One Chance to Make a First Impression

I was really excited to get started working with the Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish program. Although I studied Spanish for four years in high school and one in college, trying to have an every-day conversation with a native Spanish speaker remains extremely anxiety-provoking. The rapid-fire question and answer that I do unconsciously on a daily basis in English screeches to a grinding halt when I converse with a Spanish speaker. Conjugating verbs, remembering vocabulary, and having correct pronunciation are difficult to do on-the-fly. Now that I am living in Buenos Aires, I am faced with such situations on a daily basis: picking the kids up from school, going out for drinks, or even going to the grocery store.

Class 1 of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish has me hopeful that by the end of the next five weeks I'll be seeking out conversations with the Spanish-speakers. The format is nearly entirely conversational with one person (female) only speaking Spanish and the other (male) mostly English with some Spanish mixed in. Yes, there is some quick-hitting formal instruction thrown in there, so don't worry. The gist of the class is that the male English speaker has recently moved from London to Buenos Aires to learn Spanish and finds himself isolated in a recording booth with a hot Spanish teacher to record a new Spanish instruction program. The endless attempts of Dave to woo his teacher is hilarious and definitely helped keep my attention. They went through the basics of how to introduce yourself, how to respond to simple everyday questions, and how to say goodbye. A smattering of vocabulary words and phrases is woven into the conversation. At times the speech was fairly slow which allowed my to fully grasp grammar concepts, while at other times the teacher spoke quite rapidly allowing me to practice real-life listening comprehension. All-in-all a nice introduction to the concept of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish that has me intrigued and hopeful about what's to come (including whether or not Dave eventually wins the heart of his teacher).