On Monday, Pinewood foreign language teachers suddenly stopped speaking in English, citing the difficulty of endless translation in an email sent to parents.
French, Mandarin and Spanish students were extremely confused about the curriculum change, with several being unable to keep up without constant translation. French teacher Stephanie Gervais stated that students would get over this initial hurdle and improve their communication skills in their language.
“Les taux de maîtrise des langues dans le monde ont diminué en raison de la pandémie, et l’anglais constitue une béquille pour les étudiants,” Gervais said. “J’espère que ce programme permettra aux étudiants de s’immerger dans leur langue et de terminer le cours plus rapidement.”
Gervais emphasized that world language fluency rates had been decreasing because of the pandemic, and that English provided a crutch for students. Gervais said she hopes that the new curriculum will allow students to fully immerse themselves into their chosen foreign language and complete the course faster.
Freshman Nona Brozell noted that the lack of English caused her to miss a large piece of information.
“I was on my iPad, playing the NYTimes Mini because I couldn’t understand a word in Spanish, when I was handed a test,” Brozell said. “I had no idea because I don’t know what the word for test is in Spanish and my grade dropped 23 points.”
Spanish teacher Monica Llagaria expressed her frustration of students constantly yelling ‘como se dice’ in her class.
“Traducir español se vuelve muy aburrido,” Llegaría said. “En ese momento, ¿por qué los estudiantes no usan el Traductor de Google?”
Llegaria expressed her displeasure of translating English to Spanish, stating that it gets boring. She added that students should use Google Translate at that point.
Despite the learning curve, both Llegaria and Gervais are hopeful that the new curriculum will create positive change in the Pinewood community. Foreign language teachers not speaking English has already led to a campus-wide push for faculty and staff to be multilingual. Since other adults on campus cannot understand the language teachers, many have decided to take up French, Mandarin or Spanish.
Llegaria hopes that her fellow colleagues can experience the joy that can come from learning a new language.
“Aprender un idioma es divertido y gratificante,” Llegaría said. “Espero que todos en Pinewood puedan adoptar nuevas culturas y tradiciones.”
Llegaria said that learning a new language is a fun and rewarding experience, and she hopes that the community can embrace all the cultures and traditions here at Pinewood.
