and news articles. I've also traveled to Mexico twice and Costa Rica once, and I live in a place where Spanish is not uncommon. Yet somehow, I'm still not "fluent."

I feel like I can read more or less fluently, and I don't do a terrible job understanding spoken academic Spanish, but throw in some regionalisms or speak at a quick pace, and I'm lost. I've been watching Masterchef España, and although I don't have any trouble following along with the program, I can't honestly say that I understand more than 60-70% of what's being said, and sometimes that number is much lower. When it comes to actually speaking Spanish, I stumble a lot and make mistakes. While I feel like I'm capable of communicating any idea I need to (as long as the vocabulary isn't too technical), that communication will be really messy and difficult.

I find this to be tremendously frustrating. I've devoted hours upon hours to studying Spanish, both formally in classes and at home on my own. I use Memrise to improve my vocabulary (1000+ words and phrases added to my vocabulary at this point), I read Spanish when I can, and I try to watch Spanish-language TV shows. I've become more aggressive with my learning in the past year or so, and I've noticed some considerable improvements, but I still feel like that vague goal of achieving fluency is still very far away.

That's why I signed up for Spanish conversation classes at a Spanish school down the street a few weeks ago. But I went to my second class yesterday, and I've decided I won't be going back. The classes costs $136 per month with two hours of instruction per week, which I think is reasonable but is still a major expense for me. I would be willing to pay that if I thought the classes would make a difference, but I don't think they will. Most of the other students are stuck at about the level I am, and the instructor doesn't seem to have any plan for helping us to progress. I was basically paying to hang out with a native Spanish speaker and talk about whatever topic came up, with his attention divided between four or five other students. It wasn't working.

I don't want the structure of a traditional classroom because I don't want to spend all of my time going over grammar I've already covered or doing reading assignments that I could do on my own at home, but I also need some kind of plan. I need an instructor who will introduce a common vocabulary we can use and build upon, with a range of topics we can discuss. I also need someone to correct my mistakes, which this instructor didn't do. I can speak Spanish at home for free; I was paying for someone to help me improve, and I wasn't getting that.

My plan for Spanish now is to continue what I've been doing, building my vocabulary and working on the grammar little by little with the plan to go back to Guatemala next summer. In Guatemala, I can pay for one-on-one tutoring for four to five hours per day, and I'll be immersed in Spanish everywhere I go. That seems like the only practical way to build my speaking skills, so that's what I'm going to rely on. Thank goodness I'm a teacher and have the time off to make this possible. Whether I ever have the opportunity to take the foreign service language test or not, I'm going to do everything I can to master this language!