In addition to taking methods of instructing Spanish into consideration, García said that she tries to bond on a humanistic level with all her students.
“Connecting with the students by relating to circumstances and situations they are familiar with is a great approach,” García said. “I will make a joke now and again with nontraditional students that the ‘youngins’ might not grasp thereby increasing the nontraditional students’ want to interact more in class. The traditional students find it pretty neat to learn something new in addition to learning Spanish.”
García did stipulate by saying that there really isn’t a difference in the learning ability of nontraditional students compared to traditional students, but at times nontraditional pupils can find it difficult on a subconscious level to learn a new language.
“[When compared to all my students] there are no better or worse students,” she said. “Occasionally I’ll have a nontraditional student who will initially feel overwhelmed using technology in the classroom, but that quickly becomes a moot point. The biggest issue facing nontraditional students is overcoming their self-defeating preconceptions such as ‘I’m too old,’ ‘I’m not smart enough’ and ‘I can’t do it.’ Once the student overcomes these types of common negative thoughts and commits to the process of second language acquisition, nontraditional students often outperform their traditional counterparts.”
Always being cognizant of the on-goings of her classroom, If García notices a student seeming to have problems with the material, she immediately tries to find a solution, she said.
“If a nontraditional student is having trouble–which is rare–I will communicate with them individually to find out what’s going on,” García said. “With adult students, they are often juggling obligations that many traditional students do not have to worry about such as child care, work schedules, and balancing financial commitments. These responsibilities can have an impact on their studies, and that’s why I try to be reasonable in understanding those concerns.”
As to giving advice to current and potential nontraditional students of any institution of higher learning, García said that maintaining a good line of communication with his or her professor and making sure their academic records are in proper order are paramount to a successful educational journey.
“My advice for current nontraditional students is: ‘Your past experiences are an asset, but your motivation and commitment will determine your accomplishment,’” she said. “Prepare to overcome your self-doubt and take whatever steps you need to learn your course material by talking to your professor, form or join a study group or find a tutor. I would also suggest that potential nontraditional students carefully review and assess their academic credits. Many times, credits from other universities cannot be transferred to a student's current degree plan, and that can pose a problem for graduating at a specific time.”
