Assignment 3 ★ May 3 , 2005

　My first Spanish class

1) How much of the presentation in Spanish did you understand?
I think I could understand 80 percent of today's mini lesson . It was easy for me to understand Spanish words like Padre , Madre , but it was difficult for me to do handout without looking at blackboard because I could not remember .
What made the input comprehensible and what could have been done to make the language easier to understand?
・ At first teacher drew family tree , so it was easy for us to image and expect .
・ The theme of today's mini lesson was intimate for us , so I was interested in the study . (The words which we learned today are used frequenrly and we have many chances to use these words .)
・ Teacher spoke Spanish slower pace , clearly and simply .
・ Teacher said same things again and again , so I had a time to think and understand .
・ The expression and gestures of teacher helped us to understand Spanish .

2) Did you learn any new words or new grammar in Spanish?
・ Mi means my .
・ Si means yes .
・ No means no .
・ "---a" means female .
・ "---o" means male .
・ Persona means person .
・ Titulo means relationship .
・ Quien means what .

3) How did you feel about being a beginning foreign language student?
I was nervous at first , because I hardly understood what thacher was speaking . I had both hopes and fears , but fears were much bigger than hopes . At first I was not interesting , because I could not understand at all . The hurdle which we have to get over to learn something new is very very high , it is beyond my expectations . I really remembered and understood the feeling of students who try to study somethig new . I realized that begining is the most important terms for students to become interested in the subject . The attitude toward study develops on whether students are interest in the subject in the begining or not . That is to say , we have to grip the attention of students , and we have to interest them in the subjects . It is our duty , and we have to perform the duty . For that purpose we have to choose a theme carefully and research teaching materials closely .
I felt importance of teachers again , and I remembered the feeling of students who study English for the first time . What is more , I felt the difficulty of teaching a foreign language to learners , because first of all we have to fascinate them .