ABOUT THE TEACHER...

As most of you already know, I am from Spain, a city called Granada in the region of Andalucia in the south of Spain. I am here with a program called Visiting Teachers in the USA as a foreign associate teacher, this is my first year at Caddo Middle Magnet, I am very excited and I hope to have a wonderful experience teaching you all as well as you  learning with me!

This is a great oportunity for me to learn a new language, get involved in a new culture and a different style of life, but my goal is for you to understand how important is to learn a foreign language in today's world and how fun it can be.

"I’m a believer in foreign language training. I think...this country hasn’t devoted enough resources really to foreign language training. We’ve looked at the three Rs – reading, writing, and arithmetic – but we haven’t looked at reality of the world...And I believe that for the Defense Department and I think for the State Department, there’s a recognition that you need to have language in order to be able to relate to the world that we live in. So my goal would be.....that we not undermine the kind of teaching and language training that I think is essential to our ability not only to protect our security, but frankly to be a nation that is well educated." (Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, August 16, 2011)

 

Language and communication are at the heart of the human experience. The United States must educate students who are linguistically and culturally equipped to communicate successfully in a pluralistic American society and abroad. This imperative envisions a future in which ALL students will develop and maintain proficiency in English and at least one other language, modern or classical. Children who come to school from non-English backgrounds should also have opportunities to develop further proficiencies in their first language. AMERICAN COUNCIL ON THE TEACHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES.