Advocate for Foreign Languages Lends a Hand to Schools in Spain
by Yuridia Peña
CSA Field Director Bernard López and a group of international language educators spent five days last spring visiting schools of foreign language in the Andalucia region of Spain. Their mission: to help the schools’ program directors who want to expand their services to students and educators.
“I now have friends from Berlin to Bulgaria to Brazil,” said Mr. López who toured 14 private language institutions in the south of Spain including the cities of Seville, Moraga and Granada. These schools offer language, culture and history courses in addition to a variety of regional excursions.
In the last decade, the number of private institutions specializing in language studies has increased in Spain, Mr. López said. The growing global economy is forcing nations like Spain to invest heavily in foreign language to better prepare students to compete with a superpower like China.
“The people of other countries seem to realize the importance of learning multiple languages, and yet we don’t,” said Mr. López, about the United States. “We slash foreign language budgets to districts rather than enhance,” he said, especially during tough economic times.
Mr. López has been a long time advocate of language studies in schools. He began his career as a foreign language teacher at Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education High School in Staten Island where he launched an Italian program during his tenure. So it was no surprise to Mr. López when he was asked to help Spain market their services to local schools in New York. Many program directors offer a discount rate on tuition, room and board for American students and teachers.
“The U.S. is a huge market for their schools, but don’t forget that they are also interested in recruiting students from all over the world,” said Mr. López. All of the language schools in the Andalucia region provide Spanish and English courses for students and educators. Some of the other schools also offer French, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, German, Polish, Italian, Japanese and Korean.
Aside from his CSA position as the field Director for High Schools in the Bronx and Queens, Mr. López advocates for foreign language studies through his service as President of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), Metropolitan NY Chapter. The nonprofit offers professional development as well as networking opportunities to share best practices among foreign language teachers. AATSP also offer students’ activities and contests to help hone their language skills.
As AATSP President, Mr. López has cultivated partnerships with schools that offer scholarships to students as prizes in AATSP competitions. Other schools arrange to send their foreign language teachers to earn professional development credits. Teachers can also enroll in professional development classes at these language schools. “That’s what makes it attractive to teachers of Spanish. You immerse yourself in the language, culture and civilization while learning how to improve your teaching skills,” he added.
Mr. López served as the Assistant Principal at William H. Taft High School in the Bronx overseeing security and guidance and later managed campus security at the Grand Street Campus in Brooklyn. In his last position for the Department of Education, Mr. López worked at the Superintendent’s office for BASIS, the Brooklyn and Staten Island System.
