Second Languages

I have been reading my students’ essay drafts on the novel “The Professor’s House” by Willa Cather. They have written their essays in English, their second (or third!) language.

I also have been reading a Mexican history textbook written for students at the secundaria (middle school) level, as a way to build my Spanish language skills while also learning more about México’s rich history.

As I read the students’ essay drafts, I add and delete a’s, an’s, and the’s, and I correct verb tenses. I marvel at the students’ sophisticated literary arguments about the themes of inheritance and the search for a usable past.

As I read the history textbook, I circle words and write definitions in the margins. I marvel at México’s rich, diverse, mestizo heritage, and I wonder at how the ancient Maya and Zapoteca and Teotihuacana mythologies continue to shape Mexicans’ worldviews today.

I feel so eager for my students to access the nuances of some great literary works written in English, unmediated by translation. And I am so eager for myself to access more history, literature, art, and world news in Spanish – again, unmediated by translation.

An understanding of a second language is such a fundamental, valuable humanistic skill. I feel this every day here. I’m inspired by my students.