Second Language Professor

Kelly Arispe 

Spanish Professor from the Department of World Languages, Coordinator for the Secondary Education Program at Boise State University.

Kelly Arispe earned her PhD in Spanish linguistics at UC Davis University. She is currently a Spanish professor and coordinator for Secondary Education in the Department of World Languages at Boise State University. Kelly is an amazing instructor who loves to help and support students in their journey to becoming a language teacher. She is also a person who is available to students if they have any questions about their academic careers and if they want to learn more about the Spanish language. Kelly is a professor who sees pedagogical material as a starting point to expand the teaching methods and meet the needs of each student. During the interview, she was very friendly and shared her ideas clearly by adding examples and talking about her career in the different stages of being an undergraduate and graduate student. I also learned that when teaching a language is not just teaching about grammar, conjugations, and vocabulary, it is also learning about the culture and the people who are part of that culture. Another thing I learned in the interview was that when a language graduate student is looking for a program, they will need to choose between literature or linguistics. I think that it is important to know if after my bachelor’s I want to go to graduate school and earn my master’s degree in a second language.

Questions and answers

How is proficiency in another language useful or important in this field according to Kelly Arispe?

Kelly said that knowing and understanding another language is very important for this field because it will be a great thing to have if we want to teach a foreign language. She also said that as a teacher, we cannot assume the perspective of each student as a whole because every student is a different person, with a different portfolio. Thus, Kelly said that having proficiency in another language will be a way to gain empathy with a student and anticipate an error or misunderstanding when learning a new language. Another thing she said is that having proficiency in another language will be beneficial by creating pedagogical plans to help and support students in their journey of learning a foreign language and expand their knowledge and capabilities in learning and becoming multilingual.

How is the ability to communicate and work with people from different cultural backgrounds useful or important in this field?

Kelly shared the following quote, “it is the most important thing that I love about my job.” Professor Arispe believes that as professors, they find teaching because professors are the most curious people in the world. She mentioned that “as professors we always have questions and we always want to know the -why- about everything.” Kelly explained that professors contribute to the diversity of a language. Even if they teach the same language, their teaching varies based on the regions and places where they have lived. This diversity arises from their multilingualism and distinct cultural backgrounds.

How have your language and cultural skills supported and/or enhanced your opportunities in this field?

Kelly Arispe shared with me the following quote: “I believe that in the first place, my passport is my best friend because I love it. I have a perspective thanks to experiences that I’ve had as a student. I am a traveler, an adventurous person and I live my life wishing to travel more because, for me, I see the world as very accessible and as a linguist, it has changed my perspectives to learn from different opportunities to implement what I have learned in this field. ”

What are some other skills that are important for success in this field according to Kelly?

Kelly responded about the importance of reflecting: “A teacher can arrive with the best pedagogical plan, with the best activities and technology, they can have the skills but those students who enter in the classroom are different and depending on each class their plan can vary. So, you can have success in the first class but in the following you say, I’ve made the same as the last one but it has finished differently. Even the best professors that have more time in this field, have to reflect on what has worked and what has not worked and why, and how I can improve it.” She also mentioned that mindset is very important for the professional development of becoming a language teacher.

What did Kelly do to prepare for this field? (For example: If she attended college, what did she study, apprenticeships, internships, work experience, etc.)

Professor Arispe said she prepared by being curious and because she was very interested in learning a new language. She also shared that “when graduate students continue with a language, they have to choose the literature or linguistic track. And I always said that I like to read but I feel that if I put a lot of effort into the literature track it will take away my interest in reading by having books that I don’t have interest in or by reading a lot. However, I like the math involved in the language, it is like a formula, it is very predictable, and you can analyze it. I consider myself more analytical, so I chose the linguistic track and I do not regret it.” Kelly shared that she completed her masters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She also added that it was a good experience because it is like the center of the Spanish language since the Spanish colonization. In the past, she was an adjunct professor at the University of California where her family was living, but she realized that she would need to continue with her studies because it is hard to be an adjunct professor. Then, she returned to graduate school for her PhD at UC Davis for five years.

What languages does Kelly speak? Did she have the opportunity to study abroad or spend time in a language-speaking country?

Doctor Arispe can speak English and Spanish fluently. Kelly is also able to understand Italian and she has a B1 level in the comprehension of this romance language, Kelly says that she can comprehend and defend herself in Italian. She has also studied Portuguese and says that she can understand but she is strong in reading something in Portuguese. One quote that I loved from her answer was “Unfortunately I do not have proficiency in another language yet.” Because never is never to start and learn a new language. Kelly also told me that she studied in Andalucia, Spain when she was an undergraduate student. Doctor Arispe told me that changed her mind because before having the major in Spanish, she had it in Elementary Education but by being exposed to the language she knew the track that she should follow.

What made Kelly choose the Spanish language major?

Kelly Arispe shared the following; “In the first place, I grew up in the Evangelical church and that was an important element in my family, so when I was a teenager, we spent our summers in Mexico by crossing the border and helping towns in creating houses like social works. Then, I met a girl named Mónica and we have been friends since that time. Mónica changed my life because I noticed that I could communicate with her thanks to Spanish classes that I was taking at school. I went to Mexico for four summers one after another, and after each summer I noticed that I was able to have a deeper understanding of the Spanish language.” Another quote from her; “the Spanish language is also part of my heritage, my grandma’s mother language was Spanish but she left it because her mother died when she was 13 years and that was the connection, then she got married when she was 16 with an Italian.” An important piece of information that Kelly shared with me was that she took responsibility to take back the Spanish language in her family in a serious way.

What is something that Kelly enjoys about being a language professor?

Kelly Arispe mentioned that she enjoys being a language professor thanks to having her students at a point where she can see their growth. Kelly made a connection with my Spanish class, SPAN 415, because when my class started learning about the transcription of the language we could not comprehend anything but after we had an improvement with the topic.

What advice would Kelly give a future language teacher?

She advised me that the vehicle for the understanding and motivation of learning a new language is the culture. Kelly said that as a future language teacher, I have to go beyond the grammar, conjugation and rules. She told me that people and culture are the ways where a language teacher can catch their students’ attention in learning a foreign language. Kelly mentioned, “It is not only about grammar, it is also about people and their culture because language is a culture.”

What were some challenges that Kelly had in the teaching profession?

Kelly told me that her challenges were during her first two years of teaching because everything was new and she was never taught how to lesson plan and had to create them from scratch. She shared the following, “When you are in the stage of surviving because you have to create everything, choose the book, the materials for the course and think about how are you going to work and share that knowledge with the class. But when you’ve taught the material one or two times, then you can focus on the pedagogical plans and start making adjustments and changes that will achieve what you want more… but then when you have passed those two first years, you’ll see that it is going to be easier and not too chaotic because you’ll be able to play and manipulate and create things that are fun.”