5 Essentials for starting a Spanish-English Meetup Group

Language Learning doesn’t need to happen in a bubble. Gather some amigas and change your solo study into face to face application.

I knocked hesitantly on the apartment door in an area of our city I was not very familiar with.

I swallowed my excitement mixed with nervousness as I waited until the door was opened by Carmen. She said ´Hello´ in a thick Spanish accent, and I vaguely remembered her face from when we had made introductions at a Latin birthday party hosted by our neighbors.

I had been studying Spanish for a couple months now, but it was then I realized I knew nothing. I sputtered out a few words, but my time spent at Spanish story time with my twins and reading bilingual children’s books had not prepared me for carrying on an adult conversation.

Our conversation of mostly incorrect google translations on our phones that day was the starting point of creating friendships and bonds with native Spanish speakers and learners that transformed my ability to speak the language. Although I would like to saying speaking Spanish with my kids has been the most rewarding part of learning a new language, finding this community that supports each other in struggles and shares our cultures is the absolute best.

Carmen and I began to get together almost weekly. She didn’t drive, so I would pick her up and we would go grocery shopping or visit at one another’s’ homes. Eventually another couple friends would join, and then we found one more, who invited a friend, who told her neighbor, who passed it along to others. It was amazing and beautiful to gather every week and play games, laugh, and encourage and correct one another’s efforts.

Through these 5 Essentials, you can find your own grupo de español and super charge your language learning.

1. Find a buddy that knows the same amount of your language as you know of theirs. Bilingual communication in a family or with friends will revert to the lowest common denominator. Meaning people want to be understood, and if you understand them when they speak in English, then they will migrate back to it. When you find a buddy that has a similar amount of your language to learn, you develop at the same time. If one of you moves ahead, you but find ways to move the other forward, and add more buddies with similar abilities.

2. Have food and have fun. At the start I didn’t think about this, but all rules about hosting a party apply to starting a language learning group. At first when we started the group, we were very specific about learning together from a certain manual, and specific activities to strengthen our vocabulary. This did very little to attract our native Spanish speakers who were alright quite fluent in the language. But I quickly learned something from the Latins that came to our group. They always brought food! One of the things I LOVE about Latin culture is every gathering has food. It makes you feel cozy, at home, and comfortable– the perfect way to start making language learners feel okay about making mistakes and excited about returning each week.

3. Use word of mouth. When your meetings are fun, people will start telling their friends. At first our fluent bilingual friends came more sporadically, but when I think about it, we had a lot more to gain than they did. But they knew people who were struggling with the English language or wanted to strengthen their abilities or their children’s– so they were the perfect people to help find Spanish speakers on a similar playing field of language learning.

4. The meetings can’t just be social get togethers. Activities help everyone find purpose and looking forward to practicing each week. You will be able to find successful language learning activities in upcoming posts. As a general rule, we´ve found successful activities are those that are hands on using something like a wipe board, cards, or objects. We´ve folded clothes together, sang songs together, and moved objects in, around, and through things. We had the host plan the activity, with the thought in mind that we could do it in a way that both the Spanish and English language learners could learn from it (sometimes taking turns). Each meeting lasted about an hour and a half with about of 15-20 minutes of arrival and chatting time– remember this is Spanish culture. The activity lasted about 30-40 minutes and the remainder ´lingering social time.´ It doesn’t need to be formally clocked. Just let it flow.

5. Help group members find goals. The most successful meeting I went to was the one before I traveled with my family to Spain. I was determined to use as much of the language as possible so I could be prepared for similar kinds of conversations with the families we would meet and be staying with their. When group members are working toward family travel at home or abroad, it is a great motivator. Other goals would be to increase the amount of a language spoken at home during different times of days.

Language learning isn’t a solo sport. Grab a friend or two and get started.