Did you ever feel bored and demotivated while trying to learn a new language? Things have changed.
Years ago, when second language education was less advanced than it is today, the focus was on the student’s use of grammar. Language classes consisted of learning fixed and out-of-context structures that the student had to memorize. The result is what one would expect: low productivity and slow learning, students and teachers frustrated.
In the learning process of a new foreign language, several competences must be mastered. Written comprehension and expression, listening comprehension and oral expression. If we look at how children learn to speak, we notice that long before they understand the structure of the language, they begin to learn it by speaking.
This is why things have changed, and new methodologies have appeared to change the way we learn foreign languages. The communicative and the task-based approach appeared, which promote the student’s ability to communicate in the target language while performing contextualized tasks that promote their learning.
It is the approach that has proven the best results and satisfaction on the part of the students. And its major pillar is the emphasis given to conversation skills. Being able to speak and communicate in the language we want to learn is essential. The more we speak, the more we improve our oral expression and listening comprehension and the more tasks we can perform, which will only improve our motivation and make us want to learn even more.
Much of the success of the TANDEM Madrid teaching method lies in the communicative approach and the emphasis placed in conversation in all courses. In addition to the conversation in daily classes, TANDEM offers additional free tools to help students maximize their communication skills. These powerful tools are TANDEM conversation classes and TANDEM language exchanges.
The extra conversation lessons are Spanish conversation classes included in all Spanish programs for students of level A2 or higher. For an hour and a half, and weekly (except for weeks when there is language exchange), students chat and debate current affairs in Spain and Latin America through newspapers and magazines.
Accompanied by an expert communication teacher and a good coffee or tea, the conversation classes become a great ally to reinforce the learning of Spanish and to learn more about Spanish and Latin American culture. Students find in these classes an excellent way to meet new people, chat in animatedly about topics that interest them, while they learn Spanish with practical and useful topics.
In previously agreed time shifts, under the supervision of a teacher, two students communicate in the language they wish to learn. The other student, who is a native speaker of the language that his/her partner wants to learn, helps him/her and facilitates his/her learning in a pleasant and entertaining way. These TANDEM language exchanges are open to students of any level who want to learn Spanish and do so with the guarantee of success that learning through conversation offers them.
More and more students want to learn the trendy language around the world. Join them and remember: just as you learn to walk by walking, you learn to speak by talking!
“Do you want to speak Spanish while having fun?” “Choose your Spanish course and enjoy conversation and language exchange classes”
This article is also available in Spanish
