Bringing Authentic Cultural Experience To The Classroom

I am an AACPS: Spanish Teacher and World And Classical Language Department Chair, Meade High School

In high school, I was lucky enough to travel to Spain as an exchange student.  Upon return, I knew I wanted to continue using and studying Spanish, but I had no idea how or what I would do.  As a senior in high school, during Catholic Schools week, I had the chance to go in to local diocesan school and teach Spanish classes for week, to kids in 4th grade who’d never spoken a word of Spanish.  After that, I was hooked! After graduating from college with a major in Spanish, I had the amazing opportunity to be a volunteer teacher, teaching English, in a school in Lima, Peru.  I loved it so much I stayed for 4 more years, teaching in English and in Spanish, and coaching sports. Soon after, I found myself in Santiago, Chile where I stayed for 7 years teaching English and coaching basketball.

For the past 8 years, I have been able to bring 12 years of authentic cultural experiences into my AACPS classroom.  So many teachers teach from books and talk about what they studied. I teach from life experience. Every year, students comment about how much they would like to do something like I did.  They are engaged in the language and the culture in ways I never expected. I remember growing up and studying Spanish. Most of my friends wondered, WHY? Why are we learning Spanish? This is the same thing that my current students ask.  However, through my real-life experiences that I bring to the classroom, I am able to help them become open-minded learners who care about other cultures and races.

There are 2 major things/moments that motivate me to keep teaching. Success.  I don’t measure success based on a student getting an A on an assessment. That success comes when a student walks in to class and shares how he/she used Spanish in an authentic setting and how they light up with pride over the fact that they did it!  Making a difference in a student’s life! Each year, I teach so many valuable life lessons in class. I want students to learn more than just Spanish and Spanish culture. I am thrilled when someone comes up to me and tells me about how they were motivated to try something new or to volunteer their time because of something we discussed in class.  While I want everyone to leave my class as a Spanish speaker, I really want to help mold the students that leave my classroom so that they are ready for the real world.

After 20+ years of teaching, I am so grateful to every student who has walked into my classroom and touched my life.  While I am the “educator” in the room, so many times I have felt like the student, learning from my students, listening to their stories and watching them grow.  It is a wonderful feeling to be able to do what I do. Mufasa (The Lion King) said, “Look inside yourself. You are more than what you have become.” I think that is so true.  I never truly knew what a teacher was until I became one.