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| 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...
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