Stirring the Noggin!

 

After going through many six-week sessions of conversational Spanish at our senior center, I am still at the pre-school stage when it comes to speaking the language. Our instructor teaches high school Spanish full-time; and then once a week conducts our class.  

Attendance is a problem at her high school. When students do attend, they are often tired from working at night or from an unstable home environment; and only a few are motivated to learn. In comparison, when she walks into the senior center, we are usually awake, smiling and have finished our homework!

As for attendance, not only do we want to be there, we have to pay for each session, so missing a week hurts! In addition to that, it’s hard enough to remember what we’ve learned from week to week when we are present, let alone remembering over a longer period of time.

Currently the hour lesson begins with a dialogue between students asking each other a question like, “What did you do over the holiday?” We fumble around for the right words as we try to answer it, usually ending up filling in the blanks with English or “Spanglish!”   Even then our learning increases the more we speak the language.

 After the opening conversation and reviewing our homework, a few minutes are spent learning about ways that we can improve brain function and memory. This segment of the lesson is in English. Besides teaching us Spanish, one of the goals of our dynamic instructor is to get us to think. Her motto is “Stir the Coco!” or “noggin” in English. This is an endeavor which we seniors especially need to do.

Two more components of the lesson include grammar from a beginner’s book on Spanish and taking turns reading out loud from a true story of the survivors of a plane crash in the Andes Mountains as they were traveling from Uruguay to Chile. Finally, in the remaining few minutes, an assignment is given to keep us practicing during the days before the next class.

 Believe me, when I leave that room an hour later, my brain is tired from all of the exercising! However, it feels good to be learning a new language and to be working on a goal that I’ve had for years but never took the time to accomplish.

More is happening in the class than just learning Spanish. We are developing new friendships and enjoy being together. When we ended the last session before Christmas, we each brought a wrapped “white elephant” gift to exchange.

Our teacher gave us a number from one to eight, since there were just eight of us in attendance that day. I happened to draw number eight. In consecutive order, each person selected a gift.  Before opening it, our teacher required that we had to tell the rest of the class in Spanish if we thought it was new or old; heavy, medium or light in weight; guess the size, describe what it smelled like; and something special about it!  We also had to guess who we thought it was from.

By the time my turn came around, there was only one gift left… mine! Answering the questions was easy, because I already knew what was inside the red Christmas wrapping—a veggie noodle maker! And the person who gave it? That was easy too! I just pointed to myself! Everyone got a good laugh out of that.

After about 2 ½ years of Spanish, I have barely scratched the surface of getting to know the language and the culture of the people…a big task! That task is miniscule though when compared to knowing God—the finite seeking to know the Infinite, the created desiring to understand the Creator!

But we don’t have to do it by ourselves.  God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus called “the Counselor.” The Holy Spirit guides us into the knowledge of God as we study the Bible, giving us understanding and wisdom and helping us grow ever closer to Him.

Stir our minds, hearts, and our resolve to grow in the knowledge of You, dear Father, through your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have spoken to you.” John 14:25-26 NIV

(Pictured above, members of the Conversational Spanish class, with teacher kneeling.)

Having fun while stirring the  "noggin!"