A Visit With A Gringo
Jun 4th, 2008 by Don Ray
Every now and then Dario Quiroz, invites me to participate in one of his English classes. Yesterday I met with a class of his in Universidad Latina. The class had eleven students who are studying to become translators. For many in the class, this was their first opportunity to practice with a native English speaking person.
Dario had asked me to select some material from my blog, for me to read it to them and have them translate it into Spanish. We spent a little time before starting the exercise in a question and answer session. The purpose for this was to create a more relaxed atmosphere and for the students to get used to my accent (I have no accent 
).
After the question and answer session, I began with the planned exercise. I had looked in the blog to try to find something in the blog that might be a little bit interesting. I finally decided on “ I feel the need to share this”. I knew approximately how many students would be in the class and this article was long enough to cover all except one student. I had more material for the last student.
The format used was for me to read a sentence and then a student would translate the sentence into Spanish for the class. It took some time for them to decipher my Texas twang (maybe I do have a little accent), but they all did pretty good. The piece I had chosen has a few Spanish words such as El Rey, and this caused some difficulty the first time I spoke them. When you are expecting all words to be in English and some aren’t, the brain doesn’t always catch it.
We spent a little over an hour together. I always enjoy getting to meet with Dario’s students. They are bright, interested in learning and always fun to be with.
Here are three photos of the students that were in yesterday’s class.
The students in the first photo are Yuliana, Marixenia, Claudio, and Héctor.
In the following photo are Cinthia, Jhoel (giving one thumbs up for an outstanding class), Evelyn, Dannya and Professor Dario in the back.
In the last photo are Jessie, Marielisa, and Joaquin.
If you ever have the opportunity to assist in a class such as this, I encourage you to do so. I assure you that you will get as much out of it as the class does.
What an excellent idea.
I wonder if the free classes I saw mentioned on another blog also need English speakers to help students develop an ear for ‘merican speech patterns.
The students can be grateful you don’t hail from the deep, deep South, y’heah?
Carol
People in Texas think I hail from the deep south now.
For sure this was a class that these students will remember and benefit greatly. Dario and his students are very lucky to count you as a contributor in their learning process. Great work Don!
Hi Lilia
Thanks for leaving a comment. I do this whenever Dario calls. It is fun for me.
i’m learm english now. I need speak english very well
Hi Doris. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. English will get easier with practice.
is very sad, i was missed that class because i was in medical exams in other province.
Don’t worry Zuhey. I will be back. I hope the medical exam went well. Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment.
As a second language learner and now second language teacher, I would like to congratulate Mr. Dario for such a wonderful idea of bringing a native speaker to help his pupils get used to a different accent. Saludos desde las Carolinas paisanos.
Juan Rios
Hi Juan. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I think it benefits both the students and the invited guest.
Don Ray:
We ALL have an accent! I always said Panamanians did not have an accent… then you move to US and l you do not hear Spanish form Panama everyday and suddenly… you hear somebody from your Country speaking in a TV show or radio and you can tell they are from Panama because of… their accent. Ha!
Jaime^
Hi Jamie - Thanks for taking the time to comment. I guess you are right. I can usually pick out a Carolina accent. Texas and some other southern states are related.
Hi Bradley. Your comment came close to being a rejected comment. I will let this one pass, and if you raise your thinking above belt buckle level I will appreciate it.
I think this was a really good idea, because we wasting so afraid to speak in public.
It was a good experience for me and all my colleagues….
See you to the next parcial Mr. Ray
Hi Yuliana, Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. It was my pleasure getting to visit you in your class.
I will see you the next visit.
[...] English classes himself and his English was marginal at best. I personally thought that several in Dario’s class spoke better English than he did. What this shows is that there is a tremendous need for English [...]