Este es mi post final por mi Proyecto de Aprender, donde yo estudio español. En mi videos, yo hablo con Rebeca. Nos conocimos en 2019 en un viaje de India y Nepal. ¡Muchas gracias por tu ayuda, Rebeca!
(This is my final post for my Learning Project, where I study Spanish. In my videos, I talk with Rebeca. We met in 2019 on a trip to India and Nepal. Thank you very much for your help, Rebeca!)
Donde Yo Soy / Where I Am
In my first update post for this project, I mentioned that I wanted to demonstrate my final learning by recording myself speaking Spanish with someone. I tossed around a few ideas of who I could talk to, but nothing seemed quite right. I thought about conversing with:
- my sister (she had been learning Spanish on Duolingo, but has since dropped off doing the app, and I didn’t think two beginner learners would be able to have a very good conversation)
- my uncle (he knows sufficient Spanish to get around in Costa Rica, where he has a vacation home, but he isn’t a native speaker)
- a user on Tandem (I tried asking someone I had been chatting with for a while if they’d be open to my recording a session of us chatting, but I think they were a bit freaked out by this – reasonably so! haha)
Just as I was beginning to give up hope on my idea of speaking Spanish with someone, Rebeca answered my prayers and, seemingly, fell into my lap! When she followed me on Duolingo, a lightbulb instantly went off – I knew a native Spanish speaker from my previous travels! I asked Rebeca if she would be interested in having a conversation with me on Zoom and she graciously agreed. Last Thursday (day 37 of learning Spanish for me), we sat down for a Zoom conversation and spoke almost entirely (I’d say 95%) in Spanish for about 20 minutes!
I’m sure many people won’t want to listen to a 20 minute conversation in another language, so I have created two different videos that you are welcome to check out below.
This video is a shortened version with some of the ‘highlights’ of our conversation.
If for some reason, you want to check out the ‘full meal deal,’ this is the video for you.
There are chapter titles in the video so viewers can tell what topic we are discussing in each section. I wanted to include the full conversation to have an authentic artifact that captures my progress at this juncture.
Rebeca was an amazing conversational partner, who understood my stilted and hesitant sentences, offered clarifications on things I didn’t know, and provided lots of complimentary feedback! Being able to have a conversation in Spanish with a native speaker was an invaluable experience – I was very nervous, but also left our Zoom conversation buzzing with pride and excitement. Thank you again to Rebeca for being so generous with her time and agreeing to speak with me and be recorded for this project – I literally could not have done it without you!
Mi Experiencia Aprender En Línea / My Experience Learning Online
My experience using different online tools to learn Spanish has been extremely positive! Some of the resources and platforms I tried out during my project were:
- Duolingo
- Drops
- Lingoda
- News In Slow Spanish (website and news articles)
- Google Translate
- Tandem
- News In Slow Spanish (podcast)
- YouTube videos
- Spanish learning websites and quizzes
- TikTok
- Zoom
Having the freedom to try out an array of tools allowed me to learn and practice my Spanish in different ways. Some platforms were better for learning vocabulary and drilling, while others were used in more conversational ways for listening or speaking. At the conclusion of this project, I see value in all of the online tools I trialed, and think that a diverse portfolio will contribute to making a more well-rounded language learner. That being said, any tool is only as good as the effort put into it by the user.
In short, can you learn basic Spanish using only free, online resources? Absolutely! Will you get to intermediate or advanced level using this strategy? Probably not.
¿Que Proxima? / What Next?
I fully intend to continue learning Spanish, and am hoping to jump into a more intensive language Sprint on Lingoda in the fall. I’d love to learn more vocabulary and increase my knowledge of verbs/conjugations, as that is a weak spot for me right now. In addition, I’d like to expand my ability to speak in present or future tense, as I am currently limited to speaking in present tense. I can’t wait to visit another Spanish speaking country and continue to practice my Spanish!
Thanks everyone for joining me on this journey! It has been an absolute blast and I am left feeling so satisfied with how my Learning Project turned out! I am eternally grateful for the opportunity this course gave me to kick-start my Spanish learning and I will definitely continue with this as a personal goal moving forward.
¡Adios!
Until next time,
-KKF
KKF Learning to Teach 
This is legitimately so impressive Kara!! Were you intimidated at all to have that conversation? I think that’s one of the fears that would get in the way of this process if I were to learn a new language. But what an incredible opportunity technology has given you to be able to connect like this. All the research says using the language is the fastest way to learn it and your technology apps made that happen — super cool!
Thank you so much, Janeen! Yes, I was SUPER nervous prior to hopping on Zoom with Rebeca, but our conversation was very comfortable and natural. It was actually great to catch up and have a chat, as we hadn’t been in touch (besides seeing each other’s posts on Facebook) for a while. I loved getting to trial a bunch of different platforms and feel I have an idea of what I’d like to keep using moving forward – along with some new ideas!
Congratulations on completing your Spanish learning project! It’s great to see how you found a conversational partner in Rebeca and had an engaging conversation in Spanish. Your use of various online resources and tools demonstrates the effectiveness of online learning for language acquisition. It’s inspiring to see your enthusiasm to continue learning and improve your vocabulary and verb conjugations. Best of luck with your future language endeavors!