Let the Spanish Commence!

I’m going to switch this up a bit.  It’s taking me so long to write these long epic posts.  So, I’m just going to do a quick highlight of the day/week and post out of order as I go back and fill in the last two weeks. 

So, we’ve been here in Granada for three weeks now.  Spanish technically started then, but we’ve been in a bit of a bubble just doing our thing and getting our house situated here. 

The girls’ art production has slowed though they have managed to read more than 20 novels, and they were starting to get on each others’ nerves more than usual. We were all beginning to flounder without a routine and somewhere to be.  It was time!  

The girls will be attending a public school here… and no, not a bilingual one.  It will start September 12. They have a big challenge ahead, so we want to give them a bigger base of Spanish to help prepare them for school.  

The girls haven’t practiced Spanish too much since we got back from Ecuador 4 years ago.  (Yes!  It’s hard to believe it was that long ago.) They were completely fluent when we got back. Ali was 5 and Serena 7, so their language needs have expanded significantly since then.  Serena says she’s able to understand most things, but speaking has been more of a challenge for her.  Ali hasn’t been wanting to speak much Spanish.

So, we’ve found a language school here in Granada that teaches children.  Many of the kids are in the same boat as Serena and Ali as they will also be attending a local school for a year. An added bonus for having them at a language school was for them to meet more kids. 

School Day

The girls are at language school for 4 hours a day for 3 weeks, and we go to organized activities at the school at night (for board games, movie night, cooking classes).  This weekend, we will go to a few towns in the Alpujarras mountains south of Granada with the school.

The girls started in the same class with another girl a little bit older than Serena.  She got bumped up to a higher level, so they added two boys of the same age to their class, though their Spanish isn’t as strong as the girls’.  

Chad will take 2 hours of private classes a day for a couple of weeks for a refresher. 

Serena and Ali were in great moods after the first day.  I was so happy that it went well for them because a bad experience would have soured the next weeks of classes.

Ali was speaking in Spanish off and on throughout the rest of the evening and through the days since classes started and Serena too. Chad also enjoyed his classes.

Everyone’s Spanish has improved tremendously in just four days of classes.  Their Spanish will improve by leaps and bounds over the next few weeks of classes.  I wonder how long until they’ll be fluent again.