Foundations of Adult Learning Theory – week 3

Learn to Read and Comprehend Spanish

This course is a beginner course for adults who aspire to expand their linguistic aspirations in the music, art, and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. The purpose of this course is to inspire the adult learners to understand the Spanish written language and to comprehend the Spanish spoken language. This course does not indend to teach or instruct linguistic fluency in Spanish. However, the lessons in this course are necessary steppingstones to the goal of achieving linguistic fluency for those who make it their goal.

Learning Outcomes for The Training

In this course, participants will learn how to read and understand written Spanish text  and comprehend the same spoken content. The first stage of this course will require an examination of phonics and grammar rules. After acquiring a basic understanding of these rules, the participants will be able to learn how to read and understand text with the help of reference tools and other resources (e.g., google translate).

By the end of this course, participants will be prepared to immerse themselves into the culture where they will thrive for more profeciency in the Spanish language. This course is especially valuable to the perpetual vacationer who have chosen to live abroad in a Spanish-speaking land.

The Setting for The Course 

This course is an online, self-paced, self-directed course. No time limit can be applied to this course as it is a lifelong endeavor. Participants learn at their own convenience, schedule, and timeline. Only participants who have willfully and eagerly chosen to acquire the skills of this course will be able to succeed.

This is a self-accessed course where the participants assess themselves and determine their own progress, depending on their own goals. The peak experiences that the participants undergo will prove their success in this course. If, for example, the participants learn to read Spanish written text but remain unable to comprehend the same spoken content, the participants will need to read the written text while listening to the spoken content over and over again, paying particular attention to the sounds of each syllable and focusing on how each syllable works with the other syllables to form words with other corresponding sounds. After repeating this procedure many times, the participants will be able to comprehend the spoken content without reading the written content. As the participants become more in tune to the new rhythms, rhymes and enlightenment, the participants will know their success by the peak experiences they will feel.

The material for this course is available online. It will begin with several lessons on the phonics and grammar. A highly recommended procedure will help the participants gain the necessary understanding the basics of Spanish grammar. Once the participants learn how to recognize some of the unique grammar patterns, they will be ready to read simple text, analyze the text to the point of complete understanding, and listen to the same content spoken with a natural voice.

Audio files that accompany the written text will provide the participants with exercises that guide the participants to train their ears to comprehend what their eyes can recognize. Although this is a self-directed course, and participants are encouraged to search and learn from their own material, guidelines and recommendations will provide direction to better resources and techniques. Links to YouTube channels will form a basis for participants to take advantage of the world wide web.

A brief lesson on using google translate to help with understanding and comprehension other languages will demonstrate a valuable tool. Learning how to conduct experiments with google translate will bring additional joy and excitement to the participants as they continue to wonder and learn how the foreign words work along with the foreign language and sounds.

Lifelong changes

This course will be life-changing as the participants begin to experience something that has existed since the beginning of humankind. Without language, nothing spectacular about humans would exist. Language is not human-made. It is God-given; Nature given. The participants who succeed in this course will realize a new and wonderful way of listening to the beautiful sounds of nature, the spoken Spanish language. The only requirement to this course is the grit and the will be a lifelong learner.

Self-directed and Transformative Learning.

What interests one participant may not interest another. Therefore, this course will focus on the unique interest of the individual participants who will learn faster and deeper with material of their particular interest. After the initial study of phonics and basic grammar, participants will read and understand topics that interest of their unique interests. Next, the participants will listen to the same interesting text while reading along. This will enable the participants to accustom their ears to hear and comprehend what the eyes have learned to recognize. Afterwards, the participants will be able to read the lyrics of the learner’s favorite songs, listen to those songs, and even sing along.

Learning how to recognize with the creative mind new rhythm and rhyme patterns from sounds that once seemed so chaotic will transform anyone into a lifelong learner and a language enthusiast. This transformative experience will open doors of perception to a whole new point of view and maybe a whole new way of life. Some participants may even become perpetual vacationers, living the live as free as they can be.

 Kolb’s Analysis

This course applies all of Kolb’s learning cycles (Merriam,  Bierema, 2013, 147). This course applies concrete experience abilities (CE) with learning the basics of grammar and phonics. By learning the basics of grammar, the participants will gain a greater appreciation of their native language and of languages, in general. It applies reflective observation (RO) abilities that help the participants analyze their progress. By reflecting on their own progress, the participants will experience self-actualization (Merriam,  Bierema, 2013, 51, citing Maslow, 1970) and become more intrinsically motivated to continue learning. It applies the abstract conceptualizing abilities (AC) by inspiring the participants to think about the meaning of the content from a different perspective. This abstract thinking will inspire further critical thinking and a greater desire to become a lifelong learner of foreign languages, music, and art.  It applies active experimentation abilities (AE) by challenging the participants to listen to text while trying to comprehend the spoken language. This challenge will enhance self-esteem by creating peak experiences in participants who will learn and comprehend a new and foreign way of thinking that will become one with the participants.

Although all of Kolb’s learning cycles can apply in some way to learning the content of this course, experimentation cycle is the most influential because the practice of acquiring a new understanding of language and culture will inspire new questioning of the world and the meaning of human existence. With the basic skills learned in this course, participants will be able experiment with the new skills and apply those skills to expand the scope of their life’s experiences and learn about their chosen interests from a new point of view. Since this course relies on the self-direction and self-interests of the participants to choose the material to learn, the participants’ past experiences will become a large part of the motivation for this course.

 

References

Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.

Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult learning. Wiley.