90%+ in the target language is the recommendation set by ACTFL. I remember myself thinking “90%? That’s so much more than what I am doing!” So I decided to make a change. I decided to jump in and speak Spanish as much as possible with every level. I remember being intimidated. I am not a native speaker and what if I didn’t know how to say something or explain something? And, if I don’t know the words, how would I make it comprehensible for my students? In the end, though, it came down to a choice. I was going to speak Spanish and nothing else. So I did. (I teach multiple levels, but here I will go in depth with my Spanish 1’s)
The first day of school, I greeted everyone in Spanish. I explained the class routine using TPR – no sweat. I told a mini-story (It’s great, simple, and gets student actors.) Staying in Spanish 90% of the time was going to be a piece of cake. Then we hit a culture unit.
I had already decided that I was going to use English to teach some things about culture. In the past I have had some amazing cultural conversations with my students and in order to go in depth, we discussed culture in English. So, halfway through the second week of school, I stood in front of my first class of the day and I warned them that I was going to speak in English. Oddly enough, I was nervous. It was like I could be a different person when I only spoke the TL. I took a deep breath and before I could open my mouth, one of my students raised his hand.
“Profe Bates,” he said. “Please don’t speak in English. You will ruin the magic.”
I smiled. I had created a magical space in my classroom – one that didn’t need English. Even though the rest of the class moaned and complained because they WANTED to hear me speak in English, I pushed forward in Spanish, and I have never looked back.
Now, I have a reputation. Graduating students tell incoming Freshman to not even bother trying to get Ms. Bates to speak English – she even speaks Spanish to you in Walmart! But it’s okay, because you’ll learn to understand her.
So, how do I do it? I do a lot of acting in front of my class. I also draw a lot of pictures (it’s very abstract art – like Picasso!). I use circumlocution and let my rock star students figure out the meaning for the class. When all else fails, or students get confused, I do write the English meaning on the board. However, I never let English come out of my mouth during Spanish class. I can’t anymore. I have a reputation to maintain.
