My First ESL (English as a Second Language) Experience!

Below are 2 of the many things I learned from teaching an amazing young man named Brian. He moved from Mexico and entered my class in January 2006 knowing very little English. He is one of a myriad of students who I have had the honor to teach and learn with!

Maestra is Spanish for teacher.

Caliente is Spanish for hot, not, “I’m finished”

As part of our life skills curriculum in my self contained classroom, we were making hot chocolate sometime in mid January 2006. Brian had recently joined our classroom and we were all getting to know each other and new languages. He was learning English and we were trying to learn some Spanish so we could communicate. The activity was going well and everyone seemed to be enjoying their hot chocolate; everyone that is except Brian. I tried to figure out why he would not drink the hot chocolate. He just pushed it away and said, “caliente.” I looked at the other staff in the room questioningly. We just were not sure. He had seemed to want the hot chocolate before he had finished making it. He had already finished all the whipped cream off the top and was gesturing for more. After trying to explain that he could not have any more I asked if he was finished. He pushed the mug toward me so I took it. He did not seem to mind.

As I was driving home that afternoon my cell phone rang. It was Nicole. One of the TA’s in my classroom. She called to inform me the true meaning of the word caliente. Needless to say I could not stop laughing! That evening I began my search on the net for good Spanish/English translation web pages!