It's hard to believe, but I have been away from Australia for almost 4 months already. That means that almost half of my trip is already completed.
By this stage of the year, most school children (and teachers) are getting ready for exams and school holidays. For me, it's back to school time. I now have the longest block of continuous study, for a total of 13 weeks. So for 3 months until the end of August, I am a "real" student. I certainly feel like a student this week as I have again increased my study time to encompass conversation classes. This means that I have 7 hours of face to face lessons each day. I have chosen to spend the first half of each block of time at each different school just concentrating on the grammar and the second half including practicing my speaking skills. As I've chosen to stay with local families, I get plenty of speaking practice anyway.
So today commenced the start of my conversation classes here in Valencia. My teacher, Rosa, has a very different style from the teachers in Salamanca and is very good at instilling confidence in her students. There are 4 people in my conversation class this week, representing England, Holland and Belgium (& Australia). I found today's session much easier than when I had conversation classes in Salamanca. I think this is a combination of understanding more, having had lots of practice and having a fantastic teacher. I felt really comfortable and was able to find the words I wanted with less difficulty than before. I also didn't have to "think" in English so much. Progress seems to be being made at last!
I'll have a test of my new found skills on Thursday when I join my Australian Spanish Class via Skype. Then we'll see if they think I've improved as much as I think I have. Should be fun!
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