Falling in Love with Spanish

By Joey Reynolds-Boatwright

University of California, Davis; LCF Teacher Scholar '27 & Student Ambassador

When I was first introduced to Spanish during my freshman year of high school, it was love at first sight. I had always been something of a history and culture buff, but I never imagined that I would enjoy language courses as much as I did. Growing up in rural Northern California, I didn’t have the same opportunity to be exposed to world languages at a young age like someone from a large city would. Nevertheless, every time I entered Señora Prax-Lodge’s classroom throughout my four years of high school, I was immediately overwhelmed with excitement for the day’s lesson, and thinking about how I could apply the knowledge I was soon to acquire.

From the beginning of my language learning experience, I was enamored with the idea of cultural exploration. Despite my hometown having a large Hispanic population, I was always on the outside looking in, observing. I was curious about many of the food and cultural practices I encountered, so it was truly exciting to deepen my knowledge of them. As I learned more of the language, and became more confident in my speaking abilities, I found myself connecting with people in my community on a much deeper level. Not only was I able to speak to people I hadn’t been able to previously due to language barriers, but I had a new level of understanding of many of my friends and their families, too. At my customer service job, I was able to make customers feel welcomed and comfortable by simply being able to help them in a language that they were comfortable speaking.

Additionally, my language skills came with a better understanding of cultural celebrations and their meanings. One of my favorite holidays is Día de los Muertos, which is a celebration of the circle of life and a time to reconnect with loved ones who have passed on. Thanks to my language learning journey, I have had the joy of learning about and participating in Día de los Muertos festivities, and other cultural practices, too.

As early as my sophomore year of high school, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in Spanish, but I was unsure in what capacity.

Throughout Covid-related online school, I continued my language studies, soaking up all of the knowledge that I could through the screen. Though online school was challenging, it gave me more motivation to persevere, and Spanish class gave me something to look forward to in an otherwise difficult period.

That year, my school moved to a semester-long course model, meaning that I could take Spanish II in one semester and III in the next. At the end of the year, Señora Prax-Lodge offered me the opportunity to be an Instructional Assistant in her Spanish III course. I can easily say that this is one of the best opportunities I have had in my life thus far—not only did it solidify my love for the Spanish language, but it showed me the beauty of sharing that passion with others through language education. In my junior year, I spent every other day tutoring students in grammar, writing, and oral expression.

Teaching language is sort of like how birds teach their babies to fly: You lead by example, explain and gently correct, until one day, something clicks and they open their wings. Watching students apply their newly acquired knowledge and take flight is immensely fulfilling.

Though the students in that course were my peers, I will always consider them my first class. In my senior year, I found every possible way to spend time both teaching and learning from an expert teacher. I would often get up an hour earlier than needed, just to come to school and spend my free period in AP Spanish Language and Culture, a course I had taken the year prior. I had renewed my Instructional Assistant position for a second year in Spanish III, but I had also become the de facto Instructional Assistant in AP Spanish, too. I continued to improve in my own knowledge and instruction methods with the feedback I received.

Serving as a teaching assistant was an amazing experience, and it solidified my career aspirations to be a high school Spanish teacher.

When it came time to apply to college, I had no doubt in my mind about majoring in Spanish, owing to the many positive and life altering experiences that Spanish has afforded me. In my first year, I took many interesting courses—such as applied Spanish linguistics, where I designed lesson plans and came to better understand Spanish grammar. I also took a course called Intro to Latin American Culture, where we learned about the history of Latin America through poetry, short stories, and films.

I am excited to be entering my second year studying at the university level. This year, I will begin taking courses towards an education minor, so that I can gain valuable knowledge and classroom experience for admissions into a credential program after undergrad.

Learning Spanish has forever bettered me as a person, and I cannot wait to share my love for it in a classroom of my own someday. For now, I am soaking up every moment of my university experience and taking every opportunity I can to better myself and my language abilities in preparation for a long career as a language educator.

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Know a language learner with a story to share? Refer multilingual students and professionals to LCF for consideration in a future blog feature. And be sure to explore the LCF Student Ambassadors Program for post-secondary language learners.