Spanish lessons for our young amigos, too!

Between 2003 and 2008 while we were living in Grand Island, Nebraska I got involved with the Central Community College Kid's College summer program.  I got to design and teach a Spanish summer camp for young elementary school-age children.  I did this for two summers, and really enjoyed the novelty of working with a different age group.  After all, I am experienced with the more "mature" students at the secondary and post-secondary levels.  There were a couple of families that expressed interest in me continuing the class throughout the school year.  I figured, why not?  So "Young Amigos" was born.  I had five 1st through 3rd graders come to my house once a week on Monday evenings to continue the fun, games, singing and art of Spanish.  They were eager and enthusiastic, another big difference from the older students.  

Although their energy and high volume voices left me seeking ibuprofen at the end of the evening, it was also rewarding and motivating to work with young children who embraced new learning.  After all, they haven't even been learning English all that long!  There hasn't been enough time for our English language rules and idiosyncrasies to set in and confuse them.  They weren't pitching "yeah, but..." fits left and right if something didn't make sense.  Because frankly, they just haven't been around as long as the rest of us who have gotten to know the world.  They were sponges, not fossils.  I noted how they were able to mimic correct pronunciation almost flawlessly.  Again, I attributed this to a lacking amount of previous-learned English.  They were more receptive, less resistant, and absolutely eager and ready to learn!

   

There is a lot of debate about early second-language education and why there isn't more of it in the United States.  While most would agree it's a good idea (I guess some would still debate that, too, but I'm trying to be an optimist here), I personally attribute the lack of this type of programming to education cutbacks and teacher shortages.  As I meet lots of students online all over the U.S. I am pleased to learn from them that there is some growth in this area.  There now are more elementary schools bringing in second-language programming.  There are magnet schools or immersion schools that offer bilingual Spanish education (English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students in the same class, having lessons in both English and Spanish).  Those advancements are in the right direction, but I don't think it's where we need to be yet to keep up with other nations who require students to learn English (or other languages) from an early age.  

I always encourage my students with a true interest in the Spanish language to pursue it as a career, preferably to teach.  The best advice I got in college was from an adviser I barely knew that suggested I teach Spanish.  Look in your classified ads almost any time of the year, but particularly in the spring and summer.  You will see several Spanish teaching openings.  There just aren't enough of us out there.  That's good job security.  But even if teaching is not your thing... whatever IS your thing, knowing Spanish will be an outstanding complement to it.  The medical field, the banking industry, law and criminal justice, real estate, the restaurant industry, business... the list goes on.  If you speak Spanish and work in those or other fields, you will be one marketable cookie!  It could mean you get the job over the other guy who doesn't speak Spanish, you get a raise, you get a promotion.  It equals opportunity.

   

So, back to our Young Amigos.  If learning Spanish at an early age is the easiest time to do it, and you want your children to have successful, opportunistic futures, doesn't it make sense to start teaching them now?  If your school does not offer Spanish (or it does, but you are looking for enrichment) or if you are a homeschool family, I encourage you to contact me about my revived, new and improved Young Amigos program.  We are now totally online, and offer 10-week courses with a rich, fun and exciting curriculum.  Email croghanlanguageacademy@gmail.com for more information, and I can answer any questions you may have!

CLA from conception, to birth and into the child-rearing years

Hello all and welcome to the official Croghan Language Academy blog!  I am so excited to embark on this adventure and have lots of dreams, hopes and wishes for it.  Sounds like a parent talking about a child, so I would like my first blog post to discuss the very beginnings, which is where we are right now!  :)

I was working as a full-time high school Spanish teacher when I got married and we started a family.  I so wished that there were opportunities for me to be both a stay-at-home-mom and a teaching professional.  I wondered about teaching online Spanish classes, and since I had my Master's degree, I am eligible to teach at the college level.  But at the time, I didn't know if online Spanish classes even existed, and I honestly didn't know where to look for answers.  None of my Google searches seemed fruitful, and I resigned myself that those opportunities must not exist.

