pandoralanguages

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Who is to blame? Is it the student who is not trying hard enough? Is it the teacher who is not explaining the concept clearly? This behavior is common in many language classrooms and can be just as frustrating for teachers as it is for students. On the one hand, teachers wonder why students do not use a concept correctly after it has already been explained. On the other hand, students may begin to feel that they are not capable of learning the...

I truly enjoy teaching Spanish, and I love connecting with my students. But this year… was a difficult one. On one hand, the groups were very different from one another, with different abilities, different dynamics, and different language levels. I found it difficult at times to truly connect with some of my students. On the other hand, I covered what I was supposed to cover, and my students performed well on assessments, which suggested they understood the material. But when it came to...

From a student’s perspective, learning Spanish can feel difficult. If we think about the differences between the two languages, it is easy to see why. While Spanish pronunciation is largely phonetic and can make the initial stages more accessible, its grammar is undeniably more complex than English. Verb conjugations, the use of multiple past tenses—preterite, imperfect, present perfect—and this without even mentioning the subjunctive, can quickly become overwhelming. From a teacher’s...