Me llamo Karen

Hola, Me Llamo Karen. I'm not a trained teacher but I play one in the Seminole County School system teaching espanol to my daughter's second grade class as a volunteer. It seems our public school system, like most across the nation, feels foreign language is not a priority as say Art, Music, Physical Education and Computers (otherwise known as CAMP) which collectively compete for the daily "enrichment" time slot in her school day.

Most of our elementary school children in Seminole County don't speak any foreign language despite the fact that Florida has one of the top five Spanish speaking populations and our very state name originates from a Spanish word meaning flowery. So what's the mother of a bilingual household to do? Our own state heritage and demographics don't make a strong enough case for foreign language instruction at the elementary school level. But who can say no to free Spanish lessons, compliments of enthusiastic volunteers como yo?

Today was my first official class and the county school system provided me with a manual "Digalo en Espanol" that looks like it was written on a typewriter and steno graphed much like the ones I received in school long before Microsoft Word was commonplace.

I am not a trained, certified teacher but I am college educated. Heck I even have a Master of Arts degree that is totally useless in my current stay-at-home mom capacity. What makes me qualified to teach other than a firsthand desire to see our children prepared to thrive in our global economy? Let's just say I've experienced how language opens doors to culture and commerce, as well as our hearts and souls. My own husband is Mexican and I'll admit that I spoke not a word of Spanish when we first met. Ironically being from South Louisiana, I learned French (in sync with my own state's heritage and demographics) from my elementary school years through college. We all know that a child learns foreign language more readily than an adult, their brains are simply more pliable and receptive to mastering the sounds and vocabulary. I don't expect any of my "students" will become fluent by the end of the year. Hola. Como Estas? and Como te llamas? won't get any of these kids a CEO job at a South American conglomerate but it will at least expose them to possibilities of speaking another language and that is the very least we owe our children in the big wide world we live in.

Adios Amigos
-karen