¡Hola! An Introduction to Spanish
By Helaine Lee, Alicia Chung, Lina Kim and Julie Hwang
Edited by Julie Hwang
Design by Nicole Yang
Edited by Julie Hwang
Design by Nicole Yang
At Seoul International School, students in eighth grade has an option to take a language course; either Chinese or Spanish. As excited as the students were to learn a new language, many students were nervous about having an addition to the core classes, and how it would impact their grades. However, Spanish is a subject enjoyed by many students who are hoping to take further participant in throughout their high school years.
Many students are willing to take Spanish as it is the second most spoken language internationally. More than 20 countries speak the language, and there are more than 400 million Spanish speakers around the world. Learning Spanish would be useful since most students are willing to go to college for America, and America is a huge Spanish speaking country. Knowing how to speak Spanish would also be useful for traveling, as many different countries speak Spanish. Eileen Kwon (7) says that she would like to take Spanish next year because, “I think it’s a good opportunity for me to learn another language and be able to speak with other people using that language.” In Spanish 1, the class teaches the basic, but the most important things. Eighth graders learn how to conjugate verbs, and how to hold a basic conversation with someone who speaks spanish. Spanish student, Brian EJ Lee (8), explains that in Spanish 1, he has “learned how to introduce myself, [and] how to communicate basically with other people.” As much as the students enjoy learning Spanish, they have found several challenges about learning this foreign language. Learning Spanish can be very difficult, since the grammar and sentence structures are different than in English. Word order in sentences could be tricky as well, since we do not always translate everything by word for word. Lina Kim (8) says that for her, Spanish was pretty difficult in general. “After living in Canada for six years, I learned French for a little bit too. Spanish and French are quite similar so I often got confused grammatically between the two.” Spanish is a language that is known all around the world. It is a language that once you learn, you will use it in a variety of ways throughout your lifetime. Although Spanish could be tough and challenging, as spanish is seen in the long run, it is definitely worth it to give it a shot. |
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