I had heard whispers that Spanish classrooms were sometimes disorganized, and I spent a year working in a tourist attraction that was visited by a lot of Spanish school groups, so I was certainly aware that they were often loud. But neither of those pieces of information prepared me for the chaos of Spanish classrooms. I found that they were much louder than the American ones I was used to, and many students would have been deemed ‘ill-behaved’ at home. This is not to say that every group of children is like this or every teacher allows certain behavior, but in my first week, I remember wondering how anything ever gets done. Now, two months in, my students have taught me just how resilient kids are and how much they can learn, even in the midst of chaos.
There are days when I wonder if they learned anything at all, but somehow, they always do. It’s true, I’ve never done an activity with them where every single student is giving their full attention. Inevitably, some of them are talking or on their computer. But most of them are listening. Even if they are chatting with their friends instead of doing the activity, they incorporate the grammar and the vocab into their speech, not immediately, but over time. All of the activities that go slightly wrong and all the times when they argue with me about doing the grammar (at least they are doing it in English) do make them a little better. They taught me that just being in a room where English is being spoken is helpful and does make a difference, even if it isn’t what my classrooms looked like growing up.
And I think my students also taught me why that is: because one of the deciding factors in learning is whether or not a student wants to be there. Spanish students, for the most part, like their classrooms loud and chaotic. They like getting sidetracked. I’ve been in classrooms in the United States and Ireland where people have theoretically behaved better, but where students have clearly hated being there. You could see it in their blank stares, and they learned less because of it.
This isn’t to say my students would not prefer to play Blooket all day and never have another grammar lesson (trust me, they would), but they are often smiling in class. Almost all of them like their teachers and are genuinely excited to see them. When I bring games, they want to play them, and when I try to make them do a grammar worksheet, they will tell me why it’s so boring, but they are paying enough attention to respond to it.
Now this learning environment isn’t perfect for everyone, and I do see Spanish students who struggle with it, but it’s much more successful than I thought it would be. Something Spanish students have taught me about teaching: making sure kids are having a good time shouldn’t be the ultimate goal, but it can be a way of getting to the ultimate goal.
Author Mary W.