A lot of people have asked me if I'm worried about being immersed in the Spanish language when I get to Panama. Mostly, the answer is ''no." I took eight years of Spanish, and still have a strong grasp on grammar, construction, and vocabulary. Obviously I'm not as used to hearing the language, or speaking it, especially since I took my last class in my freshman year of college. But I do feel pretty confident overall, and during our 10 weeks of in-service training, PC volunteers receive five hours of language training Monday through Friday. I've heard it's quite effective. Of course, because I'll be working in a rural indigenous community, I'll also be learning to speak their language. That will certainly be the biggest challenge, but I'll have to take that as it comes. Many Ngobe tribe members, for example, speak Spanish as a second language, so that will probably be our primary means of communication. Peace Corps places volunteers all over the world, where language barriers are much more difficult to transcend than what I'll be facing. Sure, the first few months of living with a host family that speaks only Spanish will be awkward and frustrating at times, but I consider myself incredibly lucky to be going to a place where I have an advantage.
But don't mistake my relative sense of comfort for overconfidence. Here are some of the ways I've been dusting off my Spanish skills:
Rosetta Stone- This is the second year that Peace Corps is offering a trial version of this software to volunteers for free. They've strongly suggested we log at least 40 hours in the program before we arrive at our staging event in August. When I found this out last week, I'd already completed at least 20 hours on a version Michael B. downloaded for me. Kind of stinks because those hours won't count toward my total.
Overall, I consider this a pretty useful tool for review. It's brought back a lot of vocabulary I'd forgotten, and forced me to think about and remember verb tenses. So far I've skipped forward through a lot to level 3 of 5, mostly doing review sessions until I find material I'm unfamiliar with. It's all been easy, and I'm getting a little bored with it, but I try to log at least two hours a day. I hope levels four or five provide opportunities to learn some new material.
I'm unsure how successful of a tool it would be for people who have no Spanish background. I learn languages best by memorizing grammar rules, conjugations, irregular verb tenses, etc. This software immerses you in the language, and uses a combination of images, listening, reading, and matching exercises to teach those things. They never, for example, show you how to conjugate anything in imperfect tense, but make you infer it from images that you think might be asking "When I was young, I played baseball often." It's great for me, because it brings back what I already know quickly and concisely. But I'm not sure I would ever really catch on if I couldn't already read and understand the sentences.
Further, don't expect this software to make you fluent. I don't expect I'll be saying the sentence "Necesito alguien que arregle mi lavaplatos" in the Panamanian jungles ("I need someone to fix my dishwasher"). Sometimes the vocab they focus on seems too narrow, but maybe I'm just too eager to learn more.
Berlitz Essential Spanish: If you're like me and benefit from having specific rules and tenses laid out for you, check out this book. It is incredibly easy-to-follow and covers everything from present tense to imperfect subjunctive. I poured through Barnes and Noble's selections of Spanish-language guides, and this was by far the best. It also comes with a CD-ROM for listening and reading exercises. I haven't tried it, since most of the material is either too easy or similar to Rosetta Stone's. Buy this book if you want a quick, concise, and clear review. Good book to study from.
Noticias: The speakers on the Rosetta Stone software talk very slowly. I watch Univision news to help me get used to hearing Spanish at the pace natives speak it. Plus, I watch their Nueva Inglaterra edition, so I still get to hear what Mayor Tom "Mumbles" Menino is up to.
Maybe I should come up with new ways to learn. Perhaps going to a Mexican restaurant and ordering things like "tequila" or "margaritas" or "guacamole" could help me practice my accent.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Introductions and icebreakers
So you may have heard that in August, I leave for a 27-month term of service in the Peace Corps. I applied in January, and have since interviewed, been nominated, received the necessary clearances, and been invited to serve in Panama. I moved through the application process more swiftly than many others, but I'm still anxious to get more information about my assignment and future home. This is the first time in my life when I am unsure exactly what my future holds.
I'll provide you with more details about the work that I'll be doing and where I'll be doing it as that information comes in. In the mean time, I'll let you know a little bit about why I'm doing it. One of the things that has surprised me most about this PC process is the awkward lull it brings on whenever I mention it in conversation. I've told dozens of family members and friends about my plans, and only a few have responded favorably right from the get-go. And of course, even though at times I've felt a lack of support, I can't blame those with reservations. It can be a scary thing for a young woman with virtually no experience living internationally to pack her bags and commit to an unfamiliar place for more than two years. I worked hard through college earning degrees that may or may not be of use to me in rural communities in Central America. I'll be leaving my family and friends behind, with no guarantees about how often we'll be able to communicate. I know there will be times when I feel that I've gotten in way over my head, and times when all I want to do is come home and see my family, to go back to the life I've always known. When it comes down to it, I've recently found out, joining the Peace Corps is something of a nightmare scenario for a lot of people. And I know full well that embarking on this adventure is a little naive and idealistic.
That's also what I like most about it. When people ask me incredulously why I want to put my life on hold for two years, I have trouble explaining it to them concisely because there are so many reasons rushing through my head. And to me, this isn't putting my life on hold at all. It is living my life in a fuller, braver, riskier, and hopefully more rewarding way then I've ever been able to do before. It will be a test to myself, to see what I'm made of, how I handle immersion in a new culture. I'll gain technical, social, verbal and physical skills that I probably will never have the chance to do stateside. I'll build upon the years of Spanish I've taken and, with luck and persistence, be fluent by my close of service. Because I'll be working in rural locales with indigenous people, I'll also be learning to speak as much as I can of their languages, which date back to the pre-Columbus era.
One of the three main goals of Peace Corps is to spread a positive of Americans internationally, and participate in cross-cultural understanding. When I'm done, I'll bring a unique perspective to whatever job I work, which will be a priceless professional and personal asset. I've been so curious for so long, and have been given a chance to get some of my questions answered. Just as Teach for America hopes their corps members will go on to be activists for education policy, the PC wants returned volunteers to continue to bring their first-hand knowledge of development issues and other cultures back with them to the U.S. The PC provides me with unique ability to gain first-hand experience in dealing with the problems I care the most about.
Many people consider the PC volunteers to be noble, "save-the-world" types. And some of them are. I too believe in public service and universal responsibility. But I also want my work to be more than that, to be worthwhile, sustainable and befitting of the community I'm serving. So many development and aid projects fail because those who design them don't understand the real needs and desires of the people for whom they're intended. I sincerely hope I'll be able to help in a meaningful way. But I'm also going into this knowing how much there is for me to gain. Over the last few months I've been devouring blogs kept by volunteers in various countries, and they've been incredibly helpful in helping me imagine day-to-day life. This isn't a two-year vacation. I will be thrown into situations I don't know how to handle, and at times, given more responsibility than I deserve.
So as excited as I am, I'm just as nervous. Things will get tough. But in my experience, the decisions that are hardest to make are often the ones that yield the greatest rewards. I hope you'll continue to check in with me as I blog as often as I'm able.
I think this is going to be good.
I'll provide you with more details about the work that I'll be doing and where I'll be doing it as that information comes in. In the mean time, I'll let you know a little bit about why I'm doing it. One of the things that has surprised me most about this PC process is the awkward lull it brings on whenever I mention it in conversation. I've told dozens of family members and friends about my plans, and only a few have responded favorably right from the get-go. And of course, even though at times I've felt a lack of support, I can't blame those with reservations. It can be a scary thing for a young woman with virtually no experience living internationally to pack her bags and commit to an unfamiliar place for more than two years. I worked hard through college earning degrees that may or may not be of use to me in rural communities in Central America. I'll be leaving my family and friends behind, with no guarantees about how often we'll be able to communicate. I know there will be times when I feel that I've gotten in way over my head, and times when all I want to do is come home and see my family, to go back to the life I've always known. When it comes down to it, I've recently found out, joining the Peace Corps is something of a nightmare scenario for a lot of people. And I know full well that embarking on this adventure is a little naive and idealistic.
That's also what I like most about it. When people ask me incredulously why I want to put my life on hold for two years, I have trouble explaining it to them concisely because there are so many reasons rushing through my head. And to me, this isn't putting my life on hold at all. It is living my life in a fuller, braver, riskier, and hopefully more rewarding way then I've ever been able to do before. It will be a test to myself, to see what I'm made of, how I handle immersion in a new culture. I'll gain technical, social, verbal and physical skills that I probably will never have the chance to do stateside. I'll build upon the years of Spanish I've taken and, with luck and persistence, be fluent by my close of service. Because I'll be working in rural locales with indigenous people, I'll also be learning to speak as much as I can of their languages, which date back to the pre-Columbus era.
One of the three main goals of Peace Corps is to spread a positive of Americans internationally, and participate in cross-cultural understanding. When I'm done, I'll bring a unique perspective to whatever job I work, which will be a priceless professional and personal asset. I've been so curious for so long, and have been given a chance to get some of my questions answered. Just as Teach for America hopes their corps members will go on to be activists for education policy, the PC wants returned volunteers to continue to bring their first-hand knowledge of development issues and other cultures back with them to the U.S. The PC provides me with unique ability to gain first-hand experience in dealing with the problems I care the most about.
Many people consider the PC volunteers to be noble, "save-the-world" types. And some of them are. I too believe in public service and universal responsibility. But I also want my work to be more than that, to be worthwhile, sustainable and befitting of the community I'm serving. So many development and aid projects fail because those who design them don't understand the real needs and desires of the people for whom they're intended. I sincerely hope I'll be able to help in a meaningful way. But I'm also going into this knowing how much there is for me to gain. Over the last few months I've been devouring blogs kept by volunteers in various countries, and they've been incredibly helpful in helping me imagine day-to-day life. This isn't a two-year vacation. I will be thrown into situations I don't know how to handle, and at times, given more responsibility than I deserve.
So as excited as I am, I'm just as nervous. Things will get tough. But in my experience, the decisions that are hardest to make are often the ones that yield the greatest rewards. I hope you'll continue to check in with me as I blog as often as I'm able.
I think this is going to be good.
Another blog!?
Welcome to my newest blogging venture. This will serve as a place for me to record as much as I can about my Peace Corps experience, to keep in touch with family and friends, connect with other PC volunteers, and keep my writing from getting rusty. I hope to be as honest and informative as possible here, which may sometimes result in an unpolished or emotional entry. But I want you to know what it is really like, and have a reminder for myself when it's all over.
I found out today I will be serving as an environmental health extentionist in a rural, indigenous community in Panama. My exact location is TBA, but it sounds like I will be awfully far away from an Internet connection, so updates will probably be sporadic. I'll try to remember to share my juiciest stories here. After all, if I get intestinal worms, say, you're going to want to hear those details! Am I right?
I found out today I will be serving as an environmental health extentionist in a rural, indigenous community in Panama. My exact location is TBA, but it sounds like I will be awfully far away from an Internet connection, so updates will probably be sporadic. I'll try to remember to share my juiciest stories here. After all, if I get intestinal worms, say, you're going to want to hear those details! Am I right?
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