Vinster

CMartin, a CLEP test lets you get credits for simply taking a test. Look it up. Saves a lot of time and money. You can take many of the 101's. College Level Examination Program.

Do you strike a Director of Nursing as someone likely to kill a patient or panic when someone codes? This is still blue collar work and the interviewer wants to see if you're a competent individual. Practice interviewing. Why did you choose nursing? What is your greatest fault? They actually do ask you that stuff. Can you wow them? Why should they spend $60,000 training you? Will the recruiter get heat from his manager if you don't pan out? They need to know you are a risk worth taking. You need to solve the recruiter's problem. He has a staff and budget problem. Can you be his/her solution? Some states need you more for sure and moving is one option. Otherwise: 1. Find a scary place to work: Places that need nurses and hire new grads in a region that generally doesn't often have a need are needing to hire new grads because they scare off the nurses with experience. So find a scary place like a nursing home. Just hang on, listen to the other nurses for help, make friends with them and try to absorb all you can while you're trying to get out of there. 2. Or a really mismanaged place like a correctional facility where people leave because its so crappy to work there. 3. Or a place that has nearly no risk of killing someone like a methadone clinic, where you only do one thing. Then you interview at a better place and you are more desirable because you are already employed. I got chatty with a CPR trainer who is also a recruiter. I'm working already and have gotten no leads from him but that's a good way to get a little face time with someone who can place you. Once, I walked into a satellite location of a private doctor's office, asked one of the nurses at the nursing station who in HR at the main facility do I need to see about a job. Then I went to the lead office into HR and asked for him. I got an interview, even though it was not a walk-in kind of place. The recruiter said my initiative was cool. Some places are contacting your old nursing school with job leads. Ask whoever you need to ask if you can get forwarded those leads. When you get one, go to interview the next day, before your classmates do.

Thanks. And yes that's what I meant. The BSN program wasn't available previously and the school never offered a degree, only a diploma.

No bachelors at this school yet. I have heard they will be phasing out the associates though and making it a bachelors program in the future. No NURE courses in the summer for a couple years now. They did a NURE 130 summer but it was once and not since. Getting clinical instructors to commit is weird when you don't know how many will pass the previous course and a summer course puts even more variables into the mix so I think the logistics are a little cumbersome. Btw i I just passed and passed the nclex. The last semester was brutal and awesome.

Freckles, this may be too late a response but yes it is possible. We had 210 in our entry class and 70 pass at the end. Any good program will have many people fail. A school in Staten Island had 30 entrants and only 2 pass recently. Trinitas does not interview but accepts you by academic and other criterium so may have more not pass that might have been screened out in an interview. People who post here about failing are often eating sour grapes. Some professors are pretty cold but most were very helpful. The program is very hard and it is compounded by the stress of life, family, deaths and illnesses, pregnancies, weddings and all that is going on. A nursing program will change how you think like a police academy or boot camp. You reason differently, communicate differently. Some adapt quick and pass and some can't handle that and fail. I passed in December, just passed my NCLEX and I think the program was great. I learned a lot. The last semester was really awesome. But very hard. Very very very hard. I would come into exams very well prepared and get a 78 and be amazed at how difficult the exam was. But 78 is a pass. The exams are fair and with no trick questions. All the students that got special awards for being most helpful and best grades etc. were unemployed. Either had a sugar daddy or momma or living with mom and dad or collecting unemployment. Unemployed people do better in this program for obvious reasons. Many others passed. I'm the bread winner, married, worked 30+ h per week the whole time. I got sick once in 4 years and it was during the summer break. No one in the family died, wife didn't get pregnant. It's doable. Hope you do well.

The more details you can give, the better. I'll talk to *** and see if the process has changed. Thanks for this update.

don't worry about the classes being filled in the computer system. i doubt the classes have even been opened in the computer system. no one can register except in person, by invitation and with the invitation letter in hand. sounds like you're on the right track. this letter says "you are being considered... blah blah.", right? do what the letter says. send it in asap. hopefully you will get the invitation letter. again, 1. consideration letter in oct, 2. invitation letter in dec, 3. registration in jan. just make sure you do exactly everything the letters tell you to. you'll be fine. what's your points score? do you know?

did you get an invitation letter? the process is 1. a consideration letter to which you respond, expressing your interest 2. an invitation letter on which there will be a specific date to register. i don't think the spring registration happened yet. consideration letters in october, invitation letters in early mid december, registration is early jan, if i remember right. you will register pretty close to or a little after payment for the course is due. trinitas gets it's own payment due dates to accomodate it's late registration cycle. remember, people have to pass each course in sequence before they are allowed to register for the next course, since every course is a prereq for the next course. this delays all registrations, including 130. trinitas is its own beast and the hand off from ucc to trinitas isn't well communicated until you actually get a letter. the consideration and invitation letters tell you exactly what you have to do, but you will be completely in the dark until then. this is part of why i started this thread, to clear up confusion.

