Spanish Style: The Spanish department has four teachers for all six levels, each with their own way to teach students the language

After noting inconsistencies in teaching styles within the foreign language department, all language teachers are collaborating to create a more cohesive program by combining each of their individual styles and sharing their lesson plans.

Since classes like Spanish 3 and 4 are taught by different teachers, transitioning between teaching styles can be challenging for students, according to Ava Daniels*. Some teachers focus their lessons on text comprehension and grammar, while others prioritize speaking ability.

While different students might prefer one style of teaching over the other, a more cohesive program could allow students to experience the benefits of diverse teaching styles, according to Daniels.

Teachers Kristina Lind and Jeffrey Finnie both instruct upper-level Spanish classes. Though they cover the same material, their preferences in introducing the content differ. 

“I, as a language teacher, am very nitpicky,” Lind said. “I’m very grammar heavy. In order to understand the language, you have to have the grammar to form it. On the flip side, I try to do more general things for the people who do not like the grammar stuff.”

While Lind tends to focus more on games, assignments and grammar to build a strong foundation, Finnie emphasizes real-world application by having students watch videos in Spanish and complete comprehension assignments, as well as instructing students in as well as mainly instructing in spanish. 

“I’m always thinking about how students can use the language and communicate with it outside of the classroom,” Finnie said. “We do school stuff, but I’m also thinking about them using it wherever they might be.”

Lind accredits their differences simply to the teaching style of their own language professors in college. 

“Honestly, depending on what college you went to, you were taught a different way to teach,” Lind said. “Me, Srta. James and Mme. Loosey have our masters from KU so we’re all pretty grammar-focused. Dr. Finnie has done some recent research where [in order] to acquire a language, you just need to hear it a ton.”

Both of these teaching styles have proved to be effective for their students, according to the Spanish teachers, but they’re trying to incorporate aspects of each style into each other’s lessons by sharing assignments and asking each other’s opinions on new techniques. Right now, they’re in constant communication over text and Google Docs, sharing what they’re learning about the effects of different activities and methods, according to Finnie. 

While both Lind and Finnie believe that their students are receiving the same basic material and knowledge, just in different ways, they’ll be verifying this information through a comprehension assignment this quarter. Every student will complete the same assignment no matter what teacher they have to ensure everyone is at the same level. 

“The Spanish reading [article] we found [is about] the NASSCO lines that the indigenous people built [and how] they think they might be like aliens,” Lind said. “We created a whole rubric that goes with it and because of the way that it’s set up and because of the rubric, the bigger point is, ‘Did you get it or not?’”

They plan to continue curating this assignment in Professional Learning Communities or PLC which is the time given to teachers during late start to discuss lessons with their colleagues. If students in different classes receive highly varied scores on this assignment, they’ll know there is a need for change and improvement in the lower scoring classes. 

Lind and Finnie plan to keep their classes at their current difficulty level — even with any changes made to their instruction or lesson plans. They will continue evolving their teaching styles to improve the program and cater to multiple student learning styles. 

Ultimately, Lind says that all students are currently receiving the same basic information, but there is always room for the department to learn from one another’s teaching styles.