I have been teaching a variation of the Eres Tú lesson mentioned in the previous blog for over 11 years. It has always been enthusiastically received, but yesterday I got blindsided by a disgruntled parent who had some concerns with it. The parent was offended with what I was intending to do to the song and to the students by asking them to re-write the lyrics. Too mean and too insensitive were the charges. Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. No complaints and plenty of fun for years with this activity, then wham!
I think it is important to listen to my students and their parents (I can learn a lot that way), so I decided to mull over these objections.
The biggest complaint seemed to be was that I was ruining this lovely and meaningful song for the student in question (The parent had deeply personal reasons for this which I will not go into). The irony here is that the students heard the original song several times so that they could get the tune as well as understand the words and the meaning. They learned the new vocabulary with actions and examples over the course of a couple of days in class so that they could understand every word of it. Every student completely comprehending an authentic song sung completely in Spanish was the achieved goal. In some classes they were even singing along with it already. Not bad for a lower level Spanish class. Students were exposed to the original song much more than to the alternative versions that they would be writing. I intended that they know and appreciate the original song. And I think they did.
Mocking the inane, made-up holiday of Valentine’s Day and the discomfort it causes 90% of the students in a typical high school was the point. Not everybody gets balloons and flowers. The majority of students feel awkward and stupid. This activity channels those strong feelings into energy for learning and creating. The kids get it. Most of them seem to appreciate it.
The parent also accused me of obviously not understanding Hispanic culture. I decided to mull it over. Let’s see here: I lived in Chile as a teenager. I go to Mexico or Guatemala on medical missions for poor children as a volunteer interpreter at my own expense almost every year. Bachelor’s degree in Spanish. Master’s in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on teaching foreign language. Too many quinceañeras to count. Have taught Spanish in our community for 22 years with a heavy emphasis on culture throughout. I have taught Spanish and Hispanic cultural awareness classes to Fortune 500 companies. So I have a bit of experience dealing with Hispanic culture, but maybe I had been insensitive. It could happen.
I was also concerned with the charge that I had been foisting an evil activity on innocent students. I began running the numbers with a colleague. Let’s see: 11 years, where I have taught with this activity to at least three high school classes, sometimes all six classes, plus at least three college conversational Spanish classes each year. Low ball average for each class would be 20 students. So that is at least (3 + 3) x 20 x 11 = 1,320 students. That is the extremely conservative estimate. Probably more like 2,000 students. If the math is right, that comes out to less than 1/10 of 1% complaint rate. Pretty low rate.
I figure that despite that experience I could be culturally insensitive, I realize it is a possibility, but it is also likely that the parent was just having a bad day–living with a teenager will do that to the best of us.
So how did this play out? Both the parent and I have powerful “cards” in our hands. You know these cards. They are usually played to shut down dialogue and definitively end debate. I had the popularity card (“Golly, we’ve never had any complaints before”) and the authority card (“I’m the professional, quiet down and move along now”), but I decided not to play them–those cards have been played on me and I have always resented it. The parent had the race card (“Since I am Hispanic I know best, gringo”), but I do not generally accept that one. Ah, but the parent also had the humanity card. Perhaps the student was being forced to rewrite a special song in a negative way. Well played. Good point. We’ll allow it.
Some might write off this experience as just another hovering parent, but I mulled over the comments and adjusted the activity as a result of our conversation. I am not going to give up this activity. No way. Too much fun, too much enthusiasm and too much sharing of student wit with the language going on to do that. But as a result of the complaint I have made some alterations to the activity. Those changes appear in the updated version of the activity published online on the Free Stuff page of this site: http://www.brycehedstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Eres-Tu-Valentines-Day-Activity.pdf.
I’m an old dog, but I can still listen and learn. One person can make a difference–realizing that does a soul some good. Good place to be.
Hi Bryce,
As far as I’m concerned, the parent just overreacted. I think it’s a great activity because it’s personalized to your students and how they feel about Valentine’s day. And they did get more exposure to the authentic version and were likely more interested in the song in the end because of your version of it.
I would also be interested to hear more about how you volunteer as an interpreter. Is there a company of some kind that you volunteer with, or various different ones? I think this is something I would like to do eventually and would love for you to share any information you have of how to go about it.
Hi Kristin,
The way the parent reacted could have been more tactful, but a good point was made and I have adjusted the activity as a result of that conversation. The new version is already up. See if you can spot the changes.
As far as the medical clinics, I have developed a relationship with my children’s pediatrician who has done these clinics for years. It just sort of developed from some connections with his church and with a businessman that travels in Central America a lot. In recent years, my own personal physician, local EMT’s, pharmacists and lots of volunteers have joined in. So we have sort of grown our own loose organization here in our town. We get donations from doctors and church people as well as from Walmart which regularly donates tens of thousands of dollars of pharmaceuticals.
There are other organizations like this that are much bigger and include doctors and volunteers from all over North America. Check on line for Doctors without Borders.
This a good impulse, Kristin. It is a great experience and I encourage you to go.
Bryce, I appreciate, truly appreciate your willingness to listen and learn and grow. Wow. What an example.
Bryce, I happened to read this post a couple of weeks before Valentine’s Day and I’m about at the point in the year where I’d be considering “Eres tú” anyhow, so I managed to use “El amor apesta” and I have to thank you for the relaxing, joyous day that provided me. My students from three classes took it and ran nearly on their own. Working in pairs or alone, they enjoyed the fun tone of being a little less nice than usual, searching through the extensive vocabulary and their independence. I don’t think they acquired that new vocab by any means, but the inspiration they got for the whole language process was invaluable.
With help from you and the rest of the TPRS community, I am making more progress with TPRS than in any of my previous 14 tries, still painfully aware of the difference between my skills and yours, but grateful that I am speaking so much more Spanish, that I have multi-level classes now (the only way to teach!), that I’m meeting a goal of telling one joke per week and telling some stories, though not nearly enough. We’ve read two novels and the second went a lot better than the first, I’ve added one of your PAT games and adapted an idea from Laurie and Michelle for another, and it’s the hit of the year, so it’s all good.
But it’s still such a struggle, and so much of it has to do with student resistance that I don’t have the technical skill to overcome yet. Hence, I’ve stumbled onto the work by Carol Dweck on Mindset and learned enough to know that the students who drag me down are those with a fixed mindset, that don’t believe that effort will make them any smarter or that they should do any hard work. It has totally transformed my teacher talk and the way I approach reluctant students; I’ve always shied away from “picking on them” out of fear of driving them away. Are you familiar with her work at all?
Gerry, I am glad that you could use the “El Amor Apesta” activity. My students enjoy the aspect of being a little less “nice” than normal too.
We are all on the journey of improving our TPRS skills. some days I do well, others, not so much. I am interested in your multi-level classes. i think it is a great way to teach too, but it has not been approved here yet. Will you elaborate on how your teaching is different in the multi-level classes?
I am not familiar with Carol Dweck, but i will check into her work.
Yes, it is such a long journey, Bryce, but as to multi-level, it’s odd that I’m now so used to it that I hardly know what to say. I wanted to do it for years but dreaded it so much I wouldn’t take the plunge. About the only preparation I really did was to create a rotating list of novels and movies so that my repeat kids would not have to watch or read the same material every year and got my district to buy the materials, which was a small price to pay for the scheduling flexibility that gives us all. In general, I have three classes, each with some blend of 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year and native speakers, and the older, more confident kids generally push the lower ones as well as helping them. A second-year student is a natural star if they will accept the role and the review is so good for them. Since I’m not very standardized at even following my own curriculum each year, there is enough variation for each year to have a different feel, I believe, and I’m just thrilled that I chose to do it at last.
I highly recommend Carol’s book “Mindset” and there’s a lot of good material on her mindsetworks.com website. My district is paying for me to take her $60 on-line course that I’m working my way through slowly. I’ve learned a lot and it occured to me recently that it’s going to be a bigger factor in my career than finding Fred Jones.