Do you Speak Spanish?

My Spanish-Speaking Family

I’ve never considered myself a fluent Spanish speaker. On Christmas, sitting under a table as a kid, I’d listen to my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all speak Spanish around me, but I couldn’t participate, so I grew to ignore it.

I started taking Spanish classes in middle school. I learned verb tenses and tried them out in front of family. Only to be met with a condescending: “Oh, look who’s finally speaking Spanish!” I got A’s. I still didn’t speak it.

My mom was born on a farm in the Dominican Republic. She moved to the United States at some point in high school, and learned English the hard way: immersion. Most communication was hard for her, except math. She went to college and majored in math, and eventually became a bilingual math teacher. She’s the first person I called when I heard I would be getting a Spanish speaking student in my second-grade elementary class.

New Spanish-Speaking Student

I had seen this student around the school already. She came from Colombia, and was mistakenly placed in a fourth-grade class. I had made small talk with her on the playground, phrases like “hello” and “how are you.” Her teacher asked if I spoke Spanish, to which I replied: “Only a little.” But she asked if I could translate something for her, help mediate a dispute about a toy. Just like that, Melanie and I connected, and she sought me out in the hallways to say hi in the mornings.

I was terrified when she moved to my classroom. I looked up as many words as I thought I’d need. And wrote translations on post-its. I pulled my phone out every ten minutes, it seemed, to google more translations throughout the day. Melanie was exceptionally patient with me, and seemed to be really happy in our room. 

So… How’d it Go?

I think she was just happy that I tried so hard. Her first day in my room, I seated her next to a bilingual student, and mediated some games that could be played without talking, so she could bond with the other kids in class. There has been a lot of tic-tac-toe with spelling words, and math crossword puzzles.

I was especially proud of the social studies lesson that day. We were learning about wants and needs, and even though I couldn’t translate for every student who was called on, Melanie looked really excited to be included.

I called my mom after school and excitedly told her, “Mom, you didn’t tell me I could speak Spanish!”

Speaking with Melanie didn’t feel like speaking with my aunts or uncles. She probably noticed when I mixed up word tenses, and she gently corrected me, but she spoke slowly and shyly. I could understand her if I looked her in the eyes and watched her lips move. I could figure out what an unknown word meant in context, or with Google’s help. 

The System Works!

I was using all of the skills I have been teaching my students.

How many times have I reminded students to look at the person speaking? To repeat back what someone said in their own words, to make sure they understood? To give someone the benefit of the doubt when there is a miscommunication? Even when we’re all speaking English, so many of the arguments and squabbles in my classroom come from failing to listen to one another, thinking that letting someone “have” a toy means to “keep,” not to borrow. I’ve reached the point of frustration where toys are no longer allowed, even at break times, because if you can’t play nicely and communicate with one another, you can’t have toys at all!

That sounds like something my Mom would have said to us growing up. And sometimes she would have said it in Spanish.

Look at them now, though. They are reaching out to play cops and robbers with a girl who doesn’t speak their language. They are reading body language and facial expressions. It warms my heart, and frustrates me at the same time. Why can’t they show the same kindness and patience to one another? Are they just excited to meet the new girl? 

Sometimes Language is a Barrier to Communication

It’s January, so we are more than halfway through the school year. My students know our class routines–where we keep pencils, what we do at clean up time–without me having to say it. And my new student, even without understanding the words of those around her, is copying their movements, and taking cues on what to do next. I wonder if that’s how my mom assimilated as well, by following the flow of what everyone else was doing. 

I wonder if she learned English by copying what she heard until it started to stick. Melanie is very quiet, and I think I need to encourage her to use some English phrases. Like my mom, Melanie is very good in math. I wonder if she goes home and tells her mom that her teacher speaks Spanish.