Language Exchange Program Creates Dos Amigas

Participating in the language exchange project initiated by Mexico President Marli Camargo and getting to know Daniela Olivares Valderrama these past twelve months has been a truly wonderful experience. Thanks to my CO Alpha Iota Sister Madeline (Maddie) Bosma who invited me to join her in a Zoom meeting in January 2021 to learn about the project, I agreed to be paired with Daniela who had a basic English vocabulary. I figured I could communicate with her since my Spanish comprehension skills and basic Spanish vocabulary were sufficient to drive our con-versations. The parameters for the project gave participants the latitude and flexibility to select topics and approaches for each tutoring session according to the language proficiency of paired sisters. Daniela has been a perfect match.

What initially began as my willingness to teach English to Daniela evolved to Daniela helping me with pronunciation of unfamiliar Spanish words and the acquisition of more advanced vocabulary. It has been a win-win situation. Each zoom session afforded me the opportunity to hone my conversational skills, cognizant that practice of a language is of paramount importance to achieving flu-ency. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking home has been a big boost. Much to my surprise, I have been able to retrieve Spanish words from my word bank, words I have not spoken for decades. Our conversations are interspersed with me saying, “Como se deci?” (How do you say?). Translations of English to Spanish and vice/versa expedited our communication.?

As a retired teacher with teaching endorsements in Secondary English and Reading (K-12), I took the lead after a few tutoring ses-sions and suggested Daniela could best practice her language skills by reading English text. The first lesson was a short ebook I pur-chased, “Pancho Rabbit: A Migrant’s Tale.” I took screenshots and shared screen photos and text. To ensure comprehension, I trans-lated after she read each paragraph. Before each session, I translated the text with the aid of a dictionary when necessary. I discovered after the first story that I could Google, “How do you say people in Spanish?” and I was able to retrieve the word as well as the pro-nunciation.?

Then, our approach changed. What began as an exercise to increase Daniela’s reading fluency in English became my opportunity to practice my Spanish reading fluency. I selected several fables including “The Boy who Cried Wolf” and “The Hare and the Tortoise.” I copied and pasted stories in English, uploaded them to a translator app on my phone and then emailed both English and Spanish versions to Daniela prior to our zoom tutoring sessions. Paragraph by paragraph, I instructed Daniela: I (Teacher) read in English, and you (student) read in English. Then, you (Teacher) read in Spanish, and I (student) read in Spanish. Our primary focus was on pronunciation but comprehension of text followed as we clarified vocabulary and engaged in discussion, i.e., How is a turtle different from a tortoise? We also discussed the moral of the fable or theme of the story. We will continue to implement this approach with our next reading challenge for 2022, “La Lauren,” a legend popular in both Mexico and the United States’ Southwest.

What an exciting learning experience it has been for both of us. Thanks to a zoom encounter with our MX Eta Chapter, I have a friend (una Amiga). We both have so much to share and so much to learn. We both laugh when I tell her the Spanish text is much more difficult than the English translation. Of course, she disagrees since she excels in the mastery of her primary language. Each session makes me appreciate how fortunate I am to have this grand opportunity to share my expertise of English with such a willing learner while enhancing my Spanish speaking skills. This back-and-forth communication between Daniela and me is consistent with World Understanding and our new biennium logo, “ Share the Love.”