Teaching English con Spice

FEATURE - Teaching Ingles con Spice
Sunday, 14 June 2009 18:00
Gina Roman Volume 11 - Issue 5, June 15, 2009


http://lakechapalareview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1321:feature-teaching-ingles-con-spice&catid=394:volume-11-issue-5-june-15-2009&Itemid=7



Teaching Ingles con Spice

By Gina Roman

A few years back, right after high school, if anyone would have asked me if university was an option for me, I would have firmly said, “No.” I wouldn’t have hesitated at all. That’s how much I despised school. Of course if I’d been asked if I wanted to be a teacher, I would have been even more decisive and would have said “No way,” or “como crees!” (“Do you think so?”) Since I despised school, I didn’t see myself working in any way with anything that had to do with school

Eventu­ally, some­how things took a different route in my life and here I am, a teacher, and I love every min­ute of it, like I had not enjoyed any other job before.



Each day as I’m headed to work in order to be in my first class at 7 a.m., I analyze how and what techniques I can apply to my weekly lesson plan. I must keep the classes as amusing as possible, doing everything necessary to keep my students interested in order for them to learn and have fun at the same time. Since I am always on the road, go­ing from one place to another, whether it is to teach, to interpret, to write an article, to work as a demo girl, or to edit a book, my mind is always processing thoughts and it’s those long lonely drives during which I take the most advantage of, doing my best thinking, since I am alone and nobody can disturb me.

Preparing a class and teaching it the right way is very similar to the process of making a good salsa. You have to make sure you have the right ingredients and the right “touch” to give it the right spice. As a Mexican-Americana or however you want to call me, (I was born in Mexico, raised in the United States and now living back in Mexico), I’m not just any teacher. I can relate to where my students are coming from and their strengths and weaknesses be­cause the blood that runs through my veins is the same as runs through their veins and that encourages me to put my mind, my soul and my heart into this job of teaching them English.

I enjoy working with "mi gente," (my people) because each time I look into their eyes and hear their improve­ment, it touches "mi corazon" (my heart) and it fills me with "alegría" (happiness). I know I have a mission to accomplish with each one of my students and it makes this insightful experience even more worthwhile.

One of the best ways to spice up my classes is by doing fun activities including games related to the topic. When I tell them we are going to play a game, I see their eyes glowing and their wide smiles; they are like kids who are rewarded when they do their homework, they get moti­vated and they can’t get enough of the fun of learning.

Sometimes I invent an activity related to culture, his­tory, holidays or even a student’s special request. Not only do I follow the guidelines of teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) I mix it up with other learning materials as well.

The students have difficulties understanding things such as phrasal verbs (“I’ve been PUTTING ON a lot of weight these days.”) They’re looking at the verb and the particle individually because they are thinking in Spanish and au­tomatically translating verbatim. I can put myself in their place and think in Spanish like a Mexican and can then ex­plain how each language is completely different and how literal translations don’t work well.

On the other hand when I think like an American, those sentences feel completely normal, they make perfect sense to me. This tactic has always worked in my classes, it helps the students feel like someone finally understands them and knows why English is such a challenge.

My students also like learning English “Latinized” with a little touch of Spanglish as they understand the differ­ence between similar words and their very different trans­lations: There’s "doláres" (dollars) and "dolores" (pain). Now that’s a form of English that everyone is eager to learn,
English as American as Benito Juarez, is a matchless experience that only they can enjoy and appreciate even though it is a difficult language and some may not be able to ever master.

I sit in the classroom waiting, welcoming everyone tell­ing them to commend themselves to their guardian angels, their "duendes" (elves), or their patron saints: "Santa Tristeza" — Saint Sadness; "Santa Alegría" - Saint Happinness,;Santo Todolopuede – Saint you can do it all to survive this Eng­lish class.

Then there are pronouns. “Qué?” What is a pronoun!? “No sabemos!” (we don’t know) but let’s sprinkle holy wa­ter on them, let’s make the sign of the cross on past parti­ciples and jump like fish from Lake Patzcuaro on gerunds, pour tequila from Jalisco on future perfects. And when a teacher asks “Do you speak English?” They will answer “Si”, (“Yes”) or “Simon“ (“Of course”).
I love English!