Taking Spanish Lessons Is Like A Brain Workout

As you get older, which do you feel you take more care of, your body or your mind? 

Ping Li, professor of psychology, linguistics and information sciences and technology, said that “Like physical exercise, the more you use specific areas of your brain, the more it grows and gets stronger.”

Imagine that you have hired me as a personal trainer to improve your fitness. I will go to the gym with you, we will establish a realistic plan to achieve your goals and I will instruct you about the tools that you will use and the exercises you will need to do. I will identify your strengths and weaknesses to help you become the best version of yourself. I will be there to guide, support and motivate you throughout the process. But you can’t expect any changes unless YOU do the workout. I can’t do it for you. 

Just like we look after our bodies when we are careful about what we eat or when we do exercise, it is important that we also take the same care in how we nurture our minds. Learning a new skill is a self-esteem booster and an exciting challenge that will help keep your brain active and young. In particular, learning a new language is like a brain workout. It requires time and commitment but it’s also essential to have a good plan and good guidance from someone that understands you, your goals, your needs, your strengths and your weaknesses.  

I understand that for most people learning a new language, their main goal is speaking. Some people start taking lessons and feel frustrated because they are studying all of this grammar but they feel hopeless outside of the class context. They could get good results in an exam but when it comes to real-life practice they are scared and insecure because they haven’t had that experience.   

There are other people that move to a new country and learn the language just by speaking it, with no other practice. These people are able to communicate, understand well native speakers and probably will be quite confident because they are used to being exposed. However, they will very often make grammar mistakes since they don’t have a base on how the structure of the language is constructed and they are likely to have trouble reading and writing.

If you have the choice, the ideal thing to do is the combo of practicing all skills of the language regularly. This is why I have designed a “workout plan” based on the 4 skills of the language that my students can follow and adapt to themselves depending on their interests and goals. 

There are 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking and even if speaking is what you’re more interested in, let me tell you that you will not get there effectively and efficiently if you don’t practice the other skills of the language as well. Imagine going to the gym and only doing legs or only doing upper body. You would look and feel unbalanced.  

How to execute my workout plan: 

1. Reading – use this activity to practice your pronunciation reading aloud. Even if nobody is there to correct you, it is good to get used to hearing yourself speaking Spanish to increase your confidence. Reading is essential to learn vocabulary, new phrases and structures. I recommend that you have a notebook where you can build your own list of vocabulary and expressions that are important to you. Reading can serve as inspiration for your writing practice. You can use the translator when necessary or find specific books for Spanish learners that come with vocabulary lists or are bilingual.
2. Writing – use this activity to assert your knowledge. Writing exercises are like push-ups for your brain. They help you strengthen your language skills in several ways. You can be imaginative here or find inspiration in the text that you read on the previous practice. If you want you can just tell me about your day, your plans, your friends, your family, yourself, a book, a movie, a show…. Literally anything that you like. The idea is that you will use what you write as a base for our conversation in our 1:1 class to practice your speaking.
3. Listening – this would be my favourite one because it doesn’t feel like homework if you find something you like. I learned a lot of English just from listening to music. I used to translate songs all the time because I wanted to know what the lyrics said and be able to sing to them properly instead of making the words up. The options are endless: podcasts, music, movies, shows, YouTube videos… All counts as practice as long as you’re listening in Spanish, so this should become part of your daily life if you really want to be immersed in the language.  
4. Speaking – the biggest goal. We can use the first part of our lesson to read and correct what you wrote and use the subject that you chose to inspire our chat. It is essential to me and to your own progress that we make your lessons significant and meaningful to you, so that is why I prefer that you choose what we will talk about, at least at the beginning. I also encourage you to take every opportunity you have to speak Spanish outside of the class context like, for example, finding someone to exchange language with regularly. 

One last thing and the most important is: enjoy the process. Learning something that you like should be fun, should be interesting and keep you motivated. I will be there to give you that motivation boost so necessary at times and to provide the right guidance and support. 

Ready to get that brain of yours in good form? Book your first free lesson with me now.