Teacher says work in Spanish rewarding

Editor's note: This is one in a series profiling local educators each week.

Learning Spanish is a process, the results of which Portales High School Spanish Teacher Ignacio Perez sees every day when his students enter his classroom.

"In other classes, you have to see the writing part of it to say, 'Okay, this student is starting to get it.' With me, you say something, and then they look, and it's like, 'Wait a minute, they keyed into that word,'" he said. "What's really awesome is when they come up to me and they say, 'I heard a conversation the other day, and I understood a lot of the words.' That's just unbelievably motivating for the teacher."

Perez began teaching at Eastern New Mexico University (also his alma mater) in 1994, and taught at Clovis Community College and in Texas schools before coming to PHS, where he is finishing his fifth year.

What makes you passionate about teaching Spanish?

It's very rewarding. People might think it's monotonous; it's not. Every class is different, every year is different, and you would think that things would be repetitive, and they're not.

Sometimes, you might get a group of students that are really, really motivated, and others, there's not even a spark, and you've got to find some way to get them interested. It's neat, because initially, you can see them with a total lack of interest, but then, all of a sudden, they start to perk up. To me, a language class - it's so much easier to see when a person grasps it, because you say things and they start to understand it.

Did you know that you wanted to teach earlier or later in your life, and in either case, what happened?

I got into teaching by accident. My original plans were actually to go into the military. I was going to get a degree first and go in as an officer, but my father took ill, and then I wasn't able to do it at that time. I missed the entrance exam.

The former chair of my department at Eastern, she asked me what my plans are now that I missed the test. I said, "Well, I'm just gonna go back to painting," because I used to be a painter, "and just go from there." She asked me, "Why don't you stay here and teach for us and work on your master's?" I said, "I've never taught before." She said, "I'm giving you an opportunity." I said, "What do I have to do?" She said, "Tell me you want to do this." I said, "Okay, I'll give it a shot," I started working on my master's degree, and she got me to teach physical education classes. It was amazing. I can't tell you what a neat experience it was. It was that point where I decided this is a neat career.

How do the students inspire you to keep growing?

They use what they learn here in real world applications, and they take pride in it. You can see their excitement. They come in and - for lack of a better term - they're bragging about what they're doing and what they're learning, and that's immensely rewarding as a teacher.

It makes me feel good, because I don't feel like I'm spinning my wheels. I'm here for a purpose. I'm very passionate about my language, I'm very passionate about my race. I'm Mexican. I love my country - actually, I should say I love both of my countries - and I like to share my culture and my experiences with my kids. When they reciprocate, it's rewarding. Even students that are also Mexican, when we're talking about culture and language, they'll say, "I didn't know that," so it's neat.

What has been most challenging about teaching? What has been most rewarding?

The challenging part is the meddling of individuals that don't know anything about the profession telling us how we should do our jobs when they know nothing about it themselves.

There's another thing that's very challenging: Attendance. We know that there are successful people that don't necessarily have to have an education, but your chances are greater if you do get an education, and yet, all these kids are chronically absent. Do the parents not know about this? And if they know about it, why aren't you doing something about it? It's sad.

Seeing the excitement in my students (is rewarding). To see them using what they're learning. It's not just a classroom thing. They're actually using it.

- Compiled by Staff Writer Eamon Scarbrough