Today, I am sharing the three things I wish I knew as a first-year Spanish teacher. When I learned these three things, I wondered why nobody had told me about these things. Maybe someone had told me these things, but maybe I wasn’t ready to hear them.
I’ve been teaching for 17 years! Before I started, I left Columbia, came here, got married, and became a teacher. A lot of things have changed since I’ve started teaching. When I first started teaching, I focused on making textbook content fun for my students. I used games, songs, interactive PowerPoints, and even decorated my classroom. But none of this had an impact on my students’ proficiency.
I now know that what I needed those first few years was to have a better understanding of how learners acquire language. I was doing intentional things in my classroom; they were just not really helping my students acquire the language.
#1 Thing I Wish I Knew as A First-Year Spanish Teacher
I really wish I would have known this one! The first thing is that Comprehensible Input is an essential ingredient for language acquisition. I didn’t find out about Dr. Stephen Krashen until later in my career. This is what he says:
The comprehension hypothesis states that we acquire language and develop literacy when we understand messages. That is when we understand what we hear and when we read, when we receive comprehensible input.
I was like, “What?” I thought it was important to understand all the tenses and the rules so they could use the language. In my class, I focused on learning and teaching the language, instead of using the language. I know, it’s just kind of like common sense, but it wasn’t for me.
So, What Is Comprehensible Input?
Comprehensible input is not a strategy or activity. Comprehensible input is the ingredient our students need to acquire the language. They need to hear it, and they need to read it. I was kind of confused at the beginning, but then I read, While We’re On The Topic by Dr. Bill Van Patten. I still read it because it is super powerful! He gave this example: “Think about when you go to the supermarket, and you’re going to go and pay, and they have this scan, and they scan the barcode of your products. They need to scan that barcode, only that barcode, to be able to read and get the price of the product; nothing else, not the image, not the side. And when that barcode is not clear, it’s not comprehensible to the scanner… The same thing happens for language.”
The big implication in the classroom is that we need to use as much comprehensible language as possible, as much of the target language as possible in class. I then understood this.
The reality is that if we don’t provide a ton of comprehensible input in our classes, our students will not acquire the language.
#2 Thing I Wish I Knew as A First-Year Spanish Teacher
The second point is just as important as the first. Dr. Bill Van Patten also says:
Input in language acquisition is language the learners hear or see in a communicative context and for a purpose.
Reading this was big for me because for so many years in the beginning, I did use language. Maybe not a lot, to be honest with you, but I used it. The problem is that when I used language in my class, I was using the language to practice a grammar concept. I wasn’t using the language to communicate a message.
I would ask my students to look at a picture and tell me what “Martin” did last weekend, and they would have to try to say what Martin did that weekend based on the picture. Then, I would ask what Martin was going to do in the future. My intention was to practice tenses.
Now, I ask my students, “What did you do this weekend?”, and I really want to know what they did. We want the conversation to go something like:
“Oh, I went to the movies with my friend”
“When did you go to the movies with a friend?”
“Oh, I went on Saturday,”
“Which movie did you watch?”
“Oh, I watched this movie.”
And then you hear the class say, “Oh, me, too.”
Then, you start getting to know what your students like. You’re using the language, but you are using it to get to know each other.
#3 Thing I Wish I Knew as A First-Year Spanish Teacher
This one must be there to be able to do any of the others. The third thing I wish I knew as a first-year Spanish teacher is to build a strong community in my class. I think that without the connections, without the culture, it is going to be really hard for me to ask my students about personal stuff. Unless we have this connection, they’re probably not going to open up. Our students must feel safe in class, and they do this by feeling part of a community.
I think that’s why I always have a space in my class for activities, that their only purpose is to build those connections, and build that strong culture in my class. How do you build community in your classroom?
I hope that these three pillars give you clarity, the same clarity that I need every day when I’m designing my lesson plans or when I’m thinking about activities or games for my class.
The World Language Teacher Summit
It’s happening again this weekend, The World Language Teacher Summit! If you want a free ticket, you can go to this link. There are going to be 33 speakers, and I’m so honored to be one of the speakers this year. It’s totally free! If you choose to purchase the all-access pass after you register for your free ticket, then I may receive a small commission. You need to check it out because it’s full of great expertise, experiences, ideas, and strategies! Click HERE to get your free ticket.
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