A month after I got home, I took a 5-week/10-class Spanish course through the International Institute of Minnesota. When I left for Chile in February, I described my Spanish-speaking abilities as an advanced beginner. After four months of daily practice and study, I took a placement test to determine which class I should take. I had progressed to (drum roll, please) actual advanced beginner.
Really? REALLY?!?!?!
It was good, though. It was a chance to review and solidify what I had learned in with my tutor in Chile (preterite, imperfect, and conditional tenses, commands, direct/indirect objects, personal pronouns, and prepositions). My lessons in Chile were conducted entirely in Spanish, and it was lovely to get some clarification on some concepts and nuances that I missed. It was also fantastic to have worksheets! There were times in Chile that I just wanted tons examples to practice with, and I finally had them. It was after the fact, but oh, how I loved just doing worksheets. (I wish I could go back and tell my self to pack some workbooks, like Complete Spanish Grammar, or other books from the Practice Makes Perfect series).
Although I was deflated at first to still be considered a beginner, I was really pleased to have confirmation of how much I actually did learn in a relatively short amount of time. I certainly learned more in four months than I ever did in high school and college combined. And now I'm spoiled -- despite all the challenges, immersion is the best way to go for language learning.
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