UNLOCKING SPANISH FLUENCY THROUGH GLOBAL CLASSROOM
The Centre for Modern Languages, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) successfully conducted a Global Classroom session for the Spanish for Beginners course (UHF1151). The session was held on May 12, 2024 via the Microsoft Teams. The objective of this Global Classroom was to expose UMPSA students to the practical use of Spanish in both spoken and written communication, as well as to enhance the students’ proficiency in Spanish.
A total of 125 students, enrolled in the Spanish for Beginners course for the Semester 2 2023/2024 participated. International guest lecturer, Señora Mireya Sosa Abella from Spain was invited as the speaker for the session. She taught the students two topics; “Formal & Informal Greetings” and “How to Introduce Yourself in Spanish”.
The course instructor for Spanish for Beginners, Señora Azlina Mohd Ariffin, acted as the moderator for the session. A student representative, Muaz, said, "It was a great opportunity and exposure for students to learn Spanish with a native speaker. We can speak Spanish better, more confidently, and are very excited!”. In addition, Señora Mireya Sosa Abella also shared insights about the culture in Spain. The students posed various questions to her in Spanish, demonstrating their excitement and confidence in using the language.
The opportunity and experience of participating in a global classroom session with a native speaker of Spanish provided numerous benefits to the students. To sum up, interacting with native speakers enables students to enhance their pronunciation, fluency and confidence in using Spanish language, while also significantly improving their communication skills. It is hoped that there will be more collaboration for Global Classroom sessions, particularly with native speakers of the target language.
Prepared by:
Azlina Mohd Ariffin & Siti Ainun Jariyah Hassan
