Student Reflection: Andrew Kraus Introduces Himself and His Work in the Community

Andrew is a student in my "Business Spanish" class, and for his honors project this semester he is using his Spanish in the community and blogging about it here.

by Andrew Kraus

I'm a senior studying economics and communication, and I am also pursuing a Spanish minor. This will be my second year working with the Newman Hall ESL group, and I'm very excited to start teaching English to native Spanish-speakers of the community again. Last year it was very rewarding to see the students growing in their English ability every week.

Besides tutoring last year, I have been fortunate enough to use Spanish outside the classroom frequently in other places. I have travelled to Barcelona, Spain and the Dominican Republic, and both of those experiences greatly honed my ability to "speak on my feet" with native speakers. I also try to read Spanish papers and watch "The Simpsons" in Spanish as much as I can. It is still a unique challenge to transfer that language knowledge effectively through to students.

I hope that through this class I'll be able to help local people improve their English ability, and maybe in the process improve my Spanish language acquisition. But most of all I am excited to interact with people from the local community!