Spanish Teacher for foreigners: A vocation and a profession<

Spanish Teacher for foreigners: A vocation and a profession

I would like to write a few lines about my experience as a Spanish teacher for foreigners. To begin, I would like to start my saying that until relatively recently, I had not thought about giving Spanish clases. I finished my degree in Hispanic Philology with the aim of entering the world of translation and I am sure that many would ask now why I did not choose to take a career in translation which seems the most obvious option to choose. Well, I graduated in filogogy because it seemed to me as a career which would provide me with more in terms of knowledge and culture and would be more enriching in all ways. And the truth is that I don´t regret having choosen it.

I started to give Spanish clases with the idea that it would be something temporary, just an experience because I never thought that it would me the career path for me. But, soon I realised that I was wrong... Now I have a totally different vision than at the start. I think that it is a very rewarding and fun job. All the students i have had have been marvellous and have been pleased to have given spanish classes. At the beginning, the students would observe you with curiosity, impatient to see how the class would be taught and then after a few days you start to see how they accept and assimilate your way of teaching and it seems that they start to become quite fond of you. You can see it all in their faces, when they are annoyed, distracted, happy or when they do not understand a thing. What i´m trying to say is that a teacher is more than just simply a teacher. This is because a teacher has to always be interested in their students, see their reactions and show concern for them. I think that everything should be done to make them feel comfortable in classes, to learn their names straight away, make sure no one has any doubts, and not to make those who are most shy go to the whiteboard if they are don´t want to. It is also important to observe the class and for me to make sure that everyone feels at ease.

Students recognise this and they value it a lot and so they are more eager to learn because they are in a place where they have the opportunity to participate without pressure. I was teaching adolesecents between the age of 14 and 20. Since I was at the time 24 years old, maybe this was why it was more difficult for me. Giving intensive courses for children one or two weeks so that they could learn and also have fun at the same time meant that these classes were slightly playful in character. I played lots of different games with them so that they could learn the grammar and vocabulary. For the cultural clases, I found the resources avaialble on the internet to be most helpful. This soon engaged their attention and meant that the classes were more pleasant and enjoyable.

The conversation classes were always very interesting, talking about current affiars and I tried to make them as appealing as possible. It is incredible how much more interested the students are when they are talking about something that appeals to them. I always tried to be aware of the most famous singers in the world (depending on the age of my students) and from there I developed a debate about fame and physical appearance amongst other topics such as sport like football and I talked about the latest signings, favourite teams and debated about money, healthy living etc.

I think that it´s important that the students see that we are interested in listening to their opinions. If the topics are somewhat polemical, i have found that they will make more of an effort to say something to defend their own opinions and then suddenly the fear and embaressment of speaking goes away.

So much so, that one of my tutors who came to observe my class was very impressed by how much the students were speaking, because in her class hardly any of them used to say anything.

I believe that it is necesarry to approach the students and understand them, be their friend and by interested in their needs and hobbies. In this way they will give you in return a smile at the end of every day, and eager to learn and take an interest in your clases.