Why Study Abroad?

Everyone knows that a language teacher must keep up his/her language skills in order to maintain credibility as a language teacher. And while most other teachers can keep updated in their subject areas by taking a course or two at the local university or simply reading a book, maintaining language skills is a bit more complicated. And time-consuming. (Just ask my school’s local LPDC, who balked at giving me credit for 784 hours of speaking Spanish during my study-abroad session this past summer.) I mean, how many teachers of other subjects have dedicated so much time to professional development in a year? (In our district, you get a special stipend for 18 hours of professional development, and I think there are some who don’t even do that.)

But language is different. If you don’t get frequent practice—particularly exposure to native speakers—you start to lose your fluency. And your self-confidence. And your credibility to your students and their parents. Who hasn’t experienced that momentary flutter of panic when a parent at Open House comes up to you and starts speaking to you in the language you teach? Or when an exchange student corrects you openly in class? Believe me, I can identify with both of these situations.

You see, I wasn’t able to study abroad while in college. My parents didn’t want to pay for it, and the whole prospect was sort of scary to me, so I accepted their decision. Consequently, when I got my first job teaching French and Spanish, I was very green and ill-prepared. Well, most new teachers have problems at first, but my problems were magnified because of my insecurity and inexperience communicating in the languages I was teaching.

So believe me, I know what it’s like to feel inadequate. To face all of those students every day—including many who are just waiting for an opportunity to pull you down and make you feel like an incompetent fool—when you already feel like an impersonator.

Studying abroad during the summer has really turned things around for me. Not only do I start school in the fall with an enthusiasm and confidence that I never had before, but I have lots of authentic materials and ideas of how to use them and plenty of anecdotes to share with my students. Teaching language has become a lot more to me than vocabulary and grammar. I want to impart to my students how it feels getting to know people that I wouldn’t have been able to talk to at all without being able to speak their language. And how fascinating it is to try to figure out why people feel the way they do. And how spending time in another culture sometimes makes you question your own values and prejudices. I could go on and on.

But does a person really need to study abroad to keep up one’s fluency? I mean, there are books and magazines, cable and satellite TV channels, international music CD’s, web sites, Champs-Elysées tapes, and even immersion weekends or sessions at conferences. I’ve even thought of attending a church in the target language to help keep up my skills. In fact, there are many more options these days than there were in 1979. And while I have tried most of them at one time or another, nothing made much of an impression on my teaching until I began studying abroad.

Why is that? In retrospect, I would say that the hectic nature of the school year makes it difficult to find time on a regular basis to do enough of those activities to make much of a difference. What with papers to correct, more and more required administrative tasks, parents to contact, and extra-curricular activities, I often feel I don’t have enough time to get things done around the house the way I would like.

But when I study abroad, I live in someone else’s house. I don’t have the distractions that I have at home. I don’t have to worry about the lawn needing mowed because I have paid a former student to take care of it for me. I don’t have to worry about paying my bills because they are being electronically deducted from my bank account. I don’t have to cook or clean or do laundry. I can keep in touch with family and friends when I want to via email. In this type of situation, I am free to spend time developing relationships with my host family and others that I come in contact with. And that’s what has really made the difference for me.

I’m not saying that the classes offered in study-abroad programs aren’t important, because I have learned a lot from them as well. And frankly, most of the families I stayed with were working families and you couldn’t spend all your time with them anyway, so going to class was a good use of time. But what really made a difference for me was interacting with the people, getting to know how they think, and finding out what makes them tick. These are things that will stick with me the rest of my life. And this is the reason I am sure that I will be back in Spain again soon even though I have completed all of the coursework for my MA in Spanish Literature.

