Digging into Spanish by Melissa

Digging into Spanish by Melissa - September 2017 Scholarship Essay

Sophomore year of my high school career I had two electives, my first was Honors Art and for my second elective I chose Spanish III. Living in a small border town that is heavily influenced by the Mexican culture lead me to choose this elective. I am a Mexican-American student at Nogales High School, just like most of my peers and classmates. My first language is Spanish but I was never thought nor expected to write Spanish in my middle school, so I was not proficient writing Spanish. When I took the class, not only did it inspire me, but it actually encouraged me to proceed with the course. The first time I walked into the class and the teacher introduced herself, I knew I was there to stay. She stared with very basic writing skills and reading, in which I exceled in. However, weeks later she thought us how to use accents when writing, something I had no clue how to do.
She is a great inspiration to me because her way of teaching and the way she dedicated time to the students when learning was a great way to interact with others as well. Further into the year, we began reading novels, and there is when I found true passion for the class. When we started our first book we did hands-on activities, which were very useful to visual learners like me. We are small project presentation and then present them to the class, which I see as a great way to help you become an extroverted student. After the year was over I decided that I would like to come back to this classroom setting, so my junior and senior year I took IB Spanish. IB Spanish is thought by the same teacher, this time, however, it was different now we read international stories written or translated into Spanish. IB Spanish requires you to read and have good literary analysis in order for you to become a great student. One most always participate and devote time to reading, analyzing and decoding the author’s purpose in the book.
Another thing that stands out to me the most is the way the class is thought. The teacher is always in a great mood to teach which, to me personally encourages to want to learn more. Her motherhood experience is also a great way to enhance student’s attentions during class. She will always take time to give us life lessons that relate to the book or assignment that we are working on. This makes the classroom environment better for students to be more engaged and participate more.
IB Spanish has left a great impact in my education because I was able to enrich my language and my knowledge on Mexican history. It has helped become a well-rounded individual. Through this class I’ve been able to learn not only from the classroom point of view, but also from personal experience that I could of not acquired if it weren’t for the class.