At the community college (CC) level, instructors find themselves taking on multiple roles throughout their career. Not only are they teachers, they are also mentors, committee members, and advisors. However, the top priority for any CC instructor should be that of an educator. While I was an instructor at Pitt Community College, I had the pleasure of working with students from a variety of backgrounds, and much of my time was been spent on creating a learning environment that addressed the needs of every student. I believe in order to create a classroom that is accomodating toward many different styles of learning as well as accessible to all students, CC instructors should use instructional technologies and an array of engaging activities.

As a Spanish instructor, I am constantly adjusting my assignments to stay current with second-language (L2) instruction. I embrace more current trends in L2 teaching such as communicative language teaching (CLT) and task-based instruction (TBI). I encourage interpersonal communication by creating exercises that require my students to speak with one another on current topics since it provides them with the language output needed for improving oral proficiency. During listening comprehension activities, students respond well to authentic materials such as clips from television shows, music, and Youtube. Not only are these learning techniques entertaining, they also keep students on their toes and they also help create a sense of community among the class participants. Additionally, the variety of activities that I select helps to address many types of learners that can be found in the CC classroom such as visual, aural, and kinesthetic. 

Fun does not necessarily mean easy. My goal in the classroom is for students to gain real understanding of complex material. Throughout my own schooling, I have had the most respect and admiration for instructors that pushed me.  Moreover, I remember the material that required more effort on my part to learn. For this reason, I try to test students in ways that require more than memorization. My exams go beyond the simple fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice formats of traditional foreign-language testing because it is important to gauge the students' language skills through problems that require authentic language usage. For example, my tests are always thematic and practical as they require students to complete specific tasks, e.g., planning for a trip. While I would hope that each of my students will continue studying Spanish after my class, I understand that many of them will not. Therefore, in addition to the language, I teach about Hispanic culture. On top of studying the structure of the Spanish language, we also discuss social and global topics within the target language. It is important to introduce students to new ideas and cultures so that they leave the classroom well-rounded and with a deeper understanding of the world around them. 

As an L2 instructor, I present Spanish in a social context and utilize CLT and TBI to facilitate language learning. Furthermore, I aim for a learner-centered classroom. I feel this helps to increase motivation and promote an atmosphere conducive to language acquisition because it essentially requires them to be in charge of their own learning. Little grammar explanation is actually done in class as students are responsible for reviewing the assigned readings and videos at home. The classroom, instead, is dedicated to the practice of Spanish. An important aspect of language acquisition is using and experimenting with the language. I know that my class is one of the few opportunities in which my students get the opportunity to speak Spanish, so I emphasize the use of grammar and vocabulary in conversational situations as well as listening, reading and writing activities.