{"id":2206,"date":"2025-10-27T14:56:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T21:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/?p=2206"},"modified":"2025-10-27T14:56:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T21:56:21","slug":"discussing-why-you-yes-you-should-come-to-spanish-tutoring-with-bruce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/2025\/10\/27\/discussing-why-you-yes-you-should-come-to-spanish-tutoring-with-bruce\/","title":{"rendered":"Discussing why you (yes, YOU) should come to Spanish tutoring with Bruce!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today we\u2019re interviewing Bruce, our drop-in Spanish tutor! We chatted about what first motivated him to learn Spanish, and the amazing power of language tutoring at Reed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leilani: Hi Bruce! First, could you tell me a little bit about yourself, and for how long you\u2019ve been speaking Spanish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruce: My name is Bruce, and I\u2019m from the Portland area. I started speaking Spanish, or at least taking classes, in seventh grade. And then I did it for five years. I did the IB [International Baccalaureate] program, so I did IB Spanish in my junior year. In my senior year, I wasn\u2019t able to take Spanish because I had already taken the highest level my school offered. So I started again last year in college. I started at the intermediate level, and now I\u2019m taking 321 [Theory and Practice of Hispanic Literature].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: What initially motivated you to start learning Spanish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: I don\u2019t come from a family that speaks Spanish at all, but it was the only language that was offered at my middle school. My brother was also a couple of years older than me, and he was starting to learn, as well. It was more so that I wanted to learn another language. Now, I\u2019m glad I chose Spanish because it aligns with a lot of what I\u2019m interested in. I\u2019ve been really interested in Latin American politics, art, and history. When I first started to learn, I didn\u2019t have that reasoning. But now I\u2019m really glad I chose to study Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

L: Just out of curiosity, what\u2019s your major?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: I\u2019m a Comparative Literature major, so Spanish is pretty important to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: Oh, I\u2019m also Comp Lit! What has been your experience as a tutor? Do you think that it\u2019s helped you learn more about language learning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: This is my first year doing it, so I haven\u2019t had many people come into drop-in at the Language Lab or individual tutoring. But I\u2019m also a writing tutor, and I work with Hum paper nights and individual tutoring. For me personally, helping other people through their problems helps me with writing and Spanish. I remember last year, I had a friend who was in beginner Spanish. I wasn\u2019t a tutor, but I had helped him with it. Going through it and helping someone else was really beneficial to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: What\u2019s one resource that you would recommend to people learning Spanish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: If you are enrolled in Spanish class here, make sure you save the PowerPoints that the professors make. Not only is it what\u2019s likely to be on the test, but for verb conjugations, which make up learning Spanish grammar, there are different examples. To have a PowerPoint that goes through each category of why to use a certain verb conjugation is really important, I think. Aside from that, use Spanish DICT<\/a>. That\u2019s what I recommend to most people. It displays all the verb conjugations in a very easy-to-learn layout. The conjugations are the hardest part of Spanish grammar, so having all of them laid out on one page is really helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: Yeah! I\u2019m in intro Spanish right now, and we haven\u2019t gotten to any of the conjugations yet, but I know that it\u2019s going to hit soon, and it\u2019s going to get a lot<\/em> harder. We already touched on this, but in your opinion, what is the best method for improving or practicing your Spanish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: Last year, the main thing I would do was go to individual tutoring as a Spanish student. That was really helpful for my listening and speaking. It was also having somebody to go to and ask any questions I wanted. I did it basically every week, and I always looked forward to that, because when I went to class, I was always prepared. In my mind, I had the questions I needed to ask or stuff that I needed to review. Then I did two hours a week with a tutor. That was one of the main reasons why I wanted to do Spanish tutoring this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: What\u2019s one Spanish media that you always recommend to someone?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: I have two films from the Spanish director Victor Erice. One is called The Spirit of the Beehive<\/em>, in Spanish it\u2019s El esp\u00edritu de la colmena.<\/em> It was shown at one of the Spanish movie nights last year. There\u2019s also a similar movie called El Sur<\/em>, or The South<\/em>. Those are two Spanish movies from 1973 and 1983. They are about Spanish history, especially the Spanish Civil War. Those two I really love. There\u2019s also another movie from Cuba called Soy Cuba<\/em>, it\u2019s actually by a Russian filmmaker. It\u2019s a collaboration between Soviet filmmakers and Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. It\u2019s an interesting movie. It\u2019s entangled in the Cuban culture, but there\u2019s a bit of an outsider perspective of how the Soviets view the Cuban culture. I recommend everyone to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: What\u2019s your favorite word or expression in Spanish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: I love saying chau<\/em>, like \u201cbye.\u201d It\u2019s a very simple phrase. You say it when you\u2019re first learning Spanish, how to say \u201cgoodbye.\u201d It\u2019s one I\u2019ve always stuck with, I just love saying it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: That\u2019s really convenient, because my class was just learning about greetings, so I know that one! Last question, what is one thing you wish students knew about Spanish resources on campus?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B: They are always available! Last week I went to visit the intermediate-level classes about the resources, and I hope they were paying attention. When I first started taking Spanish at Reed, it had been a year or two since I was really in a Spanish classroom, so I knew right away that I needed help getting comfortable with speaking and listening. At least coming into Reed, I knew that there were tutoring resources available. That was something I didn\u2019t have in high school. Now at Reed, tutoring is available, it doesn\u2019t cost any money, you can fit it into your schedule, and there are different tutors to choose from. It\u2019s encouraged by the professors. I think if you asked my professors from last year, they could tell that I was improving at a pretty fast rate because I was going to tutoring and felt comfortable with the conjugations and the language. By the time we had essays or tests, tutoring made it much easier to do those. Just an extra hour of practicing a week is really important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L: I definitely agree! Taking advantage of all those free resources is very important.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re interviewing Bruce, our drop-in Spanish tutor! We chatted about what first motivated him to learn Spanish, and the amazing power of language tutoring at Reed! Leilani: Hi Bruce! First, could you tell me a little bit about yourself, and for how long you\u2019ve been speaking Spanish? Bruce: My name is Bruce, and I\u2019m … <\/p>\n

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