Análisis competitivo

Margarita was born in Atlanta and raised in Venezuela by a Spanish mother and a Venezuelan father. At the time of her participation in the project, she was 29 years old, and in her first year in law school. Margarita was the only one of the participants not pursuing graduate studies in Spanish or Education. Her relationship with Spanish is complex and a significant part of her identity

I lived in Atlanta until I was three and a half years old. And then my parents moved back to Venezuela and I was there until 17. I also travelled to Spain because my mother is from Spain, so I spent a ton of time there. Hence sometime I have a Spanish accent, which my students last night pointed out: ‘why do you say that like that? That’s not the way people in Latin America say that’. So I explained that I do have a lot of that, you know. In fact people in Venezuela used to make fun of my accent whenever I came back from Spain. So at 17 I moved to The States and I started going to college here, but I actually did a year of high school here in Atlanta. And then I went back to Venezuela for six months and then came back here and stayed for a long time

NYP: So what do you consider to be your first language?

Spanish. I was listening to Spanish at home since I was born, but I think what happened was my mother took classes [at this university], so I think it has a day care service where my mother dropped me off every morning. […] So I got a lot of English at the day care, but at home it has always been all-Spanish. (P5I1-7142)

Margarita’s experience as a language instructor began in Venezuela. “When I was in

Venezuela I taught English; one-on-one tutoring, and very small groups, so that was my true beginning” (P5I1-1798). In the US, she began her undergraduate studies, and continued expanding her teaching experience, as a math major.

I was a math tutor. I was good at math, I was a math major back then, taking higher-level math classes so I tutored Calculus one and two. […] I was then hired by the language lab as a Spanish tutor. […] I was one of four of five Spanish tutors. And I basically had to grab the Spanish 101 book and just digest it all, and teach anybody who came through or answer questions; help any student who came to the lab, and I was really active in that. […]. And it was pretty neat because I had to teach myself how to teach Spanish. I learned that way a lot… because even though I learned what the subjunctive was in high school it didn’t really click until I had to teach it and I was like, ‘holy cow!’ (P5I1-2434)

Margarita later transferred colleges, eventually changed her major to international affairs,

and continued working as a Spanish tutor. “I became a Spanish tutor for the athletic association.

So once again I had these one-on-one classes, but sometimes I had bigger groups, like three or four people, and they were all football players so it was pretty interesting” (P5I1-2991). After completing her undergraduate studies, Margarita returned to Venezuela, where she intended to work in the international affairs field.

I went to Venezuela for ten months and was looking for a job. And they were offering me jobs that had good titles but offered little money. So my mother said, ‘hey, if you want some translations to make money you can take some of my clients’. And translations pay really well. And then I started going to conferences, and there was more of the

international affairs feeling which was what I went to school for. […] I was doing some dance training and eventually I taught dance classes. It was flexible so I could train during the day and I could work at night and on the weekends. But after that I came back to The States and I did my master’s. And while I was doing my master’s, I started

teaching [salsa] dance lessons for a studio here in Atlanta. […] It was a challenge in a different way because it’s difficult, you know. […] I was training six or eight hours a day and I wasn’t learning how to teach dance. It’s just different. It’s like speaking Spanish and being able to teach Spanish; not the same. (P5I1-3682)

Margarita’s translation work continued while completing her master’s degree in

international affairs, and it remained uninterrupted even during her participation in the project. She also worked as a certified court interpreter during her first semester in law school and as a GSTA. It was not Margarita’s original intention to become a GSTA, but she is happy to have the opportunity.

When I was accepted to the college of law I met with the admissions director there and we were talking about GRAs [graduate research assistantships] in the College of Law. Turns out you cannot have one if you’re a first year student, but I told her that I was a translator and interpreter and she told me to go to the Translation and Interpretation department and ask them if they could give me a GRA. So I called them and they said they didn’t do that, but they told me to go to the department of Modern and Classical Languages and ask them. They gave me [the program coordinator’s] email address, and I emailed him and then came to meet with him. I showed him my resume and said this is what I’ve done as far as teaching. For a living I’m a translator and interpreter; can I get a GRA with you? And he said, ‘we don’t gave GRAs we have GTAs’ and he said to just wait. He explained to me that it’s all about priorities and that the people who work at the

Spanish program come first, then the people working on PhDs, and then the MA students and if there’s anything left, they grab people from other programs at the university. But he said, ‘we’ll probably grab you because we have a pretty big need’. So I waited and

then got the news. And it’s great. I love teaching. (P5I1-125)

In the following section, Margarita’s love of teaching and the challenges of a new teaching context become evident. We will see how Margarita’s PPK expands and adapts as her first semester as a GSTA progresses, and how it informs her teaching practice.