Studying abroad has been such a huge plus for me that it makes me wonder why more teachers don’t do it on a regular basis. The cost is an important factor. But these days, teachers are required to get a master’s degree of some type, and we all know that tuition is not cheap, especially not for graduate programs. So if you have to spend the money, why not spend it studying abroad? It might cost a little more—what with airfare, room and board, etc.—but I assure you that it is well worth it. Frankly, I am one of those who borrowed thousands of dollars from my parents to get a master’s degree in education in 1987, and although I haven’t found it to be completely useless, I would certainly use that money differently if I had it to do all over again. Besides, nearly all of your study-abroad expenses are tax-deductible if you itemize. I have found that doing so reduces the overall cost of such a program considerably. You should also check your district tuition reimbursement policies. You might find—as I did—that your employer will cover a significant share of your expenses.

The first time I enrolled in a study abroad program, I wasn’t making a lot of money teaching, so I got a part-time job evenings and weekends working at Kinko’s to help pay for it. I figured that I could earn enough during the year to pay most of my expenses for the summer. I did make enough money to study abroad the next summer, but an unexpected bonus was that I also got paid to learn desktop publishing, which got me hooked on computers and led to my becoming editor of The Cardinal and involved with the Ohio Foreign Language Association. One thing leads to another. . . . Who knows what could be in store for you?

And then there’s the fear factor. Going abroad by yourself to live with a family that is completely unknown—especially when you have doubts about your language ability—can be intimidating. This is where “being bold” comes in. This is where you tell yourself you’re not going to let your fears keep you from realizing your dreams. This is where you ignore your fear of making mistakes and sounding stupid, and resolve to do your best to improve your language ability. You can’t focus on how many others speak better or worse than you; your main focus is to advance to a higher level than you were before. And that will only happen when you have prolonged contact with native speakers of the target language.

Family is another reason why many teachers don’t study abroad. Having a family is a gigantic responsibility, and I don’t think many people would disagree that one’s family should be top priority. But what about YOU? Surely there comes a time when you have to do something for YOURSELF. I know the feeling of going in to school every day to try to motivate your students to learn a subject that has even started to feel boring to YOU. That’s when you start thinking, “It’s just a job.” That’s when you start to tune out all the student problems and internal political intrigues and concentrate on saving your peace of mind. And that’s when you start losing your effectiveness. At this point, many teachers are burned out and coasting to retirement. And the saddest thing is that the bitter memories they are left with tend to obliterate the memories of all the good years, when they were idealistic and energetic and willing to go all out to reach their students. I have seen a lot of teachers lately who just want to fade away quietly when they retire rather than have a big party to celebrate their teaching careers, and I think that some of them just don’t want to think about their final years anymore. They just want to do something they can feel good about again.

YOU are certainly the best judge of whether or not you can get away from your family to study abroad for a period of time. But before you write off the entire possibility, you should realize that there are more and more programs of shorter duration. If you can’t take off six weeks, what about three? Are there other family members who would help out if they were aware of your dilemma? Maybe it’s not as impossible as you think.

And before I sign off on this topic, I want to also mention that—contrary to popular opinion—I believe there is value in getting a traditional MA in literature. I have heard many language teachers say that it is a waste of time for them to read all those books that they will never be able to use in their K-12 classes, so they enroll in M.A.T. programs (which include education courses as well as some language courses), or simply go for an education degree. Well, I believe that pedagogy can be learned from books, conferences, or even from listservs like FLTEACH. And I wouldn’t say that all of the pedagogy courses I have taken were useless. But the most valuable commodity to a foreign language teacher is familiarity with the language, and that can be obtained from exposure to written—as well as spoken—language. So, even though it is unlikely that I will ever have occasion to teach Galdós’ Doña Perfecta to my exploratory Spanish students, it is still a worthwhile activity for me to read it to help develop my language skills. . . and gain a certain cultural insight that I didn’t have before.

My purpose in writing this is NOT to make anyone feel guilty or ashamed of their shortcomings. Dwelling on the negative is never a good idea, especially if you’re a K-12 teacher. But if you knew what a difference a study-abroad program could make in your life, would you be so quick to write it off as “impossible”? Think about it. Make a list of pros and cons. Look for information about some of the programs on the web and see if you can find one that will work for you.