Learning Spanish

I've been taking a Spanish conversation course through Adult Ed at a local high school; and I'm surprised at how much I've learned in just 7 weeks. Our final class is this week on St. Patty's Day (wonder how "Top o' the mornin' " translates into Spanish!) I don't think any of us who enrolled realized it was a conversation class; but I was fortunate to have taken Spanish I a couple years ago so I have some background in pronunciation, basic vocabulary, and verb conjugation. We now know a few of the more useful tenses (on a good day, that is):

Yo trabajo (I work)
Yo estoy trabajando (I am working)
Yo voy a trabajar (I am going to work)
Yo estaba trabajando (I was working)
Yo iba a trabajar (I was going to work)

Hope I got that right before it's burned into my brain incorrectly. I find that I can now read a few simple things; and in South Florida signs in Spanish are everywhere-- at the bank, the supermarket, and billboards. I had almost the same feeling of excitement that I did when I was six and first learning to read when I realized that the billboard advertising a local lawyer actually means "You have rights too!" I also got a children's book out of the library and am struggling through "El Sombrero del Tio Nacho". And I can sometimes catch the drift of a conversation. I've also found all sorts of free online sites that help; and God bless google translate!

Besides the fact that I really love languages, I'm hoping that I can learn enough to communicate better with my Tuesday night little ones, many of whom speak no English. I already know enough to say "watch out",  or "get down" and understand them when they don't want to eat their dinner. And fortunately "pee pee" is pretty universal!

Now if only there is enough funding to have a Spanish II conversation class before I forget everything I've learned!