****** at the Elizabeth campus would know.

There are two books. Nursing Fundamentals by Potter and Perry Edition 10 and Medical Terminology though I don't remember which edition. These were the ones I got but you may have a different edition for both so ask the book store people. If you tell the book store people you have NURE 130 they will tell you exactly which books you need. Get the full name of the book, edition and publisher. They will not tell you the ISBN because they don't want you to go buy it online. They say in a snarky way "I'm sorry, I can't tell you the ISBN." You can Google it to get the IBSN's and get the international editions. They are identical to the american editions and save big bucks. Good luck. Glad all my blah blah blah is useful to someone.

it's tough, especially with kids. parents had the toughest time of all. if you can do non-science courses in the summer and take regular session science courses you might find it easier with the kids. i would'nt do that in the summer but in a regular session you might make it. i've found it best to take one course at a time, clep everything i can and pay for it out of pocket since the low credits disqualifies me for any financial aid. because nure 131 is 8 credits, i qualify for loans now. clep-ing is way easier and less time consuming than any of the courses. you literally read the book once or twice, take the quizzes in the back three or four times and go down and kill the test. you can clep a course in your spare time (what you would normally call tv watching or decompression time) in about 2 weeks of studying. do the practice tests and look up what you don't know online or right in the test explanation. the practice quizzes are more important than the text. good luck. let me know how you do.

Also, I took ***** summer 1 microbiology (BIO 108) course. *** was the Lab prof. Don't know my grade because UCC's IT department consists of a bunch of encephalic crack babies. I have to physically go down there to ask a counselor what my grade is. *** rambles. Useless, never ending, sometimes wrong. He thinks organic agriculture is responsible for the recent E. coli outbreak in Europe. He read an article to the class that said overuse of antibiotics was the reason and then said the real reason was natural fertilizers in organic agriculture (which doesn't use antibiotics) was the real culprit. He is a staunch republican. I have no issue with republicans or democrats in general . I am pretty apolitical but it seems the hardcore on either side don't like facts, reason, history or context. **** grossly mischaracterized Al Gore's positions on climate change just to make him look bad. I thought it a little unbecoming of a scientist. I spent most of my in class time studying for the tests and not paying attention to his stories. You get good at discerning what is a story and what is useful after a while. Nothing about his family, or his septic tank or his beach trips or his history at Rutgers are on any tests. What is on the test is on his power points. Don't spend a second studying anything in the book that is not alluded to in his power points. The power points don't have much flesh on them but you can use the book to put some meat on it. Understand what is on the power points and you will pass. Many recorded his lectures but that was mostly a complete waste of time. Remember, YouTube has great videos on how tRNA works and what antigens are. This helped me get some points that I was weak on. *** is the kind of guy you would like to have a beer with and go fishing with. He's not pretentious and I'm sure is a good father and grandfather. **** was great. Great sense of humor. You do not need to buy the lab manual. He won't say it buy everything you need is provided in class. Again, stick with the power point hand outs. When you have to identify your unknown microbe, I recommend assuming your Gram-stain will be inconclusive and running all tests for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative on your microbe. Then decide what it is. This way, you'll know for sure. No need to tell him you are doing this, but if you did, he would probably commend you for being thorough and careful. Most of the people got nailed by a bad Gram-stain, and then did all the wrong tests thinking it was a different organism than it really was.

Also, Christy, about how long do you think it will take to get your MSN?

Thanks, Christy, for being so specific. I would like to encourage any other WGU students to write a more thorough description of their experience including dates and time lines, fees, counselors, books, tests and all the other things that other students are going to ask about anyway.

Remember, the UCC to Trinitas acceptance system will only give you points for courses you took at UCC.

Our school will not accept you in unless nursing is your major. You cannot be considered regardless of the classes you take. Keeping nursing as the major costs more so some students wait to change the major. I didn't wait since I wanted to always be in the running. The counselors should know about this.

i think you'll be okay. i deal with my slight claustrophobia by ignoring it and moving on. take a deep breath, and mentally suck it up. it might help you to watch surgery shows to desensitize you to it. maybe you can visit a slaughter house or watch videos ofthat process. nurses learning phlebotomy need to practice poking people. you might get one of them to practice on you to get you accustomed to seeing blood. i strongly believe all the blood queasiness people talk about is completely curable with the right mind set. fear of flying is overcome by flying.

