Overall Learning Experiences

My overall experiences with this class was different than most classes I have done. There

was a lot of things that were different, like the assignments. The assignments I did were limited

and were different in terms of the format. I had to use APA format and I did not know how to use

that so I had to learn on my free time. For these assignments the font style was different,

normally I would type things and use the Times New Roman 12pt but instead the font style was

changed to Arial 12pt. Other than those changes the assignments done were mostly reflections

and presentations and readings. . I for one had a hard time with these readings because they were

often gruesome and quite long. I read the first set of readings and thought that I would retain

something while at it but that didn’t work out. I then decided that I will start taking notes in my

book and use them as references. The readings were mostly from the text book used in class and

since I did not have the text book I had to take pictures of the chapters. These chapters ranged

from anywhere between 10 to 15 pages and were quite long and I found them to be boring at

times. For me the assignment that was valuable was the presentation on the 5C of Language. My

group was responsible for Communicative aspect of Language. During this presentation I learnt

that there are many ways we use language for, there are many things to come along with a

language. I learnt that language is not just about speaking but also about a person’s culture. I

learnt that language is a person’s identity therefor we should always respect a person’s language.
I learnt that in order for us to understand people we first need to understand their language,

understand how they communicate and how they in cooperate their culture into their language or

vice versa.

As time progressed I learnt that there are several ways to teach Spanish as a second

language. For instance I can use different games and activities that are meaningful and

communicative at the same time. I can use differentiated instructions with those students that are

fluent Spanish speakers and those that are not. I can use different visuals, and meaningful audio

such as songs or poems that the students can relate to. A few activities I think I would take from

this class would be “The Monster” and ‘Tic Tac Toe”. I chose these two because there are

several ways to use these two activities in the classroom. One way to use “The Monster” in the

classroom would be to have one student draw a shape on a paper and pass the paper down the

row, as the paper passes down the row each student will add one thing to the drawing until the

drawing is complete. The teacher then holds up the drawing and have each student state what

they added to the drawing in Spanish. This is both communicative and meaningful because this

gives the students an opportunity to learn new things from their classmates while they practice

the language. The other game “Tic Tac Toe” is played just as the regular game would. Using

masking tape the teacher places the squares on the floor of the classroom, the students will be

given questions and they are to step on the tile that has the appropriate answer, when on the tile

the students are to read what it says in Spanish. There are other games and activities I could use
in my classroom as long as I make it relevant and communicative, for example Bingo and the

famous Chalupa.

Some things I feel I may need more information on are some other methodologies for

teaching Spanish. I also need to work on my Spanish speaking skills, after all I don’t want to be

in the classroom teaching Spanish and have one of my students correcting me. Due to the fact

that I was not exposed to Spanish as much as I should have been in primary school I feel a lack

of confidence when it comes to teaching Spanish. I noticed that the Spanish curriculum is quite

detailed and I personally did not see much of these contents being taught in some classes. I

noticed that majority of our teachers do not give Spanish as much attention as they would give

Language Arts or any other subject at that and I am concerned. I am not 100 percent confident in

teaching Spanish but I will not let that hinder me from doing my job as a teacher.