My First Spanish Class and Test Part 1

          A couple years ago I was required to take a foreign language course at my last college for my degree. I wanted to take a course in Italian due to my heritage, but I picked Spanish because I felt it would serve a more useful purpose if I learned it. Now through out school I had been exempt from foreign language due to my learning disabilities, but now I didn't have a choice. I called my friend Dave to tell him about the course. He told me that my odds of passing were slim to none. But if I were to pass, he would give a certain amount of money. I believe he said either fifty or one-hundred dollars. Considering how much he was offering he must not have had much confidence in me.
          The first day of my spanish class was a mess. The teacher came walking into the room talking Spanish and not a word of English. Apparently I wasn't the only student shocked at this because others started voicing their complaints. Thankfully the teacher started speaking english at the end. When the class over I over heard some students saying how they were going to drop the class. As bad as I wanted to join them in their decision, I had to make it through the class to graduate.
          I struggled a great deal in classes ahead, but because the other students seemed to be on the same level I was, the teacher was much more patient. She did start speaking more english when she realized we were totally lost when she spoke spanish. Soon we had our first test. The day of the test I knew I wasn't going to do well, I just didn't know how bad it was going to be. I sat down at my desk and the teacher past out the test to everyone. The front part of the test had something to do with determining if a spanish word was masculine or feminine, while the second and last part of the test I had to write colors, months, and days in spanish.
          Now since there were only two possible answers for the first part I was able to guess my way through, but on the second part I was absolutely screwed. All it had on the pages were some blank lines to write out the words in spanish and instructions at the top. I just sat there staring at the page for a few minutes. I watched as some of the other students started handing in their tests. Before long I was the only person in the room with the teacher and still hadn't written one word.
          I considered handing the test in, but I have the belief that if you hand a test in blank without trying, it gives the teacher a negative impression of you. I always write something in, even if I'm not entirely sure what the answer is. But I didn't have a clue what I could possibly write. I had no knowledge in my mind that could even remotely give me an idea of what to put down. I looked up at this poor teacher who was forced to sit and wait because of me.
          I searched my brain for anything that could help me. When I was almost about to give in, a memory came to mind. I remembered a conversation between my younger brother and I. During our talk he had said one of his friends made the observation that most spanish words end in "O" or "A". I had found my ticket out of this mess. This story will be concluded in the next post.