Everyone wainting on any competitive medical program feels this way at some point. 6 months will be over in a flash. Just keep your face pressed against the glass. They'll let you in.

Your GPA will rise if you take a couple of the Chem courses required for the BSN. Better yet, take a couple of electives. They should be easier, and wil be required also. As far as I can tell, anyone with a BS is more likley to get in to a BSN program. They are called upper division students sand are treasted a little better than the average joe. Applying to a bigger school (more first semester students) can make it easier too.

this is a run down of getting into trinitas nure 130 through ucc. i just had the first class this monday, jan of 2011. it's great to finally be in and doing it. 5 more semesters and i can move on with my life. the process was a little confusing and none of the counselors seemed to know anything, except one. what's below is a combination of personal experience, what i've heard from the instructors, and a reliable counselor. this post is a little longer so folks can see what was involved and get their questions answered. talk to ******at the plainfield campus. she is the only really nursing-school-competent counselor at the entire college. no lie. i got little help from any other counselor and even have a friend who was guided into a couple useless classes for her major and has to take 2 extra semesters to make up for it. (not nursing thankfully.) double check everything a counselor tells you to make sure its correct. assume they are all probably wrong and you'll be better off. ****is really passionate about students and very competent. probably too much for her own health but she helped me so i won't complain. after all is said and done, this program is about $25,000-$28,000. this is a total of 5 semesters of nursing courses and all the other credits. pell and freeholder's scholarships and the kellogg scholarship will help. get international versions of text books. the supreme court ruled this was legal despite what mcgraw hill says. google it if you like. save some $$. trinitas, a diploma school, lets ucc do all the screening and admissions. there is no interview or pleading letter to get in, lying about your devotion to nearly dead people and how you like wiping adults' butts. i didn't go to muhlenberg because i heard the trinitas program is easier for the working adult student by having more night and weekend classes. my class is monday from 6pm to 10pm so this has been true so far. to be considered for the school, you have to declare nursing as your major. having nursing as your major will cost you about $500 extra per semester, even if you never get accepted. there is a point system to get in. it works this way: gpa + 1 point per 3 credits earned at ucc +2 for nj residents how many points do you need to get the invitation letter? no one knows but those sending them out. there are 230 seats in the opening class nure 130 and about 60 graduates at the end. i heard 230 seats from janet but my class on monday is 70 and i think the other two on thurs and saturday are too so it's possibly 210 total. to fill the class, i've been told about 600 consideration letter letters are sent to those with the highest points. 60 is the entrance class for most schools. trintas is the 6th largest nursing school in the country including university of phoenix (#1) and the other online schools. there is a higher than normal chance of getting in because of that. when i got the letter i had 4 + 5.7 + 2 = 11.7 points. (i had 17 credits divided by 3=5.7) i'm guessing the 10-15 point range is where we're at right now. ***** says this points amount that triggers you to get a letter will go up or down depending on the backlog of students. only the top 500-600 get consideration letters, you reply back expressing interest, then of those that reply a smaller amount get a registration invitation letter, and only 230 get a seat on registration day. consideration letter was early october 2010, registration invitation letter was december 12 or so. they decide the first week of december and send the letters out at the beginning of the second week of december. when you register, you go at different times of the day. the earlier in the day you register, the more likely you are to get the schedule you want and even a seat, since more are invited to register than there are spaces for. you are assigned a registration time and it looks like it is all points based. highest points go at 9am, second highest at 11am and so on. you are also given a registration number so there is no cutting lines during your time slot. my high gpa did not get me into an earlier registration time. i was assigned 11am as my registration time, #33 as my registration number, and my gpa is 4.0. not bragging. someone will ask me this if i don't put it down. many don't respond and want to wait another semester and many don't make the final point cut to get into the program. nure 130 is really rigorous and it's not a good idea to bundle it with other tough classes. i've never heard of someone putting nure 130 off a semester to take bio 106 or 108 and then not get in the next semester. it seems they always do if they keep their grades up, but i don't know that for sure. also, since nure 130 has a larger