Espanol

In college, I had this amazing Spanish professor who believed that I would make a great Spanish teacher.  He knew that I was studying to be an English teacher; I have no idea what gave him the idea that I would make a good Spanish teacher.  I was honored, at least, that he had that kind of faith in me.

What made his encouragement so strange--for me--was that I only knew a few phrases in Spanish and certainly couldn't speak conversational Spanish.  What was even worse was that I would make careless mistakes on my tests.  I thought Spanish was easy--and fun, but in spite of his desire for me to add Spanish Education to my major, I just wasn't feeling it.

This professor, though, was the first one I'd ever had who I had a relationship with beyond the college classroom.  (Don't get any ideas; it wasn't THAT kind of relationship!!!)  We would stick around after class, just chatting about Spanish, teaching, education, life, and whatever else came to mind.  He would take me back to his office after almost every class and go over the test very carefully with me.  I would tell him that I didn't know why I got such-and-such wrong because I knew the answer--and I would tell him the answer--and he would say that he knew that I knew the answer; he couldn't understand why I had missed such-and-such question!

Even though I can't remember that professor's name right now, he made a huge impact on my life and especially on my teaching career because he believed in me.  He confronted me face-to-face about the mistakes I made in class.  He wouldn't let me get away with my mistakes; in other words, he wouldn't GIVE me a higher grade because he knew I knew the answer.  But he did make sure that I understood that he knew that I knew and he simply wanted me to reach my full potential.

I respected that--and him--so very much.  It didn't make me change my mind about majoring in Spanish Education, but at least I knew that someone believed in me!  Once I got to the conversational Spanish class (yes, I took it with him), I realized my full limitations regarding Spanish and I completely gave up even the THOUGHT of majoring in Spanish!

The irony, though, is that before I graduated from college, I got a job at a local Christian school teaching high school Spanish 1 and 2!!!!  My boss and my students knew that I was still in college and that my major was NOT Spanish, but they were impressed with the number of Spanish classes I had taken, so I got the job!

To make things even more interesting, several years later, I got another teaching job at a different Christian school teaching high school English--9th through 12th grade--and Spanish 1 and 2!!!!  I taught there for two whole years!!!  I know I did my students an injustice--they never learned to speak conversational Spanish, but they sure could conjugate Spanish verbs!--but I did the best I could.

You never know what is going to happen in your future, so we should always be prepared for the unexpected.  While I had no intention of doing anything with Spanish beyond the classes I had to take in college, because that professor believed in me, I knew I could do anything--even teaching Spanish!!!!