I chose my Spanish language learning journey as my free inquiry topic for a variety of reasons. I have been around Spanish throughout my adolescence and adult life, often in varying forms and it is something I continually strive to improve at. My first immersion with the Spanish language was when I was 8 years old and my family took a trip to Mexico. My parents were always keen to gain authentic travel experiences while abroad and passed this trait along to me. For the rest of grade school we would return to Mexico nine more times, always staying at smaller local hotels, often frequented by other Mexican travellers. My family and I would always venture into the local villages and eat at restaurants “off the beaten path”. Early memories of Spanish would be trying to decipher menus with my parents, learning the names of foods etc. After high school I took two separate trips, when I was 20 to Central America for three months, and when I was 26 to South America for five months. These prolonged trips were very immersive and gave me massive lived experience to practice the language further. Additionally, I was afforded with the opportunity to study Spanish in high school for three years and at UVic for two semesters. I also think that my topic ties in nicely with the ELL course I am taking this semester in the PDPP Program. I think there will be many things I can draw from this class as I am also a learner of a second language. Some of my favourite life memories have occurred while being surrounded by the Spanish language and believe that this free-inquiry project will give me plenty to draw upon while refining my fluency. I plan on drawing upon my learning experience memories, interviewing Spanish speaking friends and Duolingo throughout this assignment.