drop out/failure rate, last year there was a summer 1 and summer 2 nure 130 offered to help fill nure 131 in the fall. it may happen again this year. ***** says it probably will. my nurse instructors say it was a fiasco and they aren't sure if they will do it again. money will probably make them do it, if they can. they want to get as many in to nure 131 as possible. more that can get into nure 131, big dollars for sure for them. so if you put it off january, you may still get a letter for the summer 1 session. there is a nure 130 class starting both spring and fall, and last summer for the first time a summer 1 and summer 2, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. the lpn rn bridge program i think only has a fall start. i was told that about 6-8 years ago some students were caught cooperatively cheating in the nure courses and the school failed everyone in the class. some students fought back (i think they sued) and had their diplomas given back and were allowed to sit for the nclex. because of the cheating, the course is much harder now than before. applicants are a little less this semester than last and janet doesn't know why. she thinks maybe the bottle neck right now is the typing class (adm 110) they are requiring by jan 2012. i took it because they said it was a pre-req. for jan 2011 but that wasn't true. this was a horribly boring class that i wish they would just allow us to test out of it. i would've paid the full tuition even if i could've gotten out of the class. i kissed a lot of saturday afternoons goodbye for this one. make sure they are firm on this being a pre-req. before you do this. i had ***** as the prof. who is one of the coolest people i've ever met. she made the class bearable. last summer i was told by another student who had just gotten her consideration letter that she heard if you take chem 105, you'll get flagged for the program a little sooner. so i changed my fall 2010 semester from bio 108 to chem 105 and i did get a letter. however, a girl who sits next to me in class hasn't taken bio 106 or chem 105 yet and she got in too. so the chem 105 rumor is probably just a rumor. (she's doing nure 130, bio106 and chem 105 all this semester!!!! i would blow my brains out.) i don't know her point standing but i think it is similar to mine. she started last jan, like me, but took the summer off. i clep'd eng 101 and she didn't. my gpa is 4.0. i don't think this helped me get a letter other than for the points themselves, but i don't know for sure. i got an 89.8% in ******* summer1 a&p1 and 88.9% in prof *****summer2 a&p2 but they both gave me the "a". very cool of them. i talked with them a little after class about questions i thought of during class and complimented them on their teaching style or dealing with unruly students (i was genuine). i think this helped. i really liked **** way of teaching. intellectual, visual, had great notes prepared and kept the class moving along. he'll tell you "sorry if you don't pass. this is the summer session and it's a tough class. that's all there is to it." i did not like **** way. she told too many stories. the girls in the class really liked her and her style, though. the stories helped them remember the kinds of pathogens and diseases, though i found it boring especially at 10:10pm after hours of listening. she did put disease and vaccinations in great historical perspective. she is a very informed, intelligent person and i like her as a person. both took no sass from anyone, which i liked. shut up and listen or get out. we need to show some maturity as medical professionals. it is impossible to cheat on their tests. they know all the tricks and have made a few little rules to eliminate the possibility of cheating. just over 50% passed both classes. 32-35 per class out of 60. there were 9 a's and 7 a's in those 2 classes respectively. ****said 9 was unusually high and was very happy to see that. starting at 60 students in each there were 8 boys and 9 boys respectively. only about 4 boys left in each by the end. there are 13 men out of 70 total in my nure 130 class. don't be a baby. read the entire trintas faq off the ucc website and the 27 page pdf off the trinitas website and know what your next move is. don't wait till the last minute for anything. if you graduate with b+ average, trinitas offers a scholarship for your last semester. i think the kellogg benefactor for whom the kellogg building is named is the originator of the scholarship. in retrospect, i would probably have taken the chem classes allowing one to go for the bsn later, chem 113 and 114 i think. that's the only thing i would've done different. i will have to take them next summer if i can. timeline: jan 2010 started - spanish 102, was still deciding if this was right for me. did late registration on a whim and took the next few weeks to think it over. clep eng 101 summer 1 - a&p 1 summer sessions are great because the material is less and they are quick. i would take everything as a summer session if i could. these science courses had a lot of casualties but easier courses you should do. summer 2 - a&p 2 fall 2010 - chem 105, adm 110 jan 2011 - nure 130. will clep psy 101 (feb 8th appointment) and soc 101 sometime between now and the summer session good luck everyone. hope this has been helpful.

