¡Hola Lola! The importance of learning—and teaching—a second language

By Joshua | September 17th, 2008 |

2 Comments »

A few weeks ago, I added “Spanish Teacher” to my list of day jobs. I am teaching grades 1 through 7, exposing them to the language, the culture, and the rhythm. I learned to speak Spanish when I was 24, in a Peace Corps language boot camp where I lived with a Nicaraguan family and drilled with a personal language instructor for eight hours a day. I’m happy that, once again, my life is awash in Español—this time in games, poetry, storytelling, canciones infantiles, and a puppet named Lola.

¡Hola Lola! — ¡Muy bien, clase! — ¡Excelente!

In the words of one of my new colleagues, “I love teaching children about another culture and another language. It’s like planting a seed for greater tolerance, which has the potential to expand their awareness of world citizenship.”

Category: Travel

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2 Responses to “¡Hola Lola! The importance of learning—and teaching—a second language”

Steven Roll | September 25th, 2008 at 6:53 pm | comment link

That sounds like an awesome experience. I have no trips planned at present. But one way I keep my limited Spanish skills sharp is to listen to free podcasts of Spanish lessons. My favorites are Coffee Break Spanish and Spanish Pod. They are both available for free on iTunes.

Claire Walter | September 26th, 2008 at 9:01 am | comment link

Lucky, lucky kids to learn a second language so early. I grew up bi-lingually, and my German is fluent. My French, which I “learned” in high school and took for 2 years in college, has retreated to the adolescent level of present tense/simple past tense/limited vocabulary. It’s serviceable but hardly fluent.

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¡Hola Lola! The importance of learning—and teaching—a second language

2 Responses to “¡Hola Lola! The importance of learning—and teaching—a second language”

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