Comments on: Exposing Ourselves to Spaniards!

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:00:16 +0000

Getting lost the first time wasn’t traumatic enough??? Mr. HalfFull will be on the lookout for you in the future. =)

By: Manish

Manish — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:51:27 +0000

He He He…… so cute

Btw I’m so thankful that you rescued me at such a tiny town. I wish to get lost again and be found by you guys once again

Big hugs
Manish

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:50:46 +0000

Perhaps siestas are a thing of days gone by, and don’t really work in the modern office setting. So sad! I’m all for more sleep and less work. =)

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:48:59 +0000

I’ll stick with the babies and old people!

By: Etidian

Etidian — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:01:42 +0000

i’m from spain i never do siesta. i dont know anybody who do it — only babies, little children and old people. And of course i usually call people after or before lunch or dinner time. so its usaully that i call people at 4 pm, and all my friends and all people that i know do the same.

By: Thifani

Thifani — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:01:48 +0000

I usually stay in the office between 2 and 4, as it’s too far to travel to go home, and I am still amamzed by how many (Spanish) shops (our clients) call us during that time! I still answer the phone sometimes, just to say that the offcie is now closed and they will all be back around 4pm (which means 4.30!!)

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:12:09 +0000

You’re right. VaughanTown brings the English speaking world to Spain, so it’s more like living in an English speaking country than a formal course. Anglos were instructed to get the Spaniards talking rather than correcting them (unless they specifically requested corrections). So that helped to build confidence. We also could pick our own topics of conversation. People get tired of small talk pretty quickly, so we ended up discussing some interesting subjects.

We “exposed ourselves” to the Spaniards because we had to talk about ourselves and share hidden talents (like Bollywood dancing and becoming a bull). The title got you intrigued, but no one got naked!

By: Kathleen Egan

Kathleen Egan — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:58:33 +0000

In fact the Vaughantown set up seems like one of the most effective ways for someone to gain language skills (I mean the Spaniard Business people) by being fully immersed in meeting and speaking with native English speakers.
Building confidence in speaking is one of the hardest skill to sustain when you learn a foreign language

The other thing that I like about the set up is that you were equals, the Spaniards and the English speaking group interacting and that also builds a desire to talk rather than a teacher/student relationship

I also wondered about your choice of “expose oneself” Was it because you had to share personal stories??

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:28:58 +0000

You’re welcome, Darth Vader!

By: Ms. HalfEmpty

Ms. HalfEmpty — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:28:18 +0000

Haha! No, I don’t think “expose oneself” would be very useful for business! But there were a few strange ones that I had never heard before; I think they were British.