The World Together, One Student at a Time

When I looked into the classroom, I witnessed our students of all different ages, different backgrounds and different walks of life laughing and playing and learning Spanish, all at the same time. That’s magical. - Holy Angels Principal, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Muir

This past summer I ran a program for Title I students at a local private school. Most were students from the school, but some were not. Most spoke English as their first language, but some did not. And most were under 5th grade, but some were not. So there it was. My program, myself, on the line - Engage, teach and play with these students for a half hour’s time, Monday through Thursday, for four weeks straight, one of which you will also train and prep your replacement teacher for the following two weeks. You are considered their “fun class” and “break” from the day. Now go!  Spanish as the “break.” What a concept! Well, the program is called, “Spanish through FUN.” And fortunately, it ended up being more than a break. As I heard time and time again, it was their “favorite part of their day.” 

Looking back, I’m somewhat surprised I wasn’t more structured with a “Plan B: If this Blows up in my Face” option, but then again, I’m not. I feel that this year has very much allowed me to test my program with various constraining factors and age ranges and the formula always seems to be the same: connecting with the kids + making kids smile = helping kids learn. The only tricky aspects to this situation was that I’ve worked with all of these ages and backgrounds, but not together and I’ve worked with Spanish natives on ESL, but not in the same class as my students who had never taken Spanish. So how did it go?

They soared. My Spanish natives became leaders for my debutants, even when some of those Spanish natives were in 1st grade, 3 ft. tall, and wearing pigtails. This is the magic of teaching students to work together, but to have fun doing it. The pressure comes off and the lessons resonate. On day one, I couldn’t have told you what would happen, but I could not have been more happy to see that by the end of the summer, this class relied on one another’s efforts to win games, play together, and use their Spanish. And just like Dr. Muir said, to see all of those faces looking toward you and laughing with you, and calling out new Spanish vocabulary together to reach new heights, “That’s magical.”