Language Learning and Teaching History

Learning as second language has not always had a prominent presence in my life. Though, the

seeds planted in my life for it began early and were nurtured through various avenues that eventually

led me to teaching it today. It was not until half way through my undergraduate degree that I realized

that I really did enjoy the Spanish language and the process of being able to communicate more and

more each day. As I grew in proficiency so too did the desire to understand how I best learned the

language. So, early in my formal language learning at the undergraduate level I began pursuing the

understanding of language acquisition which ultimately brought me to the teaching field and to the

MATL program.

EC-5 Language Exposure

Long before my formal education started, I was exposed to the Spanish language through

regional ethnic groups that represent those that speak Spanish natively. While my family had no direct

ties with native Spanish speakers, the mere fact that I lived in an area populated by various Hispanic

groups must have been, at a minimum, my first encounters with the language. Though, my childhood

language exposure was not limited to these basics exposures.

My elementary school ran a traditional FLES program that provided students with about 30

minutes a week of Spanish instruction. Although I do not remember with great certainty what was

taught or how it was taught, I do know that I can recall feeling it a special circumstance that we did not

do every day, maybe not even every week. If I were to guess at the content, I would imagine learning

basic information such as the alphabet, colors, numbers, and high frequency nouns. One thing that I am

certain of is that I did not leave this program with any amount of proficiency in the language but rather

an ability to identify very limited vocabulary. I cannot recall using Spanish for any purpose at this age,

nor have I learned of doing anything with it from my family.

While lack of memory for this time period in my life does cause some possible fallacies in

interpreting the role it played in my second language development what can be clear is that at a

minimum my first exposures to the language happened during those years. Those exposures could have

led to my ability to quickly acquire basic forms of the language during middle school, high school and

college.

6-12 Language Exposure

My middle school (which included grades 6-8) offered the beginning of the sequential program

for the school district. In grades 7 and 8 students were able to take a more slowly paced level 1 Spanish

course over the two years. In the 7th grade I began the year with a male teacher that I can remember

being extremely interactive and engaging of the students. I enjoyed this class thoroughly and I can

remember a project we had to do in which we were using vocabulary related to daily routines. One

particular student created a commercial for a shampoo brand and in which he enthusiastically

proclaimed it was “¡Champú para ti! (shampoo for you!). After this event we continually laughed about

this project together as a class. The atmosphere in that classroom provided me with a fun, positive

feeling toward the language. Though, I was removed from that Spanish classroom into another due to a

needed schedule change.

My memory fails me for many experiences in the new classroom. However, I can recall creating

flashcards to help with vocabulary and conjugating verbs. I believe that to some degree that the flash

cards helped me because upon moving out of my mother’s house, I came across a set of cards created in

that class. I must have held on to them because they helped me remember. Verb conjugations must

have been drilled since they were second nature to me by the time I entered high school. I cannot recall

activities in which I was required to actually use the language for communicative purposes, but that

does not mean they were non-existent. Overall, I believe the middle school program was helpful,

though because of my lack of attention at times was not as beneficial as I could have been. In the end I

do know that I passed the classes I was in and that allowed me to progress into the 2nd level of Spanish

in high school.

9-12 Language Exposure

Beginning in high school I transferred to a school that my middle school did not feed into so

many of my friends were at another school in the district. The level 2 Spanish course I was in did not

offer me many opportunities to grow in my language acquisition. For me, the course was too simple and

slow and very rarely engaging. I cannot recall many instances in which the teacher did anything in front

of the class. Not even so much as attempt to teach a grammatical topic or introduce us to new forms

and phrases. I mainly remember talking with classmates and doing worksheets. The content of the

worksheets I do not remember, but I do know that it essentially was content that I learned in middle

school as my average in the class very rarely dropped below a 98. Furthermore, there were almost never

opportunities to really use the language in a communicative sense. That class, in my opinion, left the

biggest negative impression on my language learning experience.

I left that class feeling extremely disappointed because I had wished to learn and use the

language. I especially was envious of my older brother who was at the time in the level 4 course offered

at the school. I felt that I could not even begin to communicate like he could in the language. This led to

little motivation and a loss of interest in the language. However, I decided to proceed to the next level

in hopes of something more.

The following year I transferred to the high school that my middle school fed into so I could be

near my friends again. I enrolled in a level 3 Spanish course in which it was obvious that time had not

been wasted in level 2 as they we covering things in review at the beginning of the year that I had never

learned. I began with a disadvantage and did not understand what it took to get caught up and stay on

track. I eventually gave up hope of learning the language at all as my failure in the course only fortified

my lack of desire. I did not try to retake the course nor move on further in learning the language on my

own. It would be years later before I regained confidence in my abilities to use the language and be

brave enough to further my language learning.

Language Exposure While Completing Undergraduate Studies

At the beginning of my college career, I carried with me the belief that I could not learn a foreign

language. Thus, I had no desire to take a foreign language and in some ways chose a major for that

reason. However the major I chose was not suitable for me and so, at the end of my first year, I began

searching for other interests to find a new major. Though, when I left for summer vacation I still had no

idea what I wanted to begin studying.

That summer I visited the island of Curacao (a member of the Netherland Antilles off of the

coast of Venezuela) on a mission trip. I encountered individuals who spoke four languages fluently from

birth. In their day-to-day encounters the unofficial island language was Papiamentu. For all official

business and school related encounters, Dutch was used. In school, students learned English at an early

age and many of them had emigrated from Latin American countries in which Spanish was the native

language. I was amazed by the ease in which these individuals would jump from one language to the

next. That trip piqued my interest in language learning again.

Upon my return, I still needed to choose a major. I had thought about the possibility of being an

entrepreneur and studying business and in my research I found that the school offered an international

business degree. Though, one daunting task was required. I would have to have a minor in a foreign

language. I decided on the major and chose to study Spanish since, at least, I had prior exposure to it

and it would probably be the easiest for me. While others who had taken two years of it in high school

taking the “fast track” introduction class as review, in my fear I decided to take the “slow track” that was

broken up over two semesters.

The first Spanish course I took at the university was extremely boring and almost completely

focused on grammar. Though, I can truly say I that our teacher knew how to teach grammar for

grammar’s sake. To my surprise the Spanish I had learned all the years prior was flooding back to me. I

found that I was far more advanced than really needed for the course I was in. My confidence in

understanding the language soared from that class. At the end of that third semester I decided to take

on an internship with the same mission organization for a semester. The internship was in my

hometown so I would have to move back. Though, I was extremely excited about continuing to learn

Spanish. So, I enrolled for my next Spanish course at a local community college. By taking the class I

was preparing myself for the trips I would go on with the internship.

The second course varied widely from the first. The 2nd level was more focused on

communication in the TL. While not a communicative classroom since everything was heavily discussion

oriented, it still was conducted almost purely in the TL. We were assigned homework to practice and

learn vocabulary and forms and then expected to attempt to use them to communicate in the classroom

the following class. Since my confidence had been reinvigorated in the first college Spanish course I

took, I felt ready to try and orally communicate in the classroom. I found that I was one of the few who

spoke often and because of that I quickly made progress in my oral proficiency. Every other week we

went to the computer lab to use the language learning software associated with the book we were

using. It allowed us to practice our pronunciation of words and have visual stimuli to associate with and

practice using our vocabulary.

During my internship I had the opportunity to travel to Bolivia and Panama. In Bolivia, I made a

friend my age who spoke no English and we relied on my Spanish (which I had not used effectively since

my sophomore year in high school) in order to communicate. The vocabulary and structures I had

learned in the previous two courses were coming out in my speech. I realized on this trip that my oral

proficiency was much better than I had encountered in the 2nd semester of Spanish. My time in Panama

was more extensive and even more people relied on me to be able to speak in Spanish so that things

could be accomplished. The combination of those two things expedited my proficiency in Spanish at an

even quicker rate while there. At one moment on the trip I found myself translating to myself what a

preacher was saying in English into Spanish. I was amazed at how much I understood and could put into

Spanish. While I had been impressed with my ability to use and understand the language, this trip

showed me how quickly I was able to process things already.

After the internship I returned to the university where my new found love for learning another

language began influencing my career choices. I spent another year as an international business major

while taking other Spanish courses. Those courses were both intermediate level courses. I found myself

ahead of the curve concerning grammar and speaking abilities and had my professor create an

alternative curriculum for me. Instead of doing countless grammar drills for homework I was required to

read poems by Jorge Luis Borges and write short essays on them. However, I was still required to

participate in in-class activities. In class reading and discussing in the language was the focus, but it was

fairly limited and only few students (including myself) would end up speaking. At the end of that year I

realized that I really had no desire to be an entrepreneur any longer but rather to understand Spanish. I

switched my major to Spanish, accordingly.

The next summer I would return to Curacao with much improved Spanish. In fact, while there I

met a young woman that I quickly became interested in. She had traveled there from Venezuela to help

with our trip. Interestingly enough though is that she spoke English and we did not communicate much

in Spanish. After the trip we maintained contact and became exclusive with one another. My love

interest at the time led me to seek to be near her. Since a foreign language major lends itself easily to

study abroad, I searched extensively for a program in Venezuela. Though not many existed due to the

political climate being so worrisome, I found a program through the University of Minnesota. The

decision I made to study in Venezuela was the most impactful and beneficial thing I did to increase my

language proficiency.

My classes in Venezuela (a business Spanish course, a Latin American history course, and an

advanced level grammar course, and an online Study Abroad course) were all conducted in Spanish by

Venezuelan teachers with the exception of the online course. At the time I thought the classes to be my

primary source of language learning but in retrospect I see that really I did not learn as much in them as

I thought I would have. With the exception of the online course, the courses were almost useless (of

course speaking in Spanish while in the classroom was helpful) with so little structure and focus. In the

Latin American history class we had no textbook and no real guidance on what we were supposed to be

doing when given assignments. In the advanced grammar course the teacher let the students plan the

curriculum and had no plan to really assess our understanding of different grammatical concepts. The

business Spanish class had more structure than the others, but it seemed extremely out of context and

hard to make practical since none of the students were there working in a business. Nonetheless, I

gleaned a great amount of understanding about being immersed in a culture and language and allowing

yourself to process everything that you have encountered through the online course. That to me was

the most beneficial part of my classes while I was there.

In Venezuela I was exposed to the day-to-day intricacies of a beautiful culture and language. I

was required to get around and essentially survive without using English. Many classmates would often

get together and spend most of their free time together. Ultimately they spent a significantly more time

speaking in English while together than Spanish. I made a conscience effort to avoid spending too much

time with my classmate so that I would be forced to use Spanish more often. This proved to give me

many more opportunities to use my Spanish to get around and do things that I might not have otherwise

had to do. I found the whole process fascinating and invigorating. One of my personal goals was to

master and sound like a Venezuelan before leaving. I believe I met that goal to the best of my ability. I

still have many native speakers tell me that they cannot tell that I am not a native speaker until they

have spoken with me for some time.

Through focused attention to the feelings I was experiencing and language I was hearing while

studying abroad, I feel my language learning was enhanced. Ultimately I reached far greater oral

proficiency in the language than I could have imagined.

Upon return from my study abroad semester I only needed to complete one more year of

courses in order to graduate. The rest of my courses except one were Spanish courses. During this time

I took my favorite Spanish class from my undergraduate career. The Spanish literature class I took

required large amounts of reading in the TL and discussing with classmate and as a class in the TL. It was

the only in class in which I truly felt challenged to use Spanish better than how I already did.

Considering I was in the United States, the literature course was most influential among all of the classes

taken at my university.

I took one other course that pushed me in ways other than language learning, but still important

to my decision to become a language educator. The last class I took was an internship. In the internship

I volunteered in a dual language kindergarten classroom two days a week. The teacher of the classroom

I volunteered in was amazing in the way the students responded to her. While I was there the class was

conducted in Spanish however other parts of the day were conducted in English. The students openly

communicated with the teacher in Spanish and English (when required) and made great gain, even in

the short time I was there. While even during that semester I had not decided what I wanted to do for a

career, this class pushed me to think about it.

Becoming and Being a Language Educator

The overall effect of my love for learning other languages did not truly influence my decision to

become a teacher. Sadly, I became a teacher out of necessity, though I felt I might perform average at

the job. I enrolled in an alternative certification program and quickly passed the tests needed to

become certified. I graduated in December and after two months of substitute teaching, I obtained a

job in March. Throughout the next year I would complete classes for teacher training. During my

teacher training I found it frustrating that learning a foreign language was treated like every other

subject since I knew from personal experience it was similar in some aspects but mostly very different.

I had understood my love of language learning for some time but what I learned after becoming

a teacher was that the process that students go through in learning the language in the classroom is

different in some ways than in the real world. I began doing my own personal research to determine

best ways to teach my students. I tried applying theories of second language acquisition to the way I

taught in the classroom and on many occasions experienced success with my students. Other

colleagues and supervisors quickly noticed that I was one of few who were truly motivated to

understand and apply current research.

Over the last three years teaching has been trial and error for me. Not one year has been even

remotely the same. I am always searching for newer and deeper understanding of how students

process and create language and how to utilize that information so that they can acquire as much of the

language as possible while in my classroom. Most recently my love language learning has given me the

opportunity to be the department chair for my high school and the “go-to guy” for foreign language in

the district since there is no district coordinator. This has given me the opportunity to help our language

teachers focus on contextualizing our teaching and using current research to help make our students

proficient in the language. I always try to think back to the level 3 course that I failed and use that to

motivate me to not allow my students to do the same as I did. Similarly, I draw upon my love for

language learning to push me to motivate them in more and more ways.