Award-Winning AP Spanish Language & Culture Tutors serving Vancouver

We Introduced ourselves, The student explained me his expectations about learning Spanish, and we started practiced greetings, the meaning of "ser" and "estar" in Spanish using different situations. It was a good class, he learned fast, and he felt comfortable with the class.

We started the session by writing a 150 word essay about what the student would do on a typical Sunday while in his youth, using the imperfect tense. I showed him ways to organize and plan what he was going to say in the essay by mapping out and listing activities. Then I had him translate and conjugate the activities using the imperfect tense. We ended by using some transitional sentences to put it all together. This approach gave him a good way to approach writing in Spanish. We then reviewed a little bit of the pluperfect tense and I quizzed him on the present perfect tense because he was going to be given a quiz. I was happy to learn that he did well on his last exam.

The student practiced the listening comprehension exercise for the exam. We used a practice CD and practiced multiple choice questions. I gave her hints to help her answer the questions and then we listened again to correct any wrong answers. I also had picture stories that she had to explain in Spanish in various tenses depending upon the picture. She is progressing well and learning some new vocabulary. We also reviewed the difference between the verbs ser/estar.

We went through all the verb tenses he was expected to know (present, preterite, imperfect, future, and conditional) and talked about how to conjugate them. We spent a lot of time talking about the difference between imperfect and preterite and when to use each. By the end of the session he definitely seemed to understand the difference between them more, but he still had some trouble with the preterite conjugations, so I told him to review those.

Comprehensive review of subjunctive tense in terms of how/when/why it is used. Emphasis on particular confusing instances where critical thinking is required to determine whether or not subjunctive is appropriate (for example, negation of a statement). Also, completed a reading and sample 7 question set with the student from her Spanish test book, went over all confusing vocabulary and ideas from the reading with her as well as answers to determine performance/comprehension. I advised her to read the Spanish news online every day and to learn a new word each day in order to improve her vocabulary for oral comprehension/speaking as well as for writing ability and reading comprehension.

We conversed in Spanish. I made note of the student's needs for improvement (including present perfect, masculine/feminine, transition phrases, noun-adjective agreement). We practiced the simulated conversations in the exam, and I encouraged her to take most of the diagnostic exam for next time. I plan to review present perfect and irregular past participles next time.