Hey! I’ve been struggling with my Spanish class and I was wondering if anyone else was having the same problems as me when they took a language in college. So a little background. I’m a 4.0 GPA student in my second semester at college. I’m taking SPANISH 101. This class is supposed to be the beginners Spanish class at my college but the first day of class my professor said that the class was not for true beginners. I never took any Spanish before, so I was a little bit worried. Anyway, I studied really hard for the first test and got an 86%. For the next test, I studied the same exact way and got a 98.6% So after I got the 98.6% I was really confident, but over the next few tests; my grades slowly declined to mid-B’s even though I studied the same way. I started using Rosetta Stone and Duo Lingo to improve my test grades. I would do really well with those programs but it never helped me bring my grade up. So thats where I’m at right now. I keep getting average grades on the test and I keep studying harder but I can’t bring my grade up. The reason I’m so worried about it is because 1. I don’t know why I can’t get a better grade on the tests even with all the studying I’m doing and 2. I’m trying to transfer to a top 10 business school so I have to get an extremely high GPA. If anyone else has had the same problem please let me know!
General help:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1920853-college-is-a-step-up-from-hs-16-tips-on-doing-well-in-college.html
Talk to your professor. Ask how successful students study. I suspect that you need to practice more more more.
See if there are workbooks that can help you with your problem areas. Is it vocabulary? Verb conjugation? Speaking?
Get a tutor!
Learning languages is easier for some than others. You often find folks who learned one language easily wind up becoming fluent in multiple languages. If this is your first exposure to Spanish, may ask why you are taking it now? Is it for a major or minor (or is it a school requirement)? Do you feel it will give you an edge in your desired field? From what I gather, language classes in college are no joke, so you are not alone in struggling. Heed @bopper 's practical advice about getting through this class, but you may want to re-evaluate if it’s not required: the GPA hit might not be worth it moving forward.
I would watch programs in Spanish on Netflix. My daughter does that and it really helps you get a grasp of the language. She also listens to Spanish music.
Duolingo… Download the application. Also get help from a peer or teacher.
Foreign languages in college have a brutal pace. In that first semester, you’ll learn as much as a high school student does in 2 years. The amount of work expected to be successful is on the high end, similar to what you’d expect for an engineering course. You need to make flashcards to memorize words and memorize them all (from Spanish to English and English to Spanish), as well as sentence construction. You need to practice using the exercises you have in your book and leave a couple (that may not be assigned) that you save for just before the exam as review practice. If there aren’t any “spare” exercises, don’t just read the exercises you already completed - do them again.
The reason it seems harder is that it IS harder - the first month is usually very basic, individualized items to memorize. The goal is for students to be in the 95-100% range so that they have a foundation to build on.
VERY IMPORTANT: go to office hours every week (twice a week if it’s offered) with your completed exercises. Ask questions about exercises you got wrong. Also, explain how you’ve been studying and ask for advice about ways to study “better”.
I had the same problem when I did my foreign language requirement. I’m a good student, but I just can’t learn a new language. If it makes you feel any better, you’re doing great! I was thrilled with getting B’s in my Spanish class!
The top things that helped me were: talking to the professor during her office hours, having conversations in Spanish with other classmates (not tutoring - just practice with friends in the class if you have any), and finding Youtube videos that helped me memorize the different rules (there’s some fun stuff on there if you go hunting - songs and other good learning tools).
I also got extra credit from my professor for volunteering at a fully Spanish-speaking temporary job office nearby my school. Not all professors will give extra credit, but it might not hurt to ask.
You might look into taking the class pass/fail if that is allowed at your school. I struggle in college Spanish and it hurt my GPA. I was able to bounce back but would have switched to P/F if I had know about it then.