Lucian 1

Lindsey Lucian
Park Parkinson
English 106
31 Jan 2014
Hablas Espaol?

One of the most frustrating tasks I have encountered in life is trying to
communicate with someone where neither party spoke a common language. It
always results in an awkward game of charades that may not even end successfully
and everyone feels slightly foolish. I had taken Spanish daily as a required course
since I was 6 years old, yet never appreciated the importance of it until many years
later when I had a teacher who completely changed my perspective on what I had
always considered a chore.
In my family, Spanish was never a popular subject, which I believe can be
accredited to a few reasons. My two older brothers, who excelled academically, were
never very good at the language, and the second they no longer needed to take it
they quit. I naturally looked up to my older brothers and if they didnt like Spanish
or feel the need to continue in it, then why would I? To say the least, I struggled with
the language for years, and to be truthful, I didnt put a whole lot of effort into it. My
father also had his own strongly voiced opinion of the subject that was hard to
ignore when I was younger. My dad was an extreme republican, strongly opposed to
illegal immigration. He believed completely in the stereotype that all illegal
immigrants were Mexicans, and because of this, he would say that we were all
wasting our time learning Spanish, which is actually a completely outrageous thing
to say. This was a horrible mindset, and yes, my father and I didnt get along, but
spiting my dad was also not why I decided to take learning Spanish seriously. In 8
th

grade I had a teacher who actually helped me enjoy not just the language but also
the cultural aspects, and from this point on I didnt allow any sort of political agenda
impact my decisions regarding my education.
There is always that one teacher each year that the big kids warn you about
in school, and I can definitely say that I had the misfortune of having them all, the
Trunchbulls. This teacher fit the bill perfectly and I dreaded the first day of class as
she was rumored to be extremely hard and mean, handing out detentions as if it
were her job and assigning hours of homework each night. Fortunately, these were
true rumors and I wouldnt be where I am today because of them. She was a teacher
who genuinely seemed to hate teaching a bunch of middle school punks who
similarly eyed the clock for the full 47 minutes every morning. This was a teacher I
really didnt get along with, and I can say that because of this I had even less desire
to try in the class. I didnt try at all for the first semester of the year; I never did
homework, and frequently goofed off in class. I was a math wiz and I really couldnt
have cared less about Spanish, and my grade suffered immensely because of this.
One day I was asked to remain after class to speak with her. Great, another
lunch detention for again failing to complete the homework I had thought. However,
it wasnt a pink slip being handed to me, it was a letter for me to take home to my
parents, she wanted to set up a conference time to discuss the rest of the year. This
was going to be a fun conversation. My mom had had prior experience with this
Lucian 2
teacher with my older brothers and surprisingly had sympathy. I was told to just
finish out this year and I would never have to take the class again. At the conference
the following week, we collaborated in setting up a plan for success. I was in danger
of failing if things kept progressing as they were at which point I decided I would
give it a shot for one last semester. I had gotten into a great High School and didnt
want to jeopardize my admission with an F in Spanish. From then on I actually
began doing all homework assignments and studying, a foreign concept when it
came to Spanish exams, and one day it all clicked for me. All the different tenses and
grammar conventions had always given me a hard time, but I distinctly remember
the day we were introduced to the imperfect tense. She walked over to the
classroom door and began opening and closing it to explain the difference between
the imperfect and past tenses, which sounds odd, but made complete sense to me
then. From that point learning new tenses and grammar became a breeze, I was a
natural, and soon I really didnt need to continue putting such an immense effort
into it to get the same results.
Because of the experiences I had my 8
th
grade year, I decided to continue
taking Spanish through out high school, and having done so at advanced levels, I
made the decision to again further my language education into college. I tested out
of 12 credits my freshmen year and was able to complete my minor in just a 3
semesters. I even had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Spain after my
sophomore year, and have the chance to study and work in Peru this coming
summer. It was probably one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had.
Having only taken Spanish courses, the opportunity to fully immerse myself into
another culture is something I would recommend to anyone studying a language.
Being in another country where you cant expect everyone to speak English was a
giant boost in my confidence and proficiency in the language. I would often get
excited when I had had a successful encounter in which I was forced to speak only
Spanish. They were understanding me and I was understanding them! I hope to one
day be able to live in South America and have the chance to work where I will be
able to incorporate both my skills within engineering and Spanish at a professional
level.
What isnt necessarily advertised with language classes is the amount of time
set aside toward teaching students all about the cultures of other countries. This is
something that is extremely important and interesting to learn about. Its hard to
look past your own personal lives and see how other live theirs. It was a truly
humbling experience to live in Spain for 2 months where, like many other countries
around the world, some children at a very early age are required to learn not just
one, but also sometimes even two languages, often one being English. This obviously
is extremely different than the U.S. Ive been inspired to travel as much as I can
throughout my life to experience the different cultural aspects of different countries
and have recently taken up learning Italian. Im extremely excited to be going to
Peru this summer, South American culture is so full of color and I cant wait to
experience it firsthand.