Bilingualism: A teacherpreneur’s advantage

For the past few months, I have been interviewing English language teachers with a passion for projects outside of classroom teaching. Interviews with these successful teacherpreneurs have been included in my blog — Weekly Wisdom from 20 Years in the TESL Trenches https://patrice-palmer.mykajabi.com/blog.

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alberto González. I am always inspired by teachers who spent countless hours working on time-consuming projects outside of their teaching hours.

Patrice: Can you start off by telling us where you teach?

Alberto: Sure, I have taught in an international language institute in Wisconsin and Florida, USA. Also, I have tutored in colleges and have provided freelance services to college and high school students.

P: Tell us about your teaching experience.

A: I started working in the educational field as a faculty assistant in college after finishing my studies. I spent many years living in different cities in the United States where I taught Spanish and ESL, tutored in colleges and provided freelance services as an editor, translator, and writer.

P: How long have you been teaching?

A: For about 8 years.

P: Can you describe a typical teaching day?

There are a variety of courses offered, from a couple of hours per week to a full time week, 6-month long, full course. When a course starts, the first thing I do is to keep assessing the students in terms of aptitude and attitude, to learn more about their strengths and weaknesses managing the new language as well as their willingness, enthusiasm and approach. This helps to tailor the course in a more efficient and productive way. At the end of the day, I write a summary of what was done and covered in class, and again, write notes about the performance to keep tracking their strengths and weaknesses.

P: What do you do in your spare time to relax?

A: I usually read or write something. Also, music is important in my life, as a listener and a player.

P: What is your biggest challenge as a teacher?

A: My teaching experience is with small group settings or individualized classes. Different students have different abilities and personalities, of course. As opposed to big groups, where there is a more standard way of teaching due to not having enough time to work with one student at a time, being able to adapt the material and the approach for individual/small settings every time could be a challenging task.

P: You took on the tremendous task of writing a book. How did you come up with the idea for your book “Spanish for English Speakers”?

A: Throughout my experience in language education, as an instructor and also as a tutor for college and high school students, I observed many students struggling with the Spanish grammar (more complicated than the English counterpart, by the way). Language institutes are more focused on conversational skills, so grammar is normally a secondary thing. But, surprisingly, I found that many students want to learn the “why” and the “how it works”, and that is “grammar”. In high schools and colleges, the language approach is the opposite, mostly grammar and very little conversation, but the big class setting, the heavy course load in their programs, and the little opportunity to get individualized help, makes it difficult for them to master the grammar. As a result, I found myself always creating supporting documents by individual topics and providing them to students during learning sessions, depending on their particular needs.

After many years, I realized that I had enough material so the idea of putting it all together came up. I also decided to add some of my own hints, advice and comments that I normally share with students in class, based on their common reactions and questions as English speakers learning Spanish. In addition to helping students with the essential grammar involved in a full international Spanish course, this book is a good teacher’s guide for freelance Spanish teachers. The order in which the material is presented is the result of years teaching it and fine-tuning an efficient and logical flow.

P: How long did it take you to write your book?

A: It is hard for me to say because I had been writing the material little by little, as needed, through the years, as I mentioned before. When I finally decided to create a book with the materials I had, it was a few additional months to complete it.

P: Will the second book take less time because of the lessons learned from writing the first book?

A: Yes. I had to learn many aspects about the book industry, like publishers, ISBN, copyright, sales channels, book trim, covers, and more while creating my first one. Knowing that now will make it easier to publish a few new educational books that I have in mind. Plus, the second one will be about the English language, so the topics and the order will be similar.

P: Where can teachers and students purchase your book?

A: It is available in two stores: CreateSpace https://www.createspace.com/6174090 and
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/SPANISH-English-Speakers-essential-International/dp/1530897165

It can also be accessed on my website: http://www.2worlds-translated.com or my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SpanishforEnglishSpeakers

P: What advice would you give to non-native speakers of English who would like to use their skills to become teacherpreneurs?

A: First of all, in any English-speaking country, always keep improving your English proficiency, not only the oral fluency, but also its grammar, which is the backbone, structure, mechanism of any language. The higher your English proficiency, the better you can teach your own language, for two reasons: if you are teaching your language in English to English speakers, you can explain the material better. If you are teaching your language in your language to English speakers, you can compare both languages better and understand your students’ struggles better, therefore delivering a more efficient learning session. This is the case in institutions that are dedicated to the conversational aspect, and you are required to avoid using the student’s language (English) and deliver the class in the language being taught (your language) only. Additionally, it would make you more valuable to teach English to non-native speakers.

P: Is there anything that you would like to add?

A: Being involved in the educational field, in any way, is a very fulfilling, rewarding, and enriching experience, in addition to the very important fact that you are directly contributing to the overall education of others. If you feel a calling and are considering or pursuing to do so, I encourage you to keep going with it. Just find your best match as there are many different ways to be part of the educational community: school, college or institute teachers, one-on-one, small or big group settings, children or adult students, professional or volunteer; in any case, you have the power to greatly influence others in a very positive way. I am sure you will not regret it, and many people will be grateful.

P: Gracias Alberto. Mucho Gusto!

Patrice Palmer, M.Ed., M.A., TESL has 20 years’ experience as an ESL Teacher, TESL Trainer, and Curriculum Writer in Canada including 7 years in Hong Kong. Patrice has taught students from 8 to 80 years in a variety of programs. Patrice now works as a teacherpreneur doing the things that she loves such as writing courses, sharing teaching materials, instructional coaching and travelling at any time of the year to conduct short-term training around the world. Please visit https://patrice-palmer.mykajabi.com for free teaching resources.