HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

How A Gringa Learns Spanish

Tierney Smith
California State University Dominguez Hills

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

How A Gringa Learns Spanish

Moving to Kansas from Southern California was a jarring experience for me. I
had gone from the only white girl in my entire grade level, to floating amongst a sea of
pale skin. The diversity of my elementary school was nearly non-existent. I can recall
the names and ethnicities of the 5 students who were not Caucasian. We had one AfricanAmerican classmate (David), Two Middle Eastern classmates ( Azad and Nelufar
Nelly), one Filipino classmate (G.J.), and one Mexican-American classmate
(Emmanuel). In Kansas, foreign language was offered, but it was not a main priority for
many students. However, I knew that one day I wanted to move back to Southern
California and become a teacher. I knew that it would be extremely important to learn
Spanish, seeing as many students are immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American
countries. I decided early on that I would take as much Spanish as my school would
allow. So, I started with Spanish 1 in 7th grade.
Spanish 1 was, for the most part, exciting! Every day we learned new words, and
by the end of the year, we could say a few basic sentences. We understood colors and
numbers, dates, time, greetings, and the most simplistic vocabulary. We knew how to
describe our families and talk about our favorite hobbies. Our teacher was also a French
teacher, and she was very clear that she preferred French. She would tell us that French
was such a beautiful language. I remember thinking to myself, Does she not think that
Spanish is beautiful? Maybe not Its not beautiful, its sexy!

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

Spanish 2 was a whole different experience. Our teacher was Seora Detrixhe,
and she was from Buenos Aires, Argentina. At first, we were terrified. Her accent was so
different from what wed heard on tape in Spanish 1, or what we figured was typical
Spanish. Eventually, we got used to it, and most of us started to use the dialect
ourselves. She held very high expectations for us, but she was more like a mother figure,
and our classroom was a family. We all became extremely close, and she would warn us
about how words had different meanings in different parts of the world. I remember when
I had my first Spanish dream, Seora Detrixhe told me that thats when you know
youre starting to get fluent and comfortable with the language.
Spanish 3 was taken my freshman year of high school. This is where I noticed a
shift. As non-native speakers, we were encouraged to speak Spanish and practice with
each other. Everyone thought it was so cool that we knew Spanish well enough to talk
to one another. However, high school was where diversity started to show. I praise my
school for being so accepting of different cultures and points of view. The students, for
the most part, were all respectful and kind to you so long as you were kind back. It was
not uncommon to see a football player conversing with a gothic kid. For the most part,
we didnt have the same types of stereotypical friendship boundaries that are displayed in
movies and media. However, the teachers tended to be racist. I can recall several teachers
who were outright racist and should have been reported, but werent. Many of these
teachers would not allow Hispanic students to speak Spanish in their classroom. I feel as
though it was in order to maintain control. They felt uncomfortable having students
speaking in Spanish if they couldnt understand. Yet, when the non-native speakers would
practice Spanish during class, teachers would make comments about how well we spoke,

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

and how impressed they were with our fluidity of speech. This reminded me of a passage
from An eighth-grade student from a family of migrant farmworkers in Colorado told
me, I like school better here than in Texas. In Texas they punished me for speaking
Spanish in school. The white kids were learning Spanish and tried to practice with us, but
when we answered the we got punished( Lessow-Hurley pg. 25).
Spanish 4 was great. Our class was taught entirely in Spanish. I remember code
switching a lot when I would be talking with friends outside of class. During class time,
anyone who spoke English was forced to wear this silly hat, and was told to give a
detailed apology in Spanish, and then they could take the hat off after 5 minutes. We were
very comfortable speaking to one another.
Spanish 5 was an entirely different world for me. I had moved back to California
for my Junior year, and I was attending Torrance High School. The teacher was not fluent
in Spanish, and she was not good at faking it either. The environment was very cold. It
was the first time in my language learning experience that I was surrounded by native
speakers who were taking the class either to learn the grammar rules, or get an easy A+. I
remember getting into an argument with the teacher over a vocabulary quiz. I had written
in coche for car, and she had marked me incorrect. I marched up to her desk with my
Spanish-English dictionary, opened it to car, and showed her that coche was the very
first translation given, while carro was second. She explained that it was still incorrect
because it wasnt the word we had practiced in class. It was the first time I was
introduced to the Mexican dialect of Spanish, so I remember being very confused and
uncomfortable. There was no enunciation, everyone spoke so fast, there was a lot of
Spanglish, even spoken by the teacher, and I felt discouraged. I got a C that semester, and