this is a run down of getting into trinitas nure 130. i just had the first class this monday, jan of 2011. it's great to finally be in and doing it. 5 more semesters and i can move on with my life. the process was a little confusing and none of the counselors seemed to know anything, except one. this post is a little longer so folks can see what was involved and get their questions answered. talk to janet rocco at the plainfield campus. she is the only really nursing-school-competent counselor at the entire college. no lie. i got little help from any other counselor and even have a friend who was guided into a couple useless classes for her major and has to take 2 extra semesters to make up for it. double check everything a counselor tells you to make sure its correct. assume they are all probably wrong and you'll be better off. janet is really passionate about students and very competent. probably too much for her own health but it helped me so i won't complain. trinitas, a diploma school, lets ucc do all the screening and admissions. there is no interview or pleading letter to get in, lying about your devotion to nearly dead people and how you like wiping adults' butts. i didn't go to muhlenberg because i heard the trinitas program is easier for the working adult student by having more night and weekend classes. my class is monday from 6pm to 10pm so this has been true so far. to be considered for the school, you have to declare nursing as your major. having nursing as your major will cost you about $500 extra per semester, even if you never get accepted. there is a point system to get in. it works this way: gpa + 1 point per 3 credits earned at ucc +2 for nj residents how many points do you need to get the invitation letter? no one knows but those sending them out. there are 230 seats in the opening class nure 130 and about 60 graduates at the end. to fill the class, i've been told about 600 consideration letter letters are sent to those with the highest points. when i got the letter i had 4+5.7+2=11.7 points. (i had 17 credits divided by 3) i'm guessing the 10-15 point range is where we're at right now. janet rocco says this points amount will go up or down depending on the backlog of students. only the top 500-600 get consideration letters, then of those that reply a smaller amount get registration invitation letter, and only 230 get a seat on registration day. when you register, you go at different times of the day. the earlier in the day you register, the more likely you are to get the schedule you want and even a seat, since more are invited to register than there are spaces for. you are assigned a registration time and it looks like it is all points based. highest points go at 9am, second highest at 11am and so on. you are also given a registration number so there is no cutting lines during your time slot. my high gpa did not get me into an earlier registration time. i was assigned 11am as my registration time, #33 as my registration number, and my gpa is 4.0. many don't respond and want to wait another semester and many don't make the final point cut to get into the program. i've never heard of someone putting nure 130 off a semester to take bio 106 or 108 and then not get in the next semester. it seems they always do if they keep their grades up, but i don't know that for sure. also, since nure 130 has a larger drop out/failure rate, last year there was a summer 1 and summer 2 nure 130 offered to help fill nure 131 in the fall. it may happen again this year. janet rocco says it probably will. my nurse instructors say it was a fiasco and they aren't sure if they will do it again. money will probably make them do it, if they can. they want to get as many in to nure 131 as possible. more that can get into nure 131, big dollars for sure for them. it seems the big bottle neck right now is the typing class (adm 110) they are requiring by jan 2012. i took it because they said it was a pre-req. for jan 2011 but that wasn't true. this was a horribly boring class that i wish they would just allow us to test out of it. i would've paid the full tuition even if i could've gotten out of the class. i kissed a lot of saturday afternoons goodbye for this one. take this class. don't let it hold you back. last summer i was told by another student who had just gotten her consideration letter that she heard if you take chem 105, you'll get flagged for the program a little sooner. so i changed my fall 2010 semester from bio 108 to chem 105 and i did get a letter. however, a girl who sits next to me in class hasn't taken bio 106 or chem 105 yet and she got in too. so the chem 105 rumor is probably just a rumor. (she's doing nure 130, bio106 and chem 105 all this semester!!!! i would blow my brains out.) i don't know her point standing but i think it is similar to mine. she started last jan, like me, but took the summer off. i clep'd eng 101 and she didn't. my gpa is 4.0. i don't think this helped me get a letter other than for the points themselves, but i don't know for sure. i got an 89.8% in bert atsma's summer1 a&p1 and 88.9% in prof sands' summer2 a&p2 but they both gave me the "a". very cool of them. i talked with them a little after class about questions i thought of during class and complimented them on their teaching style or dealing with unruly students (i was genuine). i think this helped. i really liked atsma's way of teaching. intellectual, visual, had great notes prepared and kept the class moving along. he'll tell you "sorry if you don't pass. this is the summer session and it's a tough class. that's all there is to it." i did not like sands way. she told too many stories. the girls in the class really liked her and her style. the stories helped them remember the kinds of pathogens and diseases, though i found it boring especially at 10:10pm after hours of listening. she is a very informed intelligent person and i like her as a person. both took no sass from anyone, which i liked. shut up and listen or get out. we need to show some maturity as medical professionals. just over 50% passed either class. 32-35 per class out of 60. there were 8 a's and 7 a's in those 2 classes respectively. starting at 60 students in each there were 8 boys and 9 boys respectively. only about 4 boys left in each by the end. there are 13 men out of 70 total in my nure 130 class. if you graduate with b+ average, trinitas offers a scholarship for your last semester. i think the kellog benefactor for whom the kellog building is named is the originator of the scholarship. i would probably have taken the chem classes allowing one to go for the bsn later, chem 113 and 114 i think. that's the only thing i would've done different. i will have to take them next summer if i can. good luck every one. hope this has been helpful.

