Philosophy

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

As an instructor, it is my goal to be a promoter of the acquisition of life-long learning skills. I have made a personal mission of preparing students to function effectively in intellectual, professional and intercultural contexts. My personal experience as a language learner has taught me that traditional and non-traditional age students are more enthusiastic to learn in a classroom when they assimilate the material in a personal way and feel that the subject matter is significantly related to their own experience. As a Spanish instructor, I like to encourage my students to explore Spanish by tending to their own interests while emphasizing wide cultural understanding. I accomplish this by motivating students in a learner-centered environment while incorporating culture in innovative forms.

Student-centered activities are the key to enhance the students’ communicative competence and interests, while significantly increasing their learning experience. I incorporate activities such as group discussions, debates, invitation of guest speakers who are immigrants, interviews with the Spanish speaking community, and small group projects involving the local Latino community, amongst others. It is really important to promote cultural knowledge and its representation through language contextualized activities by using artifacts such as magazines, newspaper articles, movies, and literature. These materials are employed in my classes to challenge students and encourage them to reflect on different customs and traditions of thinking, living, and worldviews. This kind of language education increases their understanding of other culture perspectives and helps students sharpen their critical thinking skills. I further promote these skills by being attentive to the needs of every student in the classroom. I work so as to secure a successful learning progression in a safe atmosphere students feel encouraged to participate. Learning should be a comfortable process where a student’s sensibility is respected. Every person has a different way of obtaining and developing knowledge and responds to individual learning styles and interests differently. I mold the classroom dynamic in a manner that permits each student to increase their interest for the class to the highest capacity.

I find it crucial to incorporate new technologies in a classroom dynamic. Integrating grammar exercises and role plays in web resources like Desire to Learn (D2L), Web CT, Atajo Writing Program, and Quia helps the students increase their interest in the class. Besides the insertion of music videos and interviews that feature important and famous people from Spanish speaking countries, I use tools or websites such as YouTube to contextualize language teaching in a cultural, historical, and literary frame. All these elements facilitate the creation of an atmosphere that employs real life situations, such as documentaries about the socio-political situations in Latin America. In addition, the use of Power Point presentations enhances the learning experience for students and makes connections between grammar and cultural realia.

My diverse teaching experience in a university setting has established my role as an educator. One of the things I enjoy the most about being an instructor is that I am able to continuously gain knowledge from my students in addition to simply teaching. Because they are of all different ages, beliefs and cultures, I am able to broaden my own cultural horizons, making me a constant learner. Thus, I am happy to incorporate new experiences acquired every semester in my classes. My teaching philosophy has been shaped and continues to be shaped every single day by my strong conviction that learners and instructors must be encouraged to find new challenges.  Together, teachers and students bring their own personal experiences to the classroom so as to create a dialogue and enrich the class. In this way, students will be prepared to enhance their life experiences with different cultures.