¡Bienvenidos al día de inmersión en español!
The lively chatter of voices speaking Spanish greeted us as we approached the door to the little cottage tucked away on the campus of the Tennessee School for the Deaf. The warmth of Hispanic culture radiated through the door as we walked in and crossed our names off the Spanish Immersion Day attendee list.
Each spring, the Spanish program in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages organizes a day of full immersion into the Hispanic culture — language, food, games and dancing all part of the agenda. Saturday’s festivities marked the second Spanish Immersion Day to date.
Students from all Spanish education levels gathered in a dining room of the cottage as professors from the Spanish program introduced themselves and explained the rules of the day: there would be no talking in English — period. A point system represented by glow stick bracelets was a way to ensure compliance. Caught speaking your native tongue? Hand over a bracelet. Grand “premios” were promised to those attentive students with the most bracelets at the conclusion of festivities.
I lost a bracelet to my very competitive roommate while trying to get my initial 10 bracelets on my wrist, barely five minutes into the nine-hour day.
As professor after professor addressed us warmly during introductions and announcements for the day’s proceedings, I appreciated what I believe to be one of the best features of Spanish Immersion Day, and I must say the Spanish program in general: the genuine care and interest of the professors in the lives of their students. When you’re speaking a language with very specific formalities for addressing superiors and peers, distinctions and separations are easily established. But on Saturday, professors and students alike sat together and chatted, played musical chairs, pushed and shoved in a game of soccer and acted ridiculously in an intense game of charades. Everyone was equalized by one thing: appreciation for Spanish culture and language.
The event’s advertisements promised to transport students to a Hispanic country for a day, and it’s amazing what a change in language can do to affect the sense of place. When authentic Cuban food is served and you play a little street “fútbol,” it’s easy to leave behind the ethnically homogenous realm most of us live in every day.
I love Spanish, genuinely. I’ve been sucked in by the Latino culture and often find myself resenting the freckles that give away my very Scotch-Irish ancestry. It was refreshing to be able to release my inner Shakira and be completely accepted.
On the drive home with my roommate, there were no rules dictating the use of Spanish, and yet, the “palabras” kept coming. Later that night, questions in English were still unconsciously met with answers in Spanish. I could feel myself desperately clinging to the excitement of Spanish Immersion Day.
Why do I look forward all year to this one day when I’m forced to spend all day speaking a language in which I am by no means fluent?
Because on that one day, my fear of speaking Spanish incorrectly goes away, and I try things I might not otherwise. Because on that day, I’m forced out of my comfort zone to give a dramatic recitation in Spanish in front of 20 or so strangers. Because on that one day, I get to dance salsa and bachata with people who aren’t worried in the least about what others think of them or their dancing ability. Because on that one day, I’m encouraged to push myself as far away from my roots as possible and become a part of something foreign, literally and figuratively.
I get to be someone that I definitely am not every other day of my life.
And, I would dare to say, when you immerse yourself so completely in something unnatural and new, you unlock a piece of yourself you never knew was there.
