Señora Del Orbe – Spanish Teacher

Senora Del Orbe  teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Spanish at Ben Franklin and has been doing so for