Spanish Teachers Course

IPEE has designed a course for teachers teaching Spanish as a second language. This course was developed to fill a need that Spanish teachers have for a program that directly addresses their needs to provide the best education to their students. It is our goal to provide instruction for areas of teaching that have a direct impact on the assimilation of language by those being taught and cover subjects not usually taught at university level.

The subjects covered in this course include;

• The most important points to incorporate into a study program
• Methods of teaching
• Auditive comprehension
• Reading and composition
• Corporal communication
• Evaluation

These following subjects are not usually included as university courses but which we consider critical for teaching Spanish as a second language.

• Elaborating didactic material in order to reinforce specific topics.
• Eliminating a students fear to speak in a foreign language.
• Localizing an individuals mistake and achieving an explanation in group activities.
• Stimulate individual improvement without hurting the susceptibilities of the entire group.
• Achieving a balance between making mistakes and the linguistic level of the student.
• Improving the spontaneous activities of the group while improvising topics of conversation or discussion.
• How to make a typically uninteresting subject come “alive”.
• Explaining specific “problem subjects”.

Methodology of Teaching Spanish as a Second Language

In order to teach Spanish as a second language, it is necessary to use a methodology in relation to the students’ interests. One has to also bear in mind particularly the age, the interest and the ability of each student.

Once the type of student has been found out the instructor will adapt the methodology in relation to the student’s linguistic level; the variety of activities has to be considered in order to maintain the interest during a determined number of lessons.

Some advisable activities could be for instance:

• Didactic games which stimulate the oral expression together with a grammatical base.
• Use of colored pictures for discussions.
• Elaborated filing cards aiming at coordinating comprehension and oral proficiency.
• Videos (movies and documentaries) which the instructor will use adequately for criticism, discussion and comment.
• Songs that help to improve the auditive comprehension.
• Group dynamics as personal judgments, imitations, presentations, and exposures in general.
• Reading for discussion (use newspaper items)
• Field work if possible where the student can interview native Spanish speakers.
• Use of sequences to create stories where the student shows his grammatical knowledge.
• Writing: different activities that stimulate the written expression such as stories without end, writing of reports in virtue of pictures, invention of dialogues, composition of informal letters and business letters, etc.

A most important aspect is to create a natural atmosphere within the classroom, and to that end it is necessary that the instructor knows the Hispanic culture and to share this experience with his/her students. This important fact will give validity to the need to learn the language as well as something “living” to share during the process. Therefore, we strongly recommend that any Spanish language instructor live for a while with a native speaker.