Dr. Goodwin’s Spanish IV class serves at a local Spanish church.
Broadening Horizons
// HOW IMMERSIVE LEARNING OPENS INTERNATIONAL DOORS In his life as a high school student, Dr. Andy Goodwin experienced the transformative power of being fully immersed in a Spanish classroom, “where the language was the object and the medium,” as he puts it. To him, having such a difficult experience shape his education and his worldview meant that when he became a teacher at Covenant many years ago, he knew it had to provide that same experience for his students. For over 20 years, students have been studying their Spanish courses in full immersion settings, which means that teachers exclusively speak in Spanish while teaching the language. It can be tough for students at school and for parents at home who field the frustration, but to Goodwin, that difficulty is where true education is forged. “Early on, there were parents and students who were mad at me,” he said. “They would say things like, ‘[My student] doesn’t even understand the instructions.’” But Goodwin said the proof proved to be in the years of investment, “especially when there were multiple siblings. The oldest tested out of their lower level Spanish classes in college and parents were sold. It had worked.” So at Covenant, students study Spanish, in Spanish. To current department head Profé Ernesto Aguinaga, the curriculum sets students up to learn the language and to love the culture where the language is actively used. “We provide students with original content brought from authentic resources that we bring into the classroom to involve them in cultural events, not just linguistic experiences.” Aguinaga is particularly proud of the yearly immersion project that students undertake to round out their classroom education. Students don’t simply learn the language; they become familiar with many different parts of Spanish culture from around the world. “We want to make students culturally aware of their own surroundings through the immersion projects that we
Profé Aguinaga, World Languages Department Head
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