The Conversation Exchange - English

Scott Engering at "El Museo Geominero" in Madrid

For over 5 years, I have been informally teaching English to my friend Aurora in Madrid but, because I was learning Italian at the time, I never considered learning Spanish and I was happy to help her with English - it is a very complex language.

Now, I have language partners all over Spain, in 14 of the 19 autonomous provinces  - and from Colombia too. Most of them are professionals, very often teachers, who have a good grasp of the English language and many are studying for their Cambridge Exams.

Although we have never considered using textbooks, with my students preferring to discuss various practical subjects, I use the resources that I have developed in a formal classroom situation to address the various points of grammar that arise during the conversation.

Having discovered the problems of learning Spanish, I empathise with my students and know the difficulties that they might encounter when trying to express themselves. I have been told that my patience – especially with pronunciation and explanation of phrasal verbs - is greatly appreciated.

The Conversation Exchange is not just there to help with listening and speaking, because reading and writing is an essential element of the learning process too. To date, I have assisted language partners with such diverse projects as the text to be used for the displays in a new Museum of Gastronomy in Segovia and in translating and writing publicity material for formal Language Workshops in Murcia...

The Conversation Exchange - Spanish

The Conversation Exchange

Very shortly after I had finished my one to one lessons with Irene, from Almeria, I decided to try and learn some Spanish, not least because I was hoping to teach and lead another group of students from the Canary Islands, in Sheffield, later in the year.
 
I decided to throw myself into learning Spanish using the Conversation Exchange. It's very easy to use. Just write a brief profile that highlights your native language, the language that you want to learn and briefly describe your interests - and away you go.

Although I could quite easily search quite specifically for a potential language exchange partner, anywhere in Spain, I have just let the Spanish speaking world approach me.

With a vocabulary of one line phrases that had previously enabled me to eat, drink, sleep and travel, and with very little grammar, I struggled to express myself at first. Using a Teach Yourself Spanish book that I had bought ages ago, without the audio resources, watching films and listening to the radio, I soon improved and, before long, I was able to construct more complex sentences.

Not having the structure of formal lessons, or a strict syllabus and homework to complete, I found that the best way is to create a strict timetable with my language partners. This has paid real dividends and, 10 months later, I have finished my Teach Yourself Spanish book and I now possess a good grasp of the language.

As an English teacher, it has also been a really valuable experience...