[BaconRocks]

I had to pick an elective for my freshman year in high school and my first pick was applied music, but my first alternative if I can't get into that class was Spanish 1. I was going to avoid Spanish class at all costs but I have to pass it to get an honors diploma. So i'm afraid I might have to take it this year. What exactly do you do in Spanish class anyways? My mom said I would probably think it was easy but I wanna know anyways.

[DaGeek]

Honestly, it'll be pretty simple. You're just going to learn very simple things in Spanish --- basic present tense conjugations of verbs (maybe some past tense), greetings, good-bye's, names of foods and places, etc. It won't be that difficult if you put just a little effort into it .

[darfaz]

Spanish classes are going to vary widely between different instructors and different schools. In one Spanish class you may hear zero English and be required to speak exclusively in Spanish from the first day of class. In another Spanish class you may sit around and make paper mache piñatas while you eat churros and drink café con leche. You should probably ask students at your school who have taken Spanish to find out what it is like at your school.

[bobthecockroach]

Originally Posted by BaconRocks

I had to pick an elective for my freshman year in high school and my first pick was applied music, but my first alternative if I can't get into that class was Spanish 1. I was going to avoid Spanish class at all costs but I have to pass it to get an honors diploma. So i'm afraid I might have to take it this year. What exactly do you do in Spanish class anyways? My mom said I would probably think it was easy but I wanna know anyways.

Theoretically at least, you learn Spanish.

Fortunately, Spanish is among the easiest languages for native English speakers to learn.

A few tips to get you started:

- Spanish, like most Indo-European languages, has a concept of grammatical gender. This has absolutely nothing to do with gender. If it helps prevent confusion, just think of it as noun classes rather than genders. Fortunately, Spanish nouns almost always follow a few basic rules for determining gender. Learn the rules well, and learn all the exceptions. If you don't know the gender of a noun, you don't know the noun.

- Review grammar. Go back to your English books and review grammar. Learning a new language means learning grammar, and it's a lot easier if you already understand the basics of grammar. (What is a noun? What is a verb? What is a modifier? What are articles? What are prepositions? Etc.)

- Listen to Spanish audio. At some point, you'll almost certainly be asked to say something in Spanish in class. The more comfortable you are with the sounds of Spanish, the easier this will be. I recommend looking up the artists Julieta Venegas (incidentally one of the most popular Spanish artists, so if you ever talk to a Spanish speaker, you can probably bring her up and start a conversation) and Jesse y Joy. If you want to know what they're saying, look up the lyrics (in Spanish) and follow along to hear how all the words sound. Even if you don't do this though, it will help just to familiarize you with how Spanish sounds.

- Even if you don't end up having to take the class and even if all you do in the class is sit around drinking café con leche, consider seriously learning Spanish (or any language). Bilingualism has proven cognitive benefits, it will give you access to a new culture, and it will make you a better speaker of your native language.

[BaconRocks]

Thanks! I've heard people that took it say they hated it and didnt learn anything, and some say they thought it was easy.

[Rainer.]

They probably didn't learn anything because they hated it. Attitude is important. Besides, there are lots of great language learning resources out there.