From student to teacher: my journey towards a communicative didactics of Spanish<

From student to teacher: my journey towards a communicative didactics of Spanish

I have always believed that the best way to learn how to teach is to remember how we were taught. As a student of English and French, I went through classrooms where grammar, translation, and mechanical repetition reigned. I would leave class knowing a list of irregular verbs, but I would remain speechless when ordering a coffee. That personal experience planted a seed in me: when I became a teacher, I would do things differently.

Today, after completing the Course for Teachers of Spanish as a Foreign Language at the Instituto Hemingway, that seed has germinated and grown on solid theoretical foundations. The reasons that brought me here were, above all, my passion for Spanish and the desire to share it with others. We live in a world where Spanish opens professional, cultural, and emotional doors. Being the facilitator of that process seemed like a privilege to me, but also a responsibility for which I needed to train. My expectations were high, and the course has exceeded them, not because it offers magic recipes, but because it has taught me to think like a teacher. DOCXIf anything has radically changed in my conception of didactics, it has been the understanding of errors.

Before, I saw it as a deviation to be corrected; now I know it is the manifestation of interlanguage, a hypothesis formulated by the student that gives us clues about their acquisition process. This mental shift, inspired by Krashen's theories and the communicative approach, has freed me from the corrective obsession and allowed me to value the risk involved in communicating in a language that is not yet mastered. DOCXThe journey through different methods—from the traditional to the communicative, including audiolingual or total physical response—has shown me that there is no perfect method, but rather a teacher who knows how to choose the right tools for each context. The PPP sequence, the task-based approach, or the thematic umbrella are not watertight compartments, but possibilities that are enriched when combined sensibly. In this sense, the concept of decreasing control seems fundamental to me: starting with controlled activities that provide security and progressing steadily towards open tasks where the student gains autonomy. DOCXThe integration of skills has been another revelation. In real life, we do not read, speak, listen, and write separately; everything happens at the same time.

Designing activities that reflect this simultaneity has required a planning effort, but the result is much more meaningful learning. To this is added the incorporation of ICT, not as a technological ornament, but as a resource that connects the classroom with the real world. Recording a newscast with a mobile phone, looking for a recipe on the internet, or completing a health habits survey on a Google form turns the class into an authentic rehearsal of what the student will find outside. DOCXThe preparation of the final dissertation has forced me to ground all these principles into a concrete proposal. Designing twenty hours of classes for an immersion group of young adults at the A2 level, with its thematic blocks, evaluation rubrics, and self-evaluation questionnaire, has made me feel for the first time that I am ready to enter a classroom.

The dissertation has taught me that programming is not about restricting, but about anticipating to then adapt with good judgment. DOCXToday I look back and see the path traveled. I started the course with intuitions; I finish it with tools. I still believe that language is communication, not an abstract code, but now I know how to justify why and, above all, how to bring it to the classroom. I take with me the certainty that a good teacher never stops being a student, and the commitment to continue training, sharing experiences with other teachers, and, of course, enjoying every small advance of my future students. DOCXBecause in the end, teaching Spanish is not just about transmitting structures; it is about building bridges between people. And that is, simply, a privilege.