I am grateful to have been teaching high school Spanish for seven years.

Words that

come to mind when I think of my daily life in the classroom are relationships, humor, structure,

high standards, research-based, comfort, safety, reading, laughs, energy, speaking, culture,

openness, writing, welcoming, music, patience, smiles, and change. My experience teaching

high school Spanish and my involvement in TESOL courses at USD have contributed to my

ability to successfully teach TESOL as well.

Most of my students enter Spanish 1 only knowing “hola” and “cómo estás” and after

three years are able to read, write, speak, and understand Spanish at impressive levels of

proficiency regarding people, places, things, and activities in their daily lives. This process is

intricate yet so simple. Grammatical rules and memorization, while at times useful, are

deprioritized while natural communication (input followed by output) is prioritized. Every week, I

teach through an authentic context, such as household chores, vacation, or hobbies, and use

TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) to foster acquisition. When

visiting my classroom, one will find students learning culture through music, reading cuentos

together and calling on each other with ¡palomitas!, answering written questions about a text,

conversing in the target language, acting out skits, doing crucigramas, writing poetry, creating

comics, competing in games, and so much more. I prepare (and over-prepare) so that all

students are sufficiently challenged and engaged.

One important concept to consider is the importance of fostering the four key language

domains of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students must participate in a variety of

activities in order to foster all of these domains. The goal is for all of the key domains to be

fostered equally so that students improve their communication skills in the target language.

Another important concept to consider is the balance between communication and

perfection, also known as the balance between fluency and relevance. There should be space

for both communication and perfection in a language classroom. The daily goal should be to

communicate in the language, but some elements of perfection should be fostered as well. For
example, students should feel comfortable speaking and should not be overly-worried about

making small grammatical mistakes when speaking. However, some activities, such as

crossword puzzles, should be implemented so that accuracy can be fostered as well while

keeping stress low.

My teaching is constantly evolving, and I have the energy and openness to adapt when

introduced to new, effective strategies. When online gaming became more popular, I gamified

my classroom with 100+ Gimkit and Blooket sets, all in the target language, that students

compete with to reinforce grammar and vocabulary. When my district switched to Canvas during

the pandemic, I left paper behind and made all activities available online, which has streamlined

grading and allowed me to provide feedback almost always within twenty-four hours. In order to

hold my students accountable in their speech development, I created 60+ conversation guides

that students use to ask each other questions while using Canvas’ voice recording feature. Most

recently, and what I am currently most proud of, I have been using Artificial Intelligence to write

stories that I use to foster TPRS in an immersive environment.

While I have been teaching high school Spanish for seven years, I have yet to ever have

to refer a student to administration for discipline. Rather, I find creative ways to discipline and

maintain order within the classroom. I engage in person-first thinking, in which I acknowledge

the many events that may be happening in a student’s life that may lead them to act out or

withdraw. Every student, like all human beings, wants to be heard, seen, included, and accepted

for who they are, and it is my job to ensure that all students feel comfortable and safe in our

learning environment. I develop relationships with students, and I have the emotional

intelligence to know when a student needs to be cheered up by a joke, when they need to be

asked about their day, or when they need space. I have noticed that even some of the most

difficult students to teach are more likely to do their best when they feel that I genuinely care

about them and want them to succeed.

 I plan to use my experience as I teach TESOL. English-language learners come with a

different set of challenges, and I am ready to meet the needs that they have. While English is a

global language, I will be teaching it here in the United States. When teaching here, I will teach

my students what they need to function in society and give them the tools they need to be

included in all that they do both in and out of the classroom.

My experience teaching and what I’ve learned from taking TESOL classes have led to

me the beliefs and philosophy that I currently hold. It is important to constantly grow and evolve

in order to best meet the needs of a dynamic student population in the field of TESOL.