New Jersey has closed 13 hospitals in the last 4 years so there are a lot of nurses in this (the NYC metro) area. New ASN's aren't getting hired as quickly if there are 10 year BSN's around and there are. But all 60 nurses in my school's last graduating class were hired within 7 months. They were all diploma RN's with an ASN from the community college. Of course not all of them went to hospitals. I would say, don't worry about it, just get in. Especially if you need to get out and work ASAP. With your degree you're already given preference for the BSN so it may not matter.

BTW:I like Pimsleur too. It was a nice way to simulate conversations. But it's expensive and unnecessary. Do people with expensive treadmills in their house run more that people who don't? No.

i'm a white american guy who learned spanish and then portuguese. i've seen the rosetta stone software and i can't see how it can teach you a language. rosetta stone is good at marketing, not teaching a language as far as i can see. i took one college course in spanish but it was recently as an elective to satisfy my degree requirements. it was a good refresher and would be useful if you're learning for the first time, if you are also practicing. i recommend taking a college spanish course or two. american high school spanish was a joke, and i went to a good high school. this is how i did it: 1. realize there's no magic bullet. unless you can live in mexico for a couple of years, you can't learn effortlessly. buckle up. it's tough but really rewarding. it's said learning a new language is the most difficult intellectual endeavor. but little boys and girls learn spanish all the time in south america. it can't be that hard! you will be a serial killer of the language and will embarass yourself. be humble about it. it happens 2. get a verbs book and study how verbs are formed and used. 3. get a book on grammar. you will learn a lot about english grammar when learning a 2nd language and that makes the 3rd language much easier. learn where pronouns go and how to make common sentences 4. get a book on vocabulary and make flash cards using excel or by hand on index cards. for clarity, all language have the 3 parts above, nouns, verbs and grammar (the rules for combining nouns and verbs). bingo you have a language. 5. practice. a little every day is best. i couldn't listen to tv or radio because it was so boring to me. but many say that is really useful. try it for sure. i practiced at church in a spanish speaking congregation. the people there often spoke no english and that really helped. it required me to respond not just listen. many kids of spanish speakes who grew up here say that can understand and not speak. it's because they don't practie replying to their parents or grandparents. force yourself to reply and strike up conversation. read a lot. don xijote, children's books and books for teenagers are good. the newspaper will sometime use a lot of colloquial phrases that it will take a thousand years to sort though. 6. give it time. if you were really studious and had a good memory, you might be fluent in 6-8 months. more realistically, give it a couple of years at a consistent pace. you will be shocked that one day you get the joke or understood that commercial. language cheats. the below tips can cut your time for sure: tip 1: you only use about 400 words every day, all day, if that. once in a while you say words like "trade tariffs" or "crash test rating" but not very often. so learn your 400 words. man, boy, cat, dog, street, chair, smile. you use about 10-20 verbs all day every day. sleep, walk, talk, remember, bathe. learn those too. don't learn "ski lift" or any of that yet. once you know the language some and hear someone telling you about their trip, you'll learn "ski lift" just by inference. tip 2: learn your occupational nouns and verbs. bed, patient etc. tip 3: most spoken speech is past tense so get familiar with the two or three common past tense conjugations. they're really common and easy to pick up. "i went here with my friend and he told me that he wanted..." all simple past tense. tip 4: we don't learn speech as kids one word at a time. we learn phrases like "how are you?" and "what are you doing?" learn theses phrases and know what all the words mean. "no sabia" means "i didn't know". "el me dijo" means he told me... and then you can fill in what he told you. those phrases will rattle off really quickly if you've practiced them. if you know what the words in the phrases means, you can mix and match more easily. after i learned spanish, i married a portuguese girl so i started learning portuguese to speak to my mother in law. i picked up simple conversational portuguese in about 2 weekends! not lying. i can even just speak straight spanish to my mother in law and she speaks to me in portuguese and we have little trouble understanding each other. they are really similar. italian is also very close. you have to train your ears to hear the words and sounds. hope that helps!