Glenda+M’s+OpEd+Article



I looked up “useless” in the dictionary the other day and this was the definition: TPRS a.k.a. Foothill’s Spanish program.

TPRS, or Total Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling, is supposed to enhance the learning of a foreign language, but, instead, it renders the entire process futile.

Can anyone please tell me when I am ever going to need to say “the eight-hundred-and-fifty-two-year-old vegetarian seahorse shepherd lived in Atlantis” in Spanish? Because so far I have found virtually everything I learned in Spanish 1 utterly useless.

In Spanish 1, they don’t even mention verb conjugations, which are pretty much the ham in the Spanish ham sandwich.

I know that Foothill is trying to teach Spanish from a dynamic and different perspective, but TPRS is a complete failure. Has no one noticed that students who graduate with the bilingual seal aren’t even close to bilingual? I know it is unfair to assume that after four years of a foreign language, someone could be totally fluent, but I find the fact that these students openly admit that they barely know Spanish slightly concerning.

Personally, I have taken Spanish at both Foothill and VC. I can honestly say that I learned more in my first two days at the College than I did my entire year of Spanish 1.

I remember Senora Leaf used to always say “You guys should be thankful because in a traditional Spanish class, you would have 50 word long lists to memorize, and in this class you only have 5.” Oh, you mean in the Spanish classes where they actually LEARN SPANISH?! Yeah I am really glad I am not in one of those.

This is in no way an attack on Senora Leaf, Senor Perfecto, or Senor Sanchez, who are all fabulous teachers; this is an attack on the program that throws all of their fantastic teaching abilities to the dogs.

At craft club one week, Senora Leaf said that one reason they changed the program was because there were some students who just couldn’t memorize all of the words and patterns and they would fail. Although I appreciate her attempt to help students in that predicament, there are students who fail in every class and we don’t change every curriculum to accommodate them. One of my fellow crafters (sorry I don’t remember who) came up with the idea of having an Honors Spanish course where students who are committed to that kind of memorization can learn the language while other students who have a rigorous schedule or trouble memorizing can use the TPRS approach. I think that idea is golden.

All I am saying is stories about invisible panda bears that live at Hogwarts didn’t teach me a new language, they just made me dread first period, and I know I am not the only one. Foothill is in desperate need of a change, so can we please make it happen?