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UPCOMING FREE ACTIVITIES
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Course for Spanish as a Foreign Language teachers
September 21, 2014
Marina Moreno Rodríguez

Spanish courses and Spanish philology: an experience as a teacher

Hello everbody. I have just finished the final report of the course and I wanted to tell you a little who I am and why I did the course for teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language.

My name is Marina and I am qualified in Spanish Philology. I work as a teacher on a private basis , giving classes in an academy that I am creating  on my own. I am excited about customized teaching: on equal terms with the student: having in my hands the capacity to introduce him to new concepts, ideas, illusions, future, culture, education, knowledge and a feature etc; the knowledge that a lot of aspects of the uncertain future of the pupil depend, on you, on the teacher.

A teacher, from my point of view, is not only a " teacher" of subjects that he/she give; language, maths, sciences, English and film etc: he/she is also  a "teacher" of life, a model for the student: I am conscious that, in class, the learner are attentive to every last detail: from how their teacher speaks, dresses, combs their hear..... to how he/she explains, what values he/she has, his/her shape and know how, his/her modals, education, ideas and opinions......... Everything counts. A teacher is a guide for this young and undeveloped person who emmerges in life. And this is my challenge each day in class.

My speciality is Spanish Language and its literature at a secondary school level,  the university access entrance exam and test for adults of 25 and 45 years old. The idea of doing this course came to be because on one occasion some boys asked me for Spanish classes.  It involved German pupils, aged between 25-30 years old. They possessed a very high level of Spanish ( I would say a C1, according to the CEFR levels) mastering to a T as much oral as written skills in normal conversations and in daily environments.

Faced with the new challenge for me( given that up until that moment I had never given classes in the L2) nor had I thought about it, well I said to myself: " Who better than a philologist ( of Hispanics), to teach his own mother language?" Major error. Even thought the classes passed with success since those students assisted over several consecutive years, it is true that I, in my first time teaching job, felt totally lost, disorientated, out of my element, without clear teaching objectives nor a methodological basis: I did not know what to teach exactly nor how to do it. From the dictations, grammar exercises, essays or conversations for oral interaction, I was not even able to know how to proceed, to advance. And faced with specific questions on subjunctives, "para/por", preterites and these such problematic points which are language poses for a foreign student,  I simply did not know  how and the way to respond. My explanations were too academic, I felt that I was not doing it well.

All this, coupled with the growing demand for Spanish as an L2 led me to carry out this course. And here I am, with the final report now finished and with the certainty of having done the right thing,  since the first thing that you learn at Instituto Hemingway, at least, the first thing that I had to learn , is to change your way of thinking: it is not the same to teach a native than a non native. From then on, with this concept clear in my mind, I am already advancing confidently towards the correct teaching of my language to a foreigner.

Also, moving forwards on this basis  I have come across key terms. Here I must first of all and without a doubt higlgiht, the communicative method, entirely a great discovery for me. This method has  totally changed the work approach thinking in L2 teaching, for me and all the DELE teachers. From now on, I am clear that I am going to focus on it faced with whatever future L2 class although  I am able to intersperse it with something else to go into depth in certain specific aspects more purely grammatical , for example, or a learning which requires a certain speed or urgency etc......
Now, I have organized my mind for teaching an  L2. Now , I am already prepared to handle an L2 class.

I want to thank Instituto Hemingway, in particular, my tutour and guide in this continous learning journey, Alfredo. Without his " knowledge", his advice, his way of encouraging you, his patience, it would not have been the same. Thank you for everything.

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