Personal Experience: Adapting English To Spanish

During my pre-observation meeting with Mr. Hernandez, my mentor, we discussed about the observation, the lesson plan for that specific day, and if he could later that day give me any feedback based on the lesson and lecture. I knew I was going to be back to continue completing my hours of lecture, so I wanted to strengthen what he saw weak. In depth, we specifically talked about how to approach students in English. Since, this was going to be my first time lecturing I wanted to know how often should I translate English to Spanish. The students are in the beginning level. A few students are novice learners in their own native language, so hearing only English would overwhelm them, according to my mentor. Upon our discussion, we decided to translate

He seemed to be interested not only in my completion of observation/lecture, but also in my academic goals. I appreciated him for having the patience and interest in my education. Meeting with Mr. Hernandez allowed me to be able to strengthen each day my lesson plan and lecture. During each meeting we spent a few minutes talking about the students learning process, academic goals, and possible future plans they had share during class time. This was an open door of confidence between the students, the teacher, and my-self. Learning more about the students’ personal goals was a great feeling. This enabled the teacher and my self to focus in how we can help them feel motivated. We noticed that because of their environment motivation words are not always heard. So, we decided to team up to help them feel less stress. Mr. Hernandez and I went over the evaluation form. He didn’t seem too excited to fill it out. He understood that as a novice teacher that I am I was not going to strike every requirement that is expected like an experienced teacher would have. Nonetheless, he was open to answer all the questions and issues I had doubts in the reflection phase. One of the questions I asked him was how often can I speak English without translation to their native language. My mentor has about 30 years of experience, so based on his experience he informed me that the best thing to do was not to pressure them. He advice me that when the students start having English conversation with each other and the teacher then translation would no longer be necessary. He told me that I needed to translate more in Spanish because I could scare the students away from attending class. He informed me that many of the students learning English see it as a hobby. Although, they dedicate their own time and effort to attend classes everyday they do not make it their priority. He suggested that it is important to keep our distance when it