miércoles, 26 de marzo de 2008

Intensive courses in Spain

So, I was reading someone else's blog (I'll post the link here when I can track it down!), also about learning Spanish, and they were answering a point from someone who was unhappy with the progress they had made on a course in Barcelona or somewhere. The answer was that a one-week course wouldn't be enough for real progress and they should do a 4-week intensive course. Here's what I think (I left it as a comment):

I don´t entirely agree that people should sign up for whole 4-week intensive course, although that´s what a lot of language schools would seem to recommend! I think there´s a limit to how much one can comfortably absorb, and you risk removing the pleasure from the experience while also not really progressing any faster.

I say, do a week, then have a week off - go sightseeing, or I dunno, some painting classes or something. You´re still on location, surrounded by the language, but your brain has shifted gear and is filing and processing what had been learnt rather than trying to cram in new stuff. then do another language course. the learner will feel more relaxed and pleased at how much they´ve learnt and remembered, rather than frustrated by the stress of progress which just seems to be getting slower and slower!


What do you think - feel free to leave a comment and let me know!

1 comentario:

Anónimo dijo...

Doing it the way you suggest makes sense to me. You need time to practice what you have learnt and let the new knowledge sink in. Also, it would give you time to sightsee as you suggest.

I have also included a link to your blog from mine, and would be happy if you would reciprocate.

I see that you have three blogs and would be happy to swap links with all three.