My tennis coach was great at hitting a ball. He was athletic, charming and quite good-looking according to the girls.
He did have a weakness though. One rainy morning when it was too wet to play, his weakness became very obvious
We all piled into a classroom, coach says, “today we are going to learn how to score”.
Ten-year-old Marcus loved tennis. He sat to attention showing rare enthusiasm in a classroom.
Then the explanation started.
Dios Mio! (My God!)
Out came the overhead projector, the charts and the transparencies.
Let the confusion begin.
“If Player A wins a point he gets fifteen. If he wins the next point he has 30.”
Huh?
“Player B here, doesn’t have any points so he has love.
Love?
“If Player B wins the next 3 points and Player A wins the one after that the score is Deuce.”
On and on he went for an hour.
Game, Set and Match by knockout.
It was too much for my 10-year-old mind.
At the end if the class, coach asked, “any questions?”
Sometimes I was a lazybones, even a Silly Billy or a slowpoke but never a smart aleck. Except for that day…
“Yes coach”, I replied, “I have a question. How do you score tennis?”
I was completely confused, baffled and befuddled.
I had no idea how to score a tennis game.
What would you do if you had to teach a bunch of kids how to score tennis?
Could you figure out a way for them to learn in an hour?
I think it would be pan comido. (Pan comido literally means eaten bread, like saying a piece of cake).
I just get them playing some kind of game and score it like tennis.
It could be anything.
It could be flicking an eraser over a pen.
It wouldn’t matter what game as long as they were involved and then just score it like tennis.
Some people think learning has to be a hard and complex, yet you can learn so much more when it’s simple and engaging.
As Ben Franklin said, dime y lo olvido. Enséname y lo recuerdo. Involúcrame y lo aprendo. (Tell me and I forget it. Show me and I remember it. Involve me and I learn it.)
You really can’t learn any skill without being involved. Can you imagine learning to swim without getting wet? That’s why you can never learn Spanish just by reading a textbook.
Getting involved in Spanish accelerates your success and can change you from feeling like a slowpoke to Speedy Gonzalez.
Accelerate your Spanish with the free audios on this page:
Lo mas dificil es POR y PARA.
hola Senor Marcos.
megusta La nueva systema .Pero prefiero la otra mejor ,porque puedo hacer otras cosas -como preparar la comida o lavar mi casa mientras escuchar las lecciones sin sentarce en ferente de la computadora .
Aprendo yo mucho con te . A terminadoBola de Nieve uno .Megustaria continuar…
Pura Vida Guil
I have already replied yesterday. You are right in what you are saying. I also think your ideas are excellent.
so very true…
I certainly find it much easier to see the written word as I’m listening. I found that the Synergie Spanish was excellent, but would have liked to confirm with the written word. I did have hard copies, but when my computer was compromised, I still had the lessons, but had lost the hard copies. Thanks for this latest lesson, much appreciated. Muchas Gracias !!
Being in volved is good, I usually can´t hear a new word without seeing it. The Spanish ear training is good, because you provide the test of what is said. What I heard for “the world cup” was just “el mundial”, which does not seem correct to me, because “the Americas Cup” is “la Copa América”.
its true i have been reading text book and have and can make myself understood with some sentences but do not here language back very frustrating thought i was too old as i am 71 so almost gave up because i thought i was stupid with language ps i mean hear language