An ode to language teaching

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I feel a sense of pride when I look at my contact list on my phone. Mingled with long time friends, home maintanance services and family, the foreign (yet by now familiar) names of my students van apareciendo. Es increíble pensar en las conexiones que llevo hechas en mis años de enseñar español.

I’ll give you this picture: someone who’s found you sailing the immense ocean known as the internet decides to meet you based on a very limited set of alleged qualities you’ve described yourself with.

We both jump on that first lesson, smile, say the hellos in the best available way and the adventure starts. Next thing you know, that student confides in you about their goal: they want to speak Spanish. You listen to their stories (I’m here for the stories, to be honest) and try to establish a common ground from where to start building.

A lot goes on in the middle. You discuss learning strategies, you discuss grammar, idiomatic use of the language, explore the sounds, contrast Spanish against their native language. You talk. A lot.

Fast forward to the moment when you spend an hour speaking Spanish with barely any English mixed in. The goal has been achieved.

The learner is stoked.

For you, as the tutor, it feels as thrilling. You’ve witnessed their journey.

It feels so good, amigos!

You’ve gotten to know them at a personal level. And they’ve gotten to know you. Probably that’s the secret. We need the human element in everything we do. You know quite a lot about them; about their work, their interests, their travels, their family, their weekend activities. The movies and food they like and dislike.

All of that has been going on while Spanish slowly and organically took over. This new Spanish speaking self that you’ve created is now available to you. So so rewarding, friends.

As of September of 2024 I’ve taught over 200 students from all over the world— places I couldn’t even have placed on a map. Cities I’d never heard of before now sound so familiar to me.

Students from/living in Alaska, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Grenada, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Croatia, Slovakia, Georgia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kazakhstan, China, Japan, the Philipinnes, Australia and some others I might be forgetting now as I bring them to memory with gratitude.

Can you make friends with your students/tutor? With some of them I’ve been meeting regularly for the past 3/4 years! For sure you can!

I’ve heard so many great stories, I’ve had so many awesome conversations. I’ve learned so much!

I’ve always liked the the term ‘jack of all trades’. I’m not sure someone looking at me from the outside would consider me one, but I do.

Earlie this year I read a quote that illuminated an idea I’d been hovering around for a while: it’s your personal sum of skills, not one particular superskill which opens doors and makes you quien sos.

“Excellence is mundane. Superlative performance is really a confluence of dozens of small skills or activities, each one learned or stumbled upon, which have been carefully drilled into habit and then are fitted together in a synthesized whole. There is nothing extraordinary or superhuman in any one of those actions; only the fact that they are done consistently and correctly, and all together, produce excellence.”

When I enrolled in university to study law, my plan was to pursue a diplomatic career. That never came to be exactly on those literal terms, but on a higher, more rewarding octave it has. I like to think doing what I do I play a diplomatic role.

I graduated from university in 2011 and started my teaching journey working in 2012 in Brazil as a Spanish teacher for hotel staff. I had no idea how to go about it, but a Brazilian friend who was teaching English there said I was a good fit (the basic and not always accurate assumption that natives know best).

I worked at two big hotels for two months, and when I returned to Argentina, I wanted to get one of those colorful papers that say you can do something.

I got my Spanish teaching diploma, but for the next few years, I mostly taught English to Argentine students aged… 10-70 in group lessons. It was awesome offline teaching training, but with the pandemic we switched to online courses. The first month I was pissed. I thought that’d never work.

But then my brother, who lives in Denmark, suggested I taught Spanish to his Danish girlfriend and one Swedish friend.

Soon after that I applied to teach on Italki, and one year later, voila!, Venture Out started to take shape in my mind.

Teaching English helped me set up for success in teaching español and at the same time, teaching Spanish transformed the way I approach teaching inglés nowadays.

By then, I was still living in the western area of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. When my wife and I decided to move to Córdoba, I decided to double down on AR Spanish.

By zeroing in on Argentinian Spanish I discovered a rich field of language and culture I’d never taken for granted (thanks to having travelled much through South America in my younger years), but had never bothered to disect rigorously, either.

I started Traé Alfajores to discuss Argentinian Spanish, and debunk some common misconceptions. The podcast ended up being my favorite excuse to combine my interest in radio broadcasting, my fascination with the internet and my tendency to look at everything halfway between an alien and an anthropologist.

At 270 followers, the podcast analytics say TA gets listens from every corner of the world! Latvia, Kuwait, Zambia, Vanuatu…

The prerequisite for having an online business is being out there and the second and most essential one is being discovered. I did my homework on that area, too. Not only did I learn much about web development, but also about SEO.

Also, thanks to my website blog I get to write regularly in English, touching on topics that make me a better learner.

I grew up surrounded by English. My mother is an English teacher, and every time we traveled abroad, I saw the value of English in real life. Then I started learning Portuguese at school and continued for quite a few years and lived in Brazil for 6 months. Next up is either German or Italian, but knowing what it takes, I recognize I’m not fully available.

However, as of 2024 drums are back in my life and pretty much everything I say about learning a language applies to the language of drumming.

I’m taking lessons from a guy who has been a gamechanger in my view about music. He has an approach which he calls creative flow. Basically, it means simple ideas creating complex grooves. That’s exactly how I feel about Spanish learning.

I know this was a long, self-referential post, but I’m happy to share it with whoever made it to the end.

Thanks for reading and for being on the other end, especially to those who have been supporting my work in one way or another.

Hope you have a great day ahead,

Mati

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