Teaching Spanish with Immersion Methodology

Question

Hey everyone. I'm going to be teaching low level university Spanish classes as a Graduate Teaching Assistant during the course of my Masters degree. The problem is, the university uses the "immersion" method, which means that I have to teach Spanish using no English whatsoever. I'm fluent in Spanish, so it's not that big a deal, but I'm a little scared because I really have no idea how to go about teaching someone a new language without them understanding what I'm saying. Any resources or advice would be great. Trust me, I've been doing research too, so please no "google it" comments. Thanks!

Answer 1

I think the best thing is to use lots of "realia".  Also, demonstrate as often as you can and label everything in the classroom with its Spanish label--desk, filing cabinet, door, white board, pencil sharpener, window, floor, carpet,--everything in the classroom.  I teach in an elementary school and when I get students from another country that is what I do.  It really helps.

Answer 2

Hello, I personally have not had an immersion style foreign language class but I have known people who have. From what they have said, and personal experience when encountering someone who knows no English I find that using strong gesticulations helps a great deal.  Symbolic pictures are universal, so if you were trying to show them how to say cat, draw a simple cat and repeat the word for cat over. In one of my classes our teacher would consistently use certain phrases pertaining to the class over and over again but never use them in English. Ex. If we asked to sharpen our pencil, she would repeat our question in Spanish, pause and the answer in Spanish. For the first few times we had no idea what she was doing, then she mimicked sharpening a pencil and we figured it out, soon enough we were asking such simple things in Spanish and able to carry on small conversations. I am not sure what to do if you advance to teaching grammar and whatnot, but at least the parroting method will give you the basics. I hope this helps and good luck!