The relational connection through language is the biggest reason I teach Spanish at ICS. This Spring, I was able to accompany many of my high school students to Ensenada, Mexico where we were able to make relational connections. ICS offers credits to students for field studies each year. Our group went to the impoverished communities near Tijuana to minister to orphanages, health clinics, and field worker families in joint efforts with several ministries already in operation there. 

At first, our students were shy and hesitant to use their Spanish but it didn’t take long until they were conversing about everything they could think of with every person they could talk to. The children at the orphanage where we were staying would come alive when our students spoke Spanish with them, even though many of them could converse in English. 

One of the days, we were playing VBS type games with some of the children from Central America who were stuck at the border with their families in one of the caravans. Words cannot describe the interactions that went on that afternoon of face painting, bean bag tossing, and coloring. My students were talking with kids who hadn’t seen a coloring book or toy for months. The tension in their watchful parents’ eyes relaxed just a little as our kids were able to love on them and speak to them in their own language.  

Many of my students came away from that trip with a determination to learn more of the language. They got to see first-hand the power of those connections. It’s no longer a boring class where confusing conjugations droll on one after another.The relational connection through language is the biggest reason I teach Spanish at ICS. This Spring, I was able to accompany many of my high school students to Ensenada, Mexico where we were able to make relational connections. ICS offers credits to students for field studies each year. Our group went to the impoverished communities near Tijuana to minister to orphanages, health clinics, and field worker families in joint efforts with several ministries already in operation there. 

At first, our students were shy and hesitant to use their Spanish but it didn’t take long until they were conversing about everything they could think of with every person they could talk to. The children at the orphanage where we were staying would come alive when our students spoke Spanish with them, even though many of them could converse in English. 

One of the days, we were playing VBS type games with some of the children from Central America who were stuck at the border with their families in one of the caravans. Words cannot describe the interactions that went on that afternoon of face painting, bean bag tossing, and coloring. My students were talking with kids who hadn’t seen a coloring book or toy for months. The tension in their watchful parents’ eyes relaxed just a little as our kids were able to love on them and speak to them in their own language.  

Many of my students came away from that trip with a determination to learn more of the language. They got to see first-hand the power of those connections. It’s no longer a boring class where confusing conjugations droll on one after another. Now the language has taken its own life and my hope is that these students will continue to learn, not only Spanish but many languages as they have learned that this is one more way to connect to others in God’s great world. 

Written by: Danielle Pimentel, 1st-12th Grade Spanish Teacher