Love for Spanish

“In my classroom, most kids can talk in Spanish…. but they don’t like to. I talk to them in Spanish always and their first instinct is to reply in English.”

“It’s shocking to see students that talk Spanish at home, talking to each other in English… the power of English is incredible”

“In the mornings before coming into the classroom, sometimes I hear them complaining about having a Spanish day and… it hurts.”

Does this sound familiar? Well, you are not alone.

These quotes are excerpts of our conversations with in-Spanish teachers from different parts of the US. Their voices describe our ongoing battle against language inequity in most dual language programs. We face this reality every day, yet the question remains: How do we solve this inequity?

For many years, Dr. Julie Sugarman (co-author of the book Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education) has studied this inequity. Sugarman has discovered that Spanish faces four inequity challenges:

1. Motivation
2. English-only assessments
3. Shortage of Spanish resources
4. Lack of authentic texts in Spanish

In this blog entry we will discuss our students’ motivation for speaking, reading and writing in Spanish. In upcoming posts, we will dissect the other challenges.

In an exclusive interview for the Acento community, Dr. Sugarman addressed this lack of motivation.

A: Acento

JS: Dra. Julie Sugarman

A – We’ve talked to in-Spanish teachers from different parts of the country and they all report a lack of motivation in their students towards Spanish. What is the cause of this?

JS – There are a number of reasons why students might not be motivated to learn Spanish, often having to do with students’ sense of identity and with the status of Spanish as compared to English in the United States. But in some cases, a critical factor is students’ lack of experience with Spanish as a true language of communication. I know one classroom where the teacher said that her third graders had never had a chance to read authentic Spanish texts, so they came to the conclusion that “people don’t write in Spanish.” I can really sympathize with those students. So far, all they’ve seen of Spanish is that it’s just one extra hurdle for them to jump over to engage with academic content in Spanish, and they don’t encounter Spanish being spoken or written with an authentic purpose.

A – Can you speak more about this lack of authentic purpose?

JS – Well, our students can communicate in English and they don’t understand why they have to do it in Spanish. As a result, they may not see Spanish as a language that’s used for meaningful communication. It would be like being in a class where I had to write with mittens on and the kids in another class didn’t have to. I’d wonder, if there was no real-world purpose to learning to write with mittens on, why are our teachers making us do this extra hard thing for no good reason when we can write perfectly well without mittens on?

A – Right, so it’s about making these reasons meaningful to our students; which can be a real challenge. How could we accomplish this?

JS – Unlike English in the U.S., which students are strongly motivated to learn, Spanish dual language teachers sometimes have to create opportunities for students to experience authentic written and spoken Spanish in a variety of settings, even if they have native Spanish speakers in their classrooms.

A – Let’s talk about native Spanish speakers for a minute. What’s happening with them and this lack of motivation?

JS – Well , unfortunately, we know that even in two-way programs where you do have native Spanish speakers, by the second or third year of the program, even the native Spanish speakers often choose to speak English outside of instructional conversations (and sometimes even during instructional conversations). I think we need to remember that even native speakers need to have some extra encouragement to see Spanish as a vital and living language, that’s not just for academic purposes and spoken by those unhip parents and grandparents in their house.

A – Can you give us some specific examples of how this encouragement might look in the classroom?

JS – Yes, gladly. For example:

• Having pen pals or video-conferencing with students from a Spanish-speaking country.
• Reading authentic children’s literature (with appropriate background-building so that American-born students can understand the cultural nuances).
• Listening to stories told by students’ parents or grandparents.
• Older students might even compare a translated piece of writing to an authentic piece and discuss how the authentic piece sounds different (in terms of vocabulary, rhetorical style, etc.)

And again, these strategies have to have a clear and convincing purpose for students to engage. Otherwise, they won’t help our cause.

A – Agreed. With some strategic planning, ideas like these sound doable. So, how can the rest of the school support these initiatives?

JS – Well, a critical aspect of students seeing Spanish as a language for real communication is how the language is used throughout the classroom and the school. As a dual language practitioner, I’d want to ask myself the following questions:

• How do adults use Spanish with each other and with students outside of the classroom? Does Spanish have a visual presence outside the classroom?
• Do the adults in the school and the community act like Spanish is important to know?
• Does the school invest time and resources into Spanish at least equivalent to what they have for English (if not, more so)?
• Are students held accountable for expressing themselves appropriately in Spanish during content time?

A – These are great self-assessment questions for any dual language teacher, prompting us to reflect and begin with leading by example.

JS – Right. In authentic activities, students see the use of Spanish as integral to the activity itself, not just an activity that could be done in any language that happens to be done in Spanish. We want to maximize opportunities for students to use Spanish to engage in meaningful conversation, reading, and writing, not solely as a medium through which to complete academic tasks. So, Spanish being regarded by our students as a language of meaningful communication is incredibly important.

A – Yes, that sounds like the first step!

Hopefully, Dr. Sugarman’s insights can spark conversations in your school about even more ways to increase students’ motivation to use Spanish.

During the month of February, we invite you join us in a “Love for Spanish” campaign, creating experiences for students in support of Spanish as a language of meaningful communication. And, we want to hear from you! Please share your ideas and experiences with the rest of the Acento community in our comment box below.

¡Que viva nuestro amor por el español!