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

I felt that it wasnt fair. I felt I had a disadvantage, and I remember thinking , This must
be how ESL students feel all the time.
Although Spanish 5 was horrendous, Spanish 6 made up for it. We were all
surprised when we walked into the classroom on day 1 and saw none other than Seora
Detrixhe, our favorite middle school teacher from Spanish 2. To make things even better,
the majority of the students in my period 4 class were the same classmates from our
Spanish 2 class! Our family was reunited! This time around Seora was not as stern with
us. She was so proud of us for sticking with Spanish that she loosened the reigns on us a
bit. I remember having fiesta after fiesta, chips and salsa, quesadillas during class. Since
our class was during lunch, a lot of the time, we would stay in class and just hang out
with her, listen to stories, eat food, and listen to Juanes, Shakira, and Man. Life was
good again. By the end of Spanish 6 we were writing essays, delivering 10 minute
presentations, writing stories and poetry, and communicating with ease.
When I moved back to California again and started at CSUDH, I realized that
once again, I was faced with the same Spanish 5 problems. I find it difficult to
communicate at times because the Mexican dialect and Spanglish are often confusing to
me. To make up for this, I often find myself code-switching mid sentence and using
English words to replace words that either are Castillian, that they do not understand, or
to replace words that I, myself, do not know in the Spanish language. I do this to try and
avoid using Spanglish as much as possible. Although, I am aware that it is increasingly
common to hear many Spanglish words being used, such as trucke, tickete, etc. Its
almost like slang, and many people mumble and speak really fast, which makes it almost
that much more confusing. Every once in awhile, I will run into a Spanish man at work,

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

and we can communicate with ease. I still have not gained the confidence to speak in
Spanish with just anyone. Its almost as if I am incompatible with some speakers. I talk to
many of the cooks at work, and my coworkers with ease, but there is one manger that I
cannot understand, ever, even after working there for 2 years.
I feel like my fear is holding me back, and often times I will respond in English
when someone asks me something in Spanish. I often get laughed at when I speak
Spanish for the first time in front of someone new. Many people expect me to sound like
a white girl and mispronounce everything, and although its meant as a compliment, its
not a good feeling to get laughed at. I also have experienced several times, including last
week, when people will talk about me in Spanish, not realizing I can understand them.
Just last week, I was observing in a 5th grade classroom. A couple of students were sitting
next to me saying, Ella est bien palida. (She is really pale). They dont usually realize
that I can understand what they are saying, and I often times dont have the courage to
respond or fess up.
Overall, I am very thankful that I speak Spanish. I am really proud of myself for
sticking to it, and I have seen both the good and the ugly side of languages. I have
experienced criticism from those who are racist, and they believe that we live in
America and dont need to assimilate to Mexican culture. They need to learn English, we
dont need to learn Spanish. I have witnessed the difference between a non-native
English speaker learning English and being looked down on, as opposed to a native
English speaker learning Spanish and receiving praise. No matter what anyone thinks, I
know it is important to be able to communicate with others. By learning Spanish, I can
help bridge the gap between my students, their parents, and myself. I hope to come back

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

for my Masters and obtain my BCLAD. It is noteworthy that although the numbers of
emergent bilinguals are increasing and there is near consensus in the research community
about the crucial role of the home language in their education, there have been a
significant decrease in the use of students language in their instruction over the past
decade (Garcia pg. 55). I took Spanish so that I could be a teacher who makes a
difference, who teaches these students, and is not afraid to bring in their native language
to do so. I dont want my native Spanish-speaking students to feel segregated by any
means. I do realize that some of my students will be from countries that do not speak
English nor Spanish, and I plan to also incorporate a few ASL (American Sign Language)
signs, to create a total physical response, which will hopefully help the students better
communicate with me, as well as their peers. Simple signs, such as restroom water
sorry thank you, as well as question words, (who, what, when, where, why?), will
better ease students into the classroom, and will hopefully increase interpersonal
communication. All in all, I just hope that I can make a difference in as many students
lives as possible.

HOW A GRINGA LEARNS SPANISH

References
Garcia, O. & Kleifgen, J.A. (2010). Educating emergent bilinguals:
Policies, programs
and practices for English Language Learners. New York: Teachers
College
Press.
LessowHurley,J.(2012).TheFoundationsofduallanguageinstruction(6thed.).
Boston,MA:Pearson/Allyn&Bacon.