15 May 2012. After 3 weeks we made it to the end of our first
course—Survival I. Hooray! But on the first day of week 4—just starting
Survival II—we almost voted ourselves off the isthmus.
That day, yesterday, a new professor introduced us
to pretérito—simple past tense. It turns
out there is nothing simple about it.
I know it was just an introduction, and we weren’t supposed to
understand or remember it all on the first day, but holy moley. At this point I can’t really explain my
frustration because I don’t understand enough to know what the problems
are. Round 2 of Survival Español is
going to be a lot tougher than Round 1.
Take today, for instance. If there is any group discussion question
that frightens me, it’s this: What was
the best experience of your life? At
that question my whole life begins to flash before my eyes—you know, like when
you’re dying—and with all the blood draining rapidly from my brain, nothing
comes to mind as my best experience. In
fact, I can hardly think of any experiences, let alone decide which is the best. Information overload meets evaluative
failure, and nothing happens. And what
could be worse? The professor expects an
answer in past tense Español! Sheer
panic!
The alternative question—what was the worst
experience of your life?—is easy. That
answer comes to mind in a single pounding heart beat. But the professor doesn’t really want to hear
me say that my worst experience is being asked to describe in class the best experience
of my life using past tense Español.
But I really think it’s going to be okay. Someday soon.
We’ll make it. I’m sure.
1 comment:
you'll make it....tengo fe. :) most English speakers don't know what "preterite" is, I've discovered (I think I just used the past preterite there... but you see, i forget) you'll get there! at some point you won't even know what preterite is again, but you'll be using it todo el tiempo! love to both of you! peggy - kidscamp is coming up - corrina klein is there all week with me as nurses!
Annie
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