Tertulia

Last night I went to dinner with my monthly Tertulia (a Spanish word meaning a social gathering of friends). The group was originally organized over 30 years ago for people who wanted to preserve their Spanish. Now the group is composed of a variety of people:

• Hispanics/Latinos who speak English but don't want to lose their Spanish


• Anglos who learned Spanish usually while living in a Spanish speaking country at some point and want to keep up with their Spanish


• Anglos who don't speak very much Spanish but want to learn it

This Tertulia is similar to what we want our Esperanza classrooms to be. The affective filter is very low because the setting is non-threatening and everyone is supportive of everyone else's level of Spanish. A lot of scaffolding and sheltered strategies are happening all the time so everyone can participate in the conversation. In other words, everyone feels like she is amongst friends.