To help teachers strengthen relationships with Spanish-speaking ELL students and families, WEA Academy offers Spanish for Educators, an online class that teaches conversational Spanish. This class also provides insight into the practices and perspectives of Spanish-speaking cultures.
“Teachers who have taken Spanish for Educators report that this class helped them connect with ELL students and families,” says instructor Meg Graham who designed Spanish for Educators in a conversational style without complicated grammar. “You learn to say what students should do, have to do, like to do etc…..so that you can talk about learning, the school community and daily activities.”
Teachers work through the 10 modules of Spanish for Educators at their own pace, learning vocabulary and expressions they can build on to increase conversational skills. For practice, students email audio recordings to Graham, who supports them with pronunciation. “When someone takes Spanish for Educators, it’s like I’m their personal tutor. We focus on what they want to be able to say based on their unique situation. The course is a little different for every teacher who takes it.”
Waukesha teacher Brett Hart says Spanish for Educators helped him connect with his students outside of just speaking a different language. “They ask why I’m taking this class,” says Hart, “I tell them ‘Because I want to learn new things’ and it shows that I’m a learner too, having difficulties, and have a connection with them that they can teach me things too.”