“You’re not supposed to know.”

“You’re not supposed to know.”

I said this to a student of mine in live class one day when they said “I don’t know what all those words mean!” You’re not supposed to know. What a relief, right? We are language learners which specifically means that we aren’t going to know ALL THE THINGS. And that applies even when it comes to a textbook.

Listening and reading activities in a Spanish textbook will use some additional words that students don’t yet know (just as it would be if we were immersed in a Spanish-speaking country!). The student’s job is to watch for the words they do know and piece together the general idea of the conversation or paragraph.

So, Spanish-learners: Don’t freak out when you come across a lot of words you don’t know! Just carry on, pick out the words you do know, figure out the overall point of the paragraph, and trust the learning process!