Sometimes my efforts and study go in spurts, but I have tried to read a book a year in Spanish or do other online exercises and take every opportunity to chat with native speakers. I have found two online apps recently which I have really benefited from: Duolingo and Hellotalk.
Duolingo is a grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary app. Using it on my phone, I can speak, read, write and get corrections. It took me about 3 months to go through all of the exercises, doing it regularly each day for 30-45 minutes or so. I like that you can choose topics and that it is a "smart" app and it will quiz you on things you need more practice on and remind you which topics need review if you haven't looked at that topic for awhile. I have gone through it in its entirety twice---once before I visited Peru to pick up my oldest son from his LDS mission and once before my second son returned from his LDS mission to Arizona. Both times, I felt that I really benefited and could converse with my sons and the locals.
More recently, I discovered Hellotalk through a friend. It allows you to find someone who is fluent in the language you want to learn and some percentage of fluency in your native language. Here are some hints that I have learned:
There are many, many people using this app who are in their 20's. There are fewer in other age groups. For me, a 50 year old woman, I was more interested in talking with a woman closer to my age. I used the advanced settings to select an age group and gender and I was much happier. If you are a 20 year old man, maybe you would rather study with someone closer to your age than my demographic.
Luckily, I found 2-3 women over age 30 who were serious about learning English and who were willing to help me with my Spanish. One is in Spain. One is in Peru. One is in Mexico. We started out writing. We took turns and after each of us wrote, the other would make any necessary corrections with the grammar. I wrote in Spanish, my friends usually wrote in English. After a couple of weeks of written conversation, we both felt confident in each other that we were willing to talk on the phone through Hellotalk. I speak with my Spanish friend three times a week. And I've made appointments to talk with my Peruvian friend twice a week. We take turns choosing the discussion topic.
It has worked well to have an agenda on the phone. We usually ask each other questions. I found the following links helpful for choosing topics and having interview questions to use during the call.
http://www.tobefluent.com/
http://www.
http://teacherjoe.us/
The calls have usually lasted 45-60 minutes and I've done a couple scenarios on the phone:
1. For the first half, we both speak our 2nd languages; for the second half, we both speak our 1st languages.
2. For the first half, we both speak English; for the second half, we both speak Spanish.
I like mixing it up because when my friend speaks Spanish, I really have to concentrate on comprehension. It helps if I repeat back what I understood and ask questions to learn more about what she has said. When I speak Spanish, I have to put my ideas together in my second language and incorporate correct grammar and pronunciation. Same thing for her when I speak English or when she speaks English. The topics from the links above have provided great conversations as we have gotten to know each other better.
My Spanish friend sent me a photo of her language journal that shows new words she has learned in our conversations. That is something I would like to do as well. (For example, a recent conversation was about manners---I had never had reason to have burp or slurp in my Spanish vocabulary. . . but now I do! :)
With Hellotalk, you can send recordings. I have shared pronunciation clips and I even sang a short birthday song for my Peruvian friend and some Spanish piano music I learned to my friend in Valencia, Spain. She sent me some links to other pieces of information she found on the internet for one topic of conversation and I have sent pictures of house projects that I have told her about.
I have really enjoyed building these new friendships and improving my Spanish significantly at the same time.
As with all online experiences, one must be very careful with what they share and who they talk with. So, I put that caveat out there with the Hellotalk app, especially. I have quickly deleted several people from my conversations who have started some inappropriate conversations. But, my current connections have been delightful, my Spanish is conversation and comprehension is improving, and I am feeling more confident about talking with others because I know I can be understood and I'm gaining new vocabulary to express myself in my second language.
Activities I have done with Hellotalk:
1. Discuss a book you read together in your second languages
2. Keep a list of new vocabulary. Use the new vocabulary in your own sentence and have the other person make corrections.
3. Use the doodle tool to play pictionary
4. Pull up a google map or images of each other's cities and discuss points of interest
5. Make a list of verbs in the two languages. Take turns choosing a noun to use in a sentence with each verb.
