Our Language School Journey Begins

Good morning, buenos días, and bon dia (Catalan),

Today is an incredibly exciting day for us because we're officially kicking off our language classes!

This morning, Judah and I are sitting in a café after dropping Valerie off at her first class. I'm writing this email with a cappuccino in hand while Judah practices his Duolingo ABC, a phonics curriculum he enjoys.

We anticipated signing up for language classes shortly after arriving in Barcelona, but we felt we lacked stability until we found housing. Now that we have our own place, things are finally starting to normalize.

Last week, we visited a small, nearby school run by a young married couple. She is originally from Italy, and he was born and raised here in Spain. They focus on small group classes, which appealed to us. The maximum group class size is nine people, with most classes having five to seven students per instructor.

We met with the owners to assess our levels so they could determine which class to place us in. Valerie is ahead of me, so she starts today, and I will begin in a couple of weeks when the next group starts.

Our classes our 2 hours, twice a week. Starting in July we will join in on the school-wide intensive program that will be 2 hours, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks. Whew.

We're thrilled to finally start in-person classes. We have been doing self-study for a while, but it is difficult to stay consistent and disciplined. We have tried online classes via Zoom, which are good but have their own challenges.

Overall, being immersed in language classes with an instructor, other students who are learning, a bilingual church, and living in an immersive environment like Barcelona is incredibly helpful in our language learning journey.

Judah’s Spanish update: He has mastered counting to 10, hola, adiós, más, and a few other words. His comprehension is growing as well, with friends at church speaking to him in Spanish. The children are all trilingual, speaking English, Spanish, and Catalan (the regional language), but they mostly talk to him in Spanish, which is great for his listening comprehension.

Even though we are not actively trying to learn Catalan, you pick it up while out and about in the city. All the street and metro signs and many restaurants and cafés use Catalan. Most of the older population speaks Catalan as well. So, you naturally pick up words and phrases here and there. Here’s a short list of words we’ve learned that you see and hear everywhere:

Good morning - Bon dia Good afternoon - Bona tarda Good night - Bona nit Hello - Hola (hey, that looks like Spanish) Bye - Adéu Please - Si us plau Thank you - Gràcies or Merci, which is a very common informal thanks.

Please continue to pray for us during this time as we settle into our classes and the opportunities to share our faith with the friends we make.