In 2008, our family moved from Grand Island, Nebraska to Aberdeen, South Dakota in extreme northern South Dakota.  It is the home of Northern State University.  Although our plan was to live on my husband's salary alone so that I could fulfill my dream of raising my children, I felt comforted knowing that a touted university with approximately 3200 registered students was such a central part of this community, and wondered about teaching opportunities with them one day.  I only spent one semester in Aberdeen before I checked in with the language department at Northern to find out that they were looking to hire a Spanish adjunct instructor.  I was hired, and in the spring of 2009 I began teaching a Tuesday/Thursday Spanish class on campus.  It felt right.  I love the feel of Academia... everything about it.  The smells of the hallways, the chatter of students, the weather while walking on campus (yes, even when it was freezing, wind blowing and snowing!), being around professors and students in the campus coffee shop, the Student Center, the library, looking at the hallway bulletin boards with all of the flyers advertising school functions, items for sale and students looking for roommates.  I was back where I was comfortable, and it felt good.

Soon after I got started teaching, I saw that Northern was advertising a position for several online course developers/instructors, including Spanish.  I applied quickly and found out later that I got the position.  In retrospect, I owe so much to the administrators, administrative assistants and professors at Northern State University.  To name a few, Dr. Tino Mendez, Wendy Stubbs, Dr. Ginny Lewis and Mary Kost were instrumental in my success at Northern, and I hope to teach there indefinitely!  I now know how difficult it can be for online instructors to break into the field.  I belong to some online networking groups, and there is a lot of frustration expressed about many schools requiring online teaching experience.  But if you need experience to receive a position, then who will mercifully be that first school to offer one the chance at experience?  Northern State University was this school for me, and I will forever feel grateful and indebted!  The fact that I was given this opportunity was my open door to be hired by other universities and community colleges, since I now had experience teaching online.  I now have a robust and rewarding career teaching for several different colleges around the country, all from my home in Omaha, Nebraska (because we only stayed in Aberdeen for about 18 months... we were homesick!)
 
I've now been successfully teaching online for almost four years.  As far as "job stints" go, it's my longest one.  I've taught in four different public school systems (in Nebraska:  York, Omaha Westside and Grand Island and in Colorado:  Jefferson County's Arvada West High School) but I never received tenure in any of those positions because the longest I held any position before resigning was three years.  I love teaching online and I never tire of it like I did teaching in a live classroom five days a week.  Where I used to count down with the kids the number of days until school was out, I simply don't do that now.  I teach all year long, including summers, and I couldn't be happier!

But...  I wanted more.  I love what I have now, but I dream of having my own language academy, my own opportunities to reach certain markets or individuals that are looking to learn Spanish.  I made contact with an incredibly generous and helpful woman, Tammy Moore, who heads Virtual Homeschool Group (we are in one of those networking groups together) and she helped me see there is a real need for homeschool students whose families simply can't teach them foreign languages on their own.  I met with a local SCORE representative (A free small business start-up resource, thanks to the advice of some Facebook friends!) who helped me determine my goals and focus my intentions.  Over the next 90 days, I've got some pretty intensive plans about laying the framework for a successful business in teaching "Spanish on the job" courses in an online or hybrid (mostly online, some face-to-face) format.  For example, Spanish for restaurants, Spanish for business, Spanish for medical professionals, Spanish for real estate, Spanish for banking, among many other possibilities.  I intend to use my knowledge, skills, experience and expertise in the field of online language learning to add value to my local community and beyond.  

The dreams don't end there.  My plans also include involving my husband John to help me one day create Spanish learning music CDs (his degree in music will come in handy, and I plan to take advantage!), my own videos to accompany the classes and the CDs, and I hope to hire instructors as Croghan Language Academy grows.  As the name indicates, I also hope to branch out from the Spanish language and provide learning opportunities for students of other languages, hiring professionals to teach those courses.  Darn, I've already had someone contacting me asking if I offer German classes!  At any rate, my feeling right now is that the sky is the limit, but I must take this one step at a time.  I've found that having too many impending ideas on my plate makes me less efficient, so in the words of Dr. Leo Marvin to Bob, played by Richard Dreyfuss in the 1991 film, What about Bob?...  Baby steps!!!

So this baby has been conceived and born.  Now it's time to mold, shape and guide it into whatever it will become... just like my two children whom I love dearly, Noah and Bella!

So feel free to follow me along on this journey!