Do you teach your students colloquialisms?

5년 전

Let me just say that I am a BIG FAN of colloquialisms, but no teacher ever taught me Spanish colloquialisms at school. I had to learn them on the go. On my travels around the Spanish world, I have learned so many, and I consider them as being my specialism. As I teacher, I also teach English colloquialisms all of the time.
But why don't teachers generally teach them? Because they're not academic enough? I disagree!

So here are some reasons why teachers should be teaching colloquialisms:

1. They add flavour!
There is of course a great deal of enjoyment to be had just learning a language in general, but colloquialisms are another kind of fun! They can have a deep meaning, be absolutely crazy, make no sense at all - and definitely be something to laugh about. Also, some of the time they can have actual connections to the culture in which they are from. For example: the British phrase "that's just my cup of tea!" meaning the something is just right for you, is connected to the fact that we Brits drink a lot of tea!

2. You fit right in!
What is your aim in another language if it isn't to fit in with a group, right? I love that when I am with my Spanish friends I can slip into my Spanish mentality, with my "qué guay tío!" and then with my Mexican friends can swap over to "qué padre wey!", just to give an easy example. After a while of speaking their slang, your foreign friends kind of forget that you aren't simply one of them! (And this is kind of the whole idea!)

3. It's about braking the rules!
Of course a language is a lot about learning grammar and vocabulary and tenses etc., and yes those things are highly important, don't get me wrong! But it's not all about the rules. This journey of learning a language must be fun! Things like speaking colloquialisms let us feel a bit naughty, as though we are breaking the rules a little bit - and let's face it, this is fun! Leanring a language is a testing process, and we need things that give us joy and motivate us to keep going! I have found that listening to bad songs, reading trashy newspapers, and speaking street-Spanish, are all things that have made me fall in love with the language even more. I don't just speak Spanish in a professional sense, but in a native way... and I adore it!