The thought of giving up on my Spanish class has briefly come and gone. I would miss my classmates too much, my teachers too much, and if Cynthia wants to continue, I just have to press on. It is rather up to my linguistic limit knowing how little talent I have on that department. Today was the first day of the 10 “Elementary 2” lessons that will lead to an examination, unlike “Elementary 1” that is exam-free. My lovely teacher Natalia jumped when I jokingly yet rather seriously commented that the only two or three things I have learned [by heart] from the last 10 lessons were que pasa (what’s up?), pausa (have a break), and uff (an expression). Something Natalia always says; something I can always pick up. The rest of what she says? It literally sounds like music to my ears.
Stress aside, I always welcome a lighthearted break. This morning I woke up with a foggy mind and a pair of eyes that could hardly be opened. Still not fully recovered from that mild cold over the weekend, I thought of taking a medical leave. But I thought of all the work piled up, the face-to-face meetings and the multi-country conference call that were set up, maybe working through the day with half of my brain still working is not too bad an idea. So I did. And as I was rushing out of the office for the Spanish Class this evening, my wireless phone continued to ring. OK. One more call to answer then. This morning, in the car, Cynthia was playing the album by James Morrison. I nearly fell asleep. I begged for something more upbeat and she put Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” on repeat. Immediately I woke up.
Immediately I woke up when today’s Spanish Class started. Today’s topic was on movies. Thank God. I love that topic. You know I do. And we learned the different genres in Spanish, how to describe everything about movies in Spanish (including popcorn), and we were given a printout of a movie schedule and asked to form sentences in Spanish. Lovely. When it came to my turn to speak, I said, “Me gustaría ir a (I would like to watch) … Confessions of a Shopaholic.” The rest of the class was shocked while Cynthia was laughing (she knows me well). And I continued, “Porque me gusta (Because I love) chick-lit.” OK. It took the entire class some time to explain to our teacher Natalia what chick-lit is. And it took me quite a few moments to convince them that I do read the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. Seriously guys. To get into a woman’s head, chick-lit is as close as you can get. Besides, that series is very entertaining to read.
So, how does the photo relate to this blog entry? Well, as part of the exercise for next week, we are suppose to pen down some Spanish film titles that we know. I dig through my foreign film DVD collection, only manage to find 3. Two of which I have yet to open. Maybe I shall try out learning Spanish by watching Spanish films. Now, that’s easy.
8 replies on “Spanish Supercharged: Elementary 2 @ Las LiLas School”
Almodóvar movies?
Woo Elementary classes are so interesting! Did your teacher say introduce you to any spanish movies or something?
P/s- Hope you are recovering (I am on the verge of falling sick / controlling to be well too)
Hahaha… Don’t give up. Yep, give it a shot at Spanish films. Who knows? You may speed up!
BTW, I am sure you would be woken up by “Poker Face”… A rather irritating yet catchy song. It kept ringing in my head! 😛
AY – Hey, thanks for your recommendation. I did some research. I have only watched one film of his. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! Time to expand my Spanish film collection!
Si Ying – Oh, actually at the end of the E1, the teacher showed us a Spanish film on DVD. It was pretty interesting as we broke away from the usual classroom teaching. My only reservation is that it was probably the most expensive Spanish film we have watched … lasted for 1 1/2 lessons!
JT – You know, I am going to read Spanish books too. I am desperate. I cannot fail!
Oh yes. I love “Poker Face”. The girl seems quite hot too!
City of God (Cidade de Deus) is the most left side of your disc. It one of the top 20 film voted in the IMDB (internet movie database).
About a drug dealer and photographer… should be quite interesting to you… i was looking for this flim for quite a while already…
Ng – Yes, we have watched “City of God” and it’s lovely. If you want, I can lend it to you. Have a good week ahead!