Survival Spanish Class at Athens Clarke County Library
By Leonor Teves

From January through the end of May 2005 a group of enthusiastic people interested in learning Spanish met every Sunday at the Athens Clarke County Library. This one-hour class was taught at no cost to those who had little or no knowledge of the language. Around fifteen people attended classes on a regular basis. They learned basic fundamentals of Spanish like how to introduce and describe a person, talk about one’s family, preferences, time, etc. Dr. Teresa Pérez-Gamboa, Spanish Language Coordinator of the Department of Romance Languages, pioneered this course a couple of years ago. Last semester I took office and taught this course for my Spanish Practicum requirement. It was a great experience not only at a professional but also at a personal level.

The heterogeneity of students in terms of different ages (from 30 to +50), as well as diverse socioeconomic areas, represented a challenge for a language teacher, but did not affect the overall performance at all. On the contrary, it provided the class with a variety of original and creative ideas during the tasks and exercises. At the end of the course most students reported they were willing to continue learning this increasingly important language in the U.S.

As a Peruvian citizen myself, this class was extremely constructive as it allowed me to get in contact with the community of Athens. I met school teachers, salesmen, receptionists, retired people among others. The enthusiasm and motivation of the students encouraged me to exhaustively prepare for every class by bringing different and original activities. All and any efforts were compensated by the “gracias profesora” I heard by the end of each class.