Spanish - Memorization and Learning

As teachers of Spanish as a foreign language (ELE), of whom many of us work with groups of multi-national students, we are faced on a daily basis with an issue that usually puts us in one predicament or another: to turn vocabulary learning into a productive activity for our students and to integrate cultural differences in a way that makes for a positive and enriching experience that avoids value judgments.

Intercultural environments raise the question of how to be aware of the different “visions of the world” that exist in each group member’s country of origin, without ever under any circumstances evaluating those visions. The goal is to widen our students’ horizons to give them the chance to not only know, but to also understand (in the sense of assimilating information, entering it into their “mental map” of the world) different viewpoints that may be taken in regards to situations that are apparently similar. A good example of this is the stereotype-based joke that’s been spread around Spain which goes: when an English person is waiting, they must be forming their own line. We Spaniards are surprised by what we consider England’s exaggerated attention to organization, as lines here in Spain are generally not formed physically, with people waiting behind one another, but rather verbally, making use of the wonderful tool that is the question: ¿quién es el/la ultimo/a? (who’s the last one [in line]), a custom that our non-Mediterranean students often find difficult to adapt to.

The need to teach Spanish learners not only the language but also the local vision of the world reminds me of an article I read the other day in which Andreas Schleicher, director of the PISA report (Program for International Student Assesment), was critical of the excessive use of memorization in Spain’s public education system… and something similar happens sometimes in the Spanish as a second language classroom, especially when teaching vocabulary (that lexicon which occasionally is more about what the teacher thinks the student should know than what the student actually wants to learn). It’s not easy for us to accept the indirect criticism aimed at our lesson-planning-pride when suddenly a student – or several students- blurt out in class: “professor/a, I’m/we’re not interested in this”.

Meaningful Learning

Let’s keep in mind one thing that may seem so obvious that it can end up getting lost in the hazy fog of obviousness: Ausubel’s theory on meaningful learning.

Taking a few minutes to reread the basics of this American theory is something that we should do as a rule at least once a year so we don’t forget one of fundamentals upon which we should base or work.

The notion of “teaching to learn” is particularly fundamental for teachers who work with adult students, as in many cases it’s been a long time since these students have done any type of studying.

Even at the risk of being too insistent, I feel I must include a few final thoughts here on the basis of meaningful learning. Of course it’s important to have an idea of students’ pre-class knowledge, to help you find the best way to introduce new knowledge through activities that can spark interest and engage those students within the context of a multi-cultural environment, an environment that must be considered to achieve harmony based on tolerance and comprehension in a way that earns their trust. Information presented should be as “un-linguistic” as possible, basing lessons whenever possible on clear examples and situations in which students can express their opinions and exchange ideas.    

Let’s not forget that our goal (unless you’re working with the rare student who specifically wants a GRAMMAR course) is not to teach students technical language theory. We should be focusing on getting them to know how to communicate in Spanish, in a relaxing environment in which they feel rewarded for acquiring new skills without worrying too much about errors they may make. In this way, anyone learning Spanish will want to continue learning it, without having to feel overwhelmed by the dauntingly long road they still have ahead of them. Speaking and understanding a language is an occasion for celebrating communication and the opening of new horizons through the acquisition of knowledge.