I’m a native English speaker, and Spanish is my second language. I was also a teacher, and most of the parent conferences I conducted were in Spanish. My Spanish is never likely to be perfect, but the parents always appreciated that I tried to speak to them in a way they could understand. I admire any person who studies, reads, writes, and speaks in a second language. It takes courage and practice, but if you keep trying, it’ll get easier and better, just like my Spanish!

As teachers, I think it’s important to assign low risk and higher risk writing assignments. Journal writing and personal commentary shouldn’t be held to the same grammatical standards as a formal essay, for example. We don’t always write and speak formally, right?

Thanks, great article.