Ms. Bell is a Spanish teacher here at Lake Mary High School. She is always enthusiastic and welcoming in her classroom. She has been teaching for 34 years and has traveled and lived in Mexico. As her students, we have learned essential Spanish thanks to her. We decided to interview her to get to know her a little more!

About Ms. Bell

How long have you been teaching?  “I’ve been teaching for 34 years, probably more than that.”

How long did you study spanish?  “I’ve studied spanish forever, started as an undergraduate then continued in graduate school.”

What motivated you to become a Spanish teacher? “I love foreign languages and I love to travel and meet new people.” 

What’s your favorite thing about teaching? “It’s not boring, wait till you get jobs, you’ll see many jobs are boring”

Did you travel anywhere to learn Spanish? “Yes, I did. I did French when I was in High School then I stayed in French when I was at university. Then I actually met a guy from Mexico in university and I picked up Spanish. Then I took the courses and all of that and I’ve been doing Spanish ever since.” 

How long did you live in mexico? “I lived in Mexico for a while, 6 months. My ex husband is from Mexico and Spanish was a thing in our family.” 

Difficulties of teaching

What was it like learning Spanish and not being a native speaker? “Fun because I already knew French and enjoy an intellectual challenge.” 

How has teaching changed since you started?- “The use of cellphones has changed everything because for one thing people’s attention span is much shorter. It is a lack of self discipline or ability to dig hard to put something in long term memory as opposed to just getting the answer for a test grade.” 

Are there still words in Spanish that you get confused about even now? “Sure, it depends on how tired I am, how alert I am, it could be anything. I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons by making mistakes.”

Additional Questions

Should people learn the bad words in Spanish so they know if they are being insulted? “No, you should not.” 

Is Google translate going to kill language classes in your opinion? “I do not know if people are going to become fluent in foreign languages because of AI. I believe it’s an un-practical way of learning.” 

What’s the best way to hit on a guy in Spanish? “La sonrisa es nada más (smile, nothing more).”

What is the worst thing you’ve heard coming out of a student speaking spanish? “Groserias (profanity)” 

What advice would you give to a student learning spanish? “Just take a class because trying to learn online is not successful.” 

So if you’re looking to learn spanish, don’t stress, Ms. Bell is the best!