U.S.: Grad School (first semester)
I had every intention of updating this blog more frequently in the past months to keep my friends and family near and far posted on my "oh-so-exciting" life, and then my first semester of grad school took over and there was only so much additional looking at a computer screen that I could handle. Forgive me for that.
Referring to my first semester of grad school in the past tense brings both feelings of relief and accomplishment. What brings more challenges: Peace Corps or grad school? It's a debate worth having; although I think they are about even in the number of existential-crisis moments they cause. Or maybe that's just me and my 20-something self.
During this past semester my studies involved a course in teaching Spanish at the college level, a course in the syntax and morphology of the Spanish language, and a course in bilingualism. My classmates and I spent countless hours working on assignments, papers, presentations, and the like; we laughed, we cried, and I think we all learned something. How's that for cliche? The final product of my bilingualism course is a 44-page summary of a study I conducted involving language acquisition among Peace Corps volunteers. I call it: "Becoming Bilingual and the Peace Corps Experience." Interested readers of the finished project can contact me and I will gladly pass it along for your reading pleasure. Challenges set aside, the coursework has kept my interest so far and has me continuing to think that teaching Spanish at the college level would be an enjoyable and rewarding career.
After two years of co-teaching in Nicaraguan high schools I was ready to take on a classroom of my own...and hopefully that classroom would have less discipline issues and improved functionality overall. This past semester I taught second-semester Spanish to a group of 13 undergraduates and boy, was it different from my past two years of teaching. We met daily for 50 minutes and, thank goodness, there was administrative order, schedule efficiency, and a respectful atmosphere. My classroom was equipped with a powerpoint projector mounted to the ceiling, and I could connect my laptop to it by punching in a special code on a handy technology pad on my teacher podium. My students, though Spanish may not be their favorite subject nor their life's passion, were generally interested in learning.
In addition to teaching Spanish grammar, I get the opportunity to share bits of Nicaragua with my students and classmates. My fellow grad students bring experiences from Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, and we enjoy comparing words, accents, and other customs from our respective backgrounds. Incorporating culture into my lessons is especially fun having first-hand experience living in different cultures. I will always argue that immersing oneself in another culture and language is the best way to learn it, but if that is not possible, taking my Spanish 102 course is likely a second-best option.
The upcoming semester will involve a course in applied linguistics, another in dialectology, and a third in Latin American literature. I will be teaching second-semester Spanish once again and look forward to reusing the lessons I created for the fall semester. At this point I am 25% of the way to earning my Master's degree in Spanish Linguistics. Perhaps I will post another update in June, after the spring semester is done...or perhaps earlier, if we are lucky. Happy New Year, everybody. Let's make it a good one.
Referring to my first semester of grad school in the past tense brings both feelings of relief and accomplishment. What brings more challenges: Peace Corps or grad school? It's a debate worth having; although I think they are about even in the number of existential-crisis moments they cause. Or maybe that's just me and my 20-something self.
During this past semester my studies involved a course in teaching Spanish at the college level, a course in the syntax and morphology of the Spanish language, and a course in bilingualism. My classmates and I spent countless hours working on assignments, papers, presentations, and the like; we laughed, we cried, and I think we all learned something. How's that for cliche? The final product of my bilingualism course is a 44-page summary of a study I conducted involving language acquisition among Peace Corps volunteers. I call it: "Becoming Bilingual and the Peace Corps Experience." Interested readers of the finished project can contact me and I will gladly pass it along for your reading pleasure. Challenges set aside, the coursework has kept my interest so far and has me continuing to think that teaching Spanish at the college level would be an enjoyable and rewarding career.
After two years of co-teaching in Nicaraguan high schools I was ready to take on a classroom of my own...and hopefully that classroom would have less discipline issues and improved functionality overall. This past semester I taught second-semester Spanish to a group of 13 undergraduates and boy, was it different from my past two years of teaching. We met daily for 50 minutes and, thank goodness, there was administrative order, schedule efficiency, and a respectful atmosphere. My classroom was equipped with a powerpoint projector mounted to the ceiling, and I could connect my laptop to it by punching in a special code on a handy technology pad on my teacher podium. My students, though Spanish may not be their favorite subject nor their life's passion, were generally interested in learning.
In addition to teaching Spanish grammar, I get the opportunity to share bits of Nicaragua with my students and classmates. My fellow grad students bring experiences from Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, and we enjoy comparing words, accents, and other customs from our respective backgrounds. Incorporating culture into my lessons is especially fun having first-hand experience living in different cultures. I will always argue that immersing oneself in another culture and language is the best way to learn it, but if that is not possible, taking my Spanish 102 course is likely a second-best option.
The upcoming semester will involve a course in applied linguistics, another in dialectology, and a third in Latin American literature. I will be teaching second-semester Spanish once again and look forward to reusing the lessons I created for the fall semester. At this point I am 25% of the way to earning my Master's degree in Spanish Linguistics. Perhaps I will post another update in June, after the spring semester is done...or perhaps earlier, if we are lucky. Happy New Year, everybody. Let's make it a good one.
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