Denise Hanson - Malcolm Shabazz City High School, Madison WI ...

In addition to this being the first time this class was ever taught at West, with allthe difficulties that implies, it was an overwhelming year for me as a teacher. Both thisyear and last year, I taught 5 classes, but this year I had to teach three different classes,including Spanish 3 and Spanish for Spanish speakers, both new to me, while a moretypical load for a Spanish language teacher is two different levels.One of the ongoing issues I have had to face as a teacher of native Spanishspeakers is that there are enormous differences in terms of the students' mastery ofSpanish. Several of my students are actually quite sophisticated writers, and only havesmall errors to deal with, mostly in terms of accent placement, spelling and the like.Others have serious difficulties, to the point of not knowing how to properly structure asentence, etc. Additionally, I think at least one of the students has serious cognitiveissues.The Mexican students also come from many different regions in Mexico, andsome of them are from indigenous communities, which may contribute to theirdifficulties with Spanish. There is one student in the class who has a particularly hardtime with learning in general. It could be, at least in part, because he works forty to fiftyhours a week at his job and comes to school very tired. It could also be because Spanishwas not his first language. He knows that if he talks very fast most everyone willunderstand him but me.SuccessesAs I see it, the underlying success of this class was the creation of community.Almost all the students approach me outside of class for assistance unrelated to theSpanish class. For instance, if students need to go to the LMC during their study hallperiod, they need a teacher's signature. Because of the classroom environment in mySpanish for Spanish speakers class, my students clearly feel a level of confianza (trust)with me that they simply don't have with their other teachers.I sense a growing desire to learn among the students, something that may not beevident from their transcripts and that would be all too easy to overlook. For example,when a new word arises in a text, everyone wants to know what it means. Often oneperson in the class has seen it before or maybe two students might have a different