Spanish has always been a language I really wanted to learn. It’s such a beautiful language to hear and yet, until a week ago, I never brought myself to actually start using it.
Buenos dias
Until I receive an email from Málaga. Joost van JongLeren.es tells me that Joyce and he want to give me the opportunity to work as an intern at their internship agency. Yes! Finally something comes my way that can help improve my Spanish. I really can’t get any further than buenos dias, una cerveza por favor and adios.
To get a bit of Spanish life here, JongLeren.es offers me language lessons for a week at the best language school in Málaga: Instituto Picasso. Sounds nice and Spanish, doesn’t it? I am curious from which language I receive the Spanish lessons: Dutch or English? During my first week of internship, the week before the language lesson, I ask Joyce. She looks at me smiling. “Just from Spanish though!”
…Yeah right. Learn Spanish from Spanish. That’s impossible.
Day dreaming
Well then! Together with Maaike, the other intern at JongLeren.es, I start on Monday at 10:00 AM. We are in a class with three other students. A British man, another Dutch boy and a Norwegian girl. The latter understands very little about it, so Maaike and I feel smart in comparison too. Because we have lessons with only three others, there is more than enough attention for everyone. Positive, of course, but it can also be confrontational at times. If you’ve always been a dreamer in school, like me, daydreaming really doesn’t stand a chance here. It is not necessary, by the way, because learning Spanish is much more fun than staring in front of you!
At the language school, the teachers speak even worse English than Louis van Gaal. So we really have to make do with poor Spanish and a very little English, but especially with hands and feet. Both the teachers and us.
Well well, ‘That’s another biscuit!’
Even with us, students who hardly speak a word of Spanish upon arrival, the teachers manage to teach us everything. From how you introduce yourself to someone in Spain (always with two kisses!!), to what the result is when you eat too much chocolate, namely ‘un bébé de chocolate’. We teach Spanish in the most creative ways, through games, drawing and so on.
All that laughter makes the week go by really fast. Tired, but also satisfied, Maaike and I start our weekend. For the last time we say goodbye to our dear teachers. Hasta luego! So. If you are in Málaga and you would like to know more than just how to order a beer in Spanish, I definitely recommend taking language lessons! Look at the language lesson page for language schools in Málaga and the surrounding area.
Saludos,
Esther
