"Panel" post

Our panel, which ended up being one man, was great. I loved that he could speak from classroom experience not just about the language aspect of an immersion program, but about how students, Hispanic and nonHispanic, learned various subjects and learned about each other's cultures.

I also really liked that he shared with our class how his teaching experience in the immersion classroom at El Sol changed his views on some things (books with Spanish and English instead of two separate copies of the same book, one in each language). Sometimes I think that people want so badly to not be "wrong" that they won't even admit to themselves that their opinion has changed, but I think that gaining new information and adjusting your position based upon it is what lifelong learning is all about - it's how we grow.

I want to get an ESL certification myself. While I don't plan to teach in an immersion setting, I feel that an ESL certification will help me be a more effective teacher and some of the practices and experiences our guest described have really helped me think about how to best help all of my students. What an invaluable day in class!