What This School Year Taught Me about Teaching Spanish

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 actually using the language, I realized how difficult it was for them. They could answer basic questions we had practiced in class… but not much beyond that.

These are situations many teachers experience at some point. Often, the lack of connection with our students happens because we are not teaching at their level. Instead of giving them what they truly need, we focus on what we want—or are expected—to cover.

As a result, students can become disengaged.

What we really need is the ability to be flexible and adapt to our students’ needs. Sometimes that means adjusting the goals of the class, what we teach, and even how we teach it. It may even mean covering less material, or covering it with less depth.

Another common issue is the lack of language internalization: when students cannot produce language on their own, and we realize they have not truly connected with Spanish.

When we correct oral or written work to perfection, we may unintentionally teach students that language must be used perfectly. But is that really what they need?

First, we need to think about our goals.

Is the objective to speak perfectly… or to communicate?

If our goal is for students to use what they learn in real-life situations, then we may need to shift our mindset. Perfection can create mental blocks and fear of saying something incorrectly.

Communication, on the other hand, means finding ways to express ideas somehow—even through gestures if necessary. Using a language requires practice, repetition, and many mistakes that are gradually corrected over time.

So, how could I improve my teaching next year?

I believe we can begin by getting to know our students better and teaching them what they actually need—not only what we originally planned to cover.

At the same time, we need to give them more opportunities to practice speaking and to make mistakes without being penalized for them.

Because in the end, learning a language is not about using it perfectly… but about being able to use it.

What would you change in your teaching next year?