Out first guest blog post comes from our wonderful AmeriCorps member, Tanlyn Roelofs. Tanlyn is finishing up her year of service soon and I asked her to write a guest post before she leaves us to return to grad school.
I’ll admit it: I can’t speak Spanish. The most popular question I’m asked when I start talking about where I work or why I enjoy teaching adult ESL is whether or not I am fluent in Spanish. Sometimes people just assume and ask me where I learned Spanish or studied abroad. Although I have taken a class, I am still a true gringa.
For the past two years I have had the wonderful opportunity to teach ESL in Austin. The majority of my students are native Spanish speakers. At first, I was very intimidated to walk into a classroom and unsure if the students would understand me or learn anything for me at all. My opinion about this was shaped largely by a year I spent teaching English in Germany where I primarily spoke German to my students and had them do English grammar drills. Needless to say it wasn’t a very successful year.
Tanlyn with her students at Maudie’s Tex-Mex
Through the classes I’ve taught I’ve found that even very beginning students respond well to being exposed to English only for a long period of time (my classes average an hour and a half to two hours). When I establish a classroom atmosphere of acceptance with mistakes and not correcting every mispronunciation, the students seem to want to speak in English constantly to me and to each other. The emphasis on conversation really helps beginning students feel comfortable jumping in and practicing speaking. If I was translating all the time or focusing on explaining English grammar to the students in Spanish, I don’t think they would have the same zest for conversation.
That’s not to say that all activities work every time. Sometimes, a game or activity falls flat because it’s hard to communicate rules when students can’t completely understand you. It’s at these moments I wish I had the language behind me. But I usually find with some patience, poorly drawn pictures, and bad acting, they get the gist of what I’d like them to do. Then something like Simon Says turns into an activity they ask to play every class.
The moral of the story is, if you can speak Spanish or the native language of your students – that’s great! But try to be judicious about when you use it and only fall back on it when understanding has totally fallen apart. If you can’t speak their language – don’t fret! You’re in good company. Focus on the basics of communication and establishing a positive and supportive classroom atmosphere. The rest will fall into place. And if you have any questions ask Literacy Forward!
Thanks Tanlyn!
You can find more information about using students’ native language in the classroom on pages 138-139 of the Instructor Guide. And check out our Who We Are page to learn more about Tanlyn.