Spanish Elective for Me? by Katelyn

Spanish Elective for Me? by Katelyn - September 2017 Scholarship Essay

Elective classes lay out many choices before us students every year. We ponder which electives we should take and how much extra homework we will be given for each one. Sometimes the ones we want to take happen to be the same period as a required class, so we may have to temporarily let that dream go. Other times we realize that we have too many free periods and thus begrudgingly add one that seems as though it might be “okay.” However, there is an elective class that I chose to take that has made a greater impact on my education than I ever dreamed.
Spanish class was one of my chosen electives. I chose to take it for two reasons: to fill an extra free period in my schedule as well as to make myself look more well-rounded to colleges. At first I did not believe I would enjoy it much, but I was proven wrong. The class ended up being great practice for me. I had to think in a new way, as I had not imagined what it would be like to speak differently than I had grown up doing. Not only did I have to memorize new vocabulary, but I also had to conjugate these words and put them into sentences without much time to think it over. My teacher has been great. He makes sure we are not just memorizing and translating, but instead learning to have conversations and understand when others communicate in Spanish. To my surprise, I ended up enjoying the class as well as speaking the language.
Having benefited so much from the class, I proceeded to take Spanish 2 and have recently begun Spanish 3. Yet my learning has gone beyond the classroom. When coming across Spanish in everyday life, such as on the packaging of commercial goods or in conversations of strangers around me, I am finding myself understanding more and more of it as my learning and understanding of the language grows. I even had the honor of meeting a girl my age who was from Guatemala. She visited my school for a few weeks, and I had the pleasure of speaking some Spanish with her. Realization of this beneficial skill has set in. Being able to communicate with people who speak another language is priceless, especially for my future career. Because I am going into the field of education, I will likely meet some students who speak Spanish, especially with their growing population here in the U.S. Now, instead of having a language barrier, I will know their native language. This will form a greater connection with them and their learning rather than trying to communicate with what little English they may know.
My current English teacher taught in Spanish at a former school, with its having a large Spanish speaking population, and I know that the same could happen for me. Rather than being naive to future obstacles in my path as a future teacher, I feel that this class has helped prepare me for this career path. I may not have realized its benefits at first, but I am ever thankful that I chose to take the class. It has been more than worth it.