Breaking Down the Brick Wall

At some point in your study of Spanish you may feel as if you've hit the proverbial "brick wall." This is a time when you feel that no matter what amount of study, number of flash cards, or time watching videos...nothing seems to stick. If you are an adult learner, this feeling is likely to come sooner rather than later (we will talk about critical period in a future post).

I've been there too. Several years ago we hosted a child from Chechnya for the summer (through Project LIfe). Since language books in Chechen are rare (the country's own libraries and universities have been destroyed), I opted to learn some phrases in Russian to prepare for my new son's arrival (Chechen children study Russian and sometimes English).

I started listening to Russian podcasts and I borrowed every book on the Russian language on file with the local library system. I was highly motivated because I felt an enormous burden to keep this child safe...a 9-year-old traveling some 3,000 miles from his home.

I needed to say "mom things" like..."There are bees in the outhouse." "Do you have on clean underwear!" "Careful, hot water!"

I wasn't even trying to learn to read or write Russian (have you seen the their alphabet? Yikes!)

I couldn't do it. Not a single word seemed to stick in my brain.

Until this beautiful, reckless, highly-intelligent child was actually running through the living room could I make any sense of the Russian language. I'll admit, I did go around the county Fair snorting like a pig (it was his first week with us and as a Muslim, he was wary of pork products. I needed to communicate that I was buying all beef hot dogs instead of pork). Privyet!

The Russian word Sabota...Saturday ("I'm sorry, you can't go on the rides until Saturday"...by the time I'd said this word to him 50 times it stuck (for me at least).

How can you invite Spanish into your home? Via TV or the radio? Find a program you really want to understand. Find a neighbor or co-worker who is Spanish-speaking. I once had a student who really liked the music of Daddy Yankee and reggaetón (me too - although sometimes the lyrics and images are "strong"). That was his reason for learning Spanish.

Thankfully, Spanish has many immediate real-world applications. One former student, a criminal justice major, used her Spanish on the job in the first weeks of class. A car had tipped over during her night shift as an EMT and Spanish-speakers were trapped inside. Granted, she didn't know the words yet for "jaws of life" but the words she knew offered those folks comfort.

Break it down!