Spanish

It's a lovely and simple language, a great introduction to the world of languages outside Britain, and an incredibly useful tongue to acquire. Spanish, in one of its many dialects is spoken in a large proportion of the New World in addition to Spain, after all, so if you want to go exploring Latin countries it's a prerequisite you can't pass over. Now, don't get me wrong, for I know there are more languages in Britain than just English, but will Welsh or Gaelic provide for you in countries outside the UK? Yes, there are tiny ex-colonies that use those languages, but on the whole there are languages more useful in the global communication stakes.

The plan is that this post will double up between the Quirky Muffin and my tutoring blog, at http://mathscarmarthenshire.blogspot.co.uk/, where I was eventually going to have to explain Spanish tuition from someone with a PhD in Mathematics. Yes, it is a tough sell, but it can work! Introductory language tuition is one of the greatest parts of the tutoring experience as it can be interactive, demonstrative, and feature a far more immediate relationship with the student than many of the other subjects. Learning a language is also a process that intertwines immediately with learning mathematics, as the two processes use some shared portions of the brain, and helping one will often help the other. (This is also true for music, but please don't ask me to sing unless you're fully insured!)

TEFL training emphasises getting people to speak as much as possible and filling in the theory once the students are secure in their patterns. That attitude is fixed firmly in the circumstance where the teacher and the student do not have a common language until they have been taught English, but it does very much fit the mechanic of beginners tuition of a common second language too. Yes, you do get to grammar and rules fairly quickly, but 'getting them speaking' is very very important. Initially, it's as simple as pointing at things, saying the names, and then repeating until something has been conveyed or the whole session has ended in a carrot fencing match.

Carrot fencing match? Yes, indeed, this has become a rather unprofessional blog post, but it shall stand.

O.