Hola mi gente! Finalmente, estoy en los Estados Unidos! Nueva Yol! 🤣🔥 Como han estado?!

🌱 Confidence Check 7.30.26 One of the biggest things I've learned after teaching Spanish for over 10 years is that most people don't struggle because they don't know enough—they struggle because they don't trust themselves yet with what they already know. So let's work on normalizing that part of the process today. Let's try using what we know in Spanish to answer the prompt below. If you're a beginner- feel free to respond in English. If you're intermediate- try responding in Spanish or Spanglish. Tell us about a time you froze while speaking Spanish. What happened? What were you trying to say? Were you able to recover? Looking back now, what would you tell that version of yourself? Remember: this community isn't about perfection. It's about practice.

¡¡Hola Yaprendicessss!! Alright so I know it has been a while since I've been active here, and over the last few months I've been doing a lot of reflecting on where I wanted to take Yaprendí. The question that I was struggling to answer for myself: "What kind of space do I want to curate that doesn't already exist for Spanish learners?" And after a lot of journal entries and introspection ... I finally came to understand what it is that I do that sets me apart from so many other Spanish teachers and Spanish learning programs. That thing is creating a space that is emotionally safe to practice what you know and embrace the process of learning what you don't know. Many of you are not struggling because you don't know enough vocabulary or grammar to engage in conversation. You struggle because you don't feel emotionally safe enough to use the Spanish you already have. Somewhere along the way, many of us learned that making mistakes was something to avoid-- and that if we can't say something perfectly, we shouldn't say anything at all. I want Yaprendí Society to be the opposite of that. I want this to be a space where curiosity is celebrated, mistakes are part of the process, and speaking imperfect Spanish is always better than staying silent. I realize that this isn't something entirely new- I've been working to curate this type of space all along. But sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees, you know? I'm clear on what this is now more than ever and with that clarity I have a stronger sense of conviction about the space we are going to create together as a community. This is a place where we practice together. Where we encourage each other. Where we remember that language is about connection and not perfection. And to be completely transparent, another realization that I had was that a lot of my self doubt/ insecurities about what I was building with you all came from the fact that I haven't quite figured out how to integrate and engage many native Spanish speakers in conversation in this space. But through my reflection process, I finally understand that I can continue working with what I have and what I know. Everything else will fall into place as it needs to and I can only compare my process now with where I've already been. I can be inspired by others-- but the moment I start comparing-- that's when doubt creeps in and ultimately silences you if you let it.

¡Hola Yaprendices! This week's culture focus is el Español Colombiano! A common greeting in Colombian Spanish is "Qué hubo" - but it sounds more like "quibo"- so it's often spelled that way. This is simply a casual way to say "what's up?!" in Colombian Spanish. Today's challenge is to find an expression from this article and comment below what it means and why it stood out to you! For beginners- choose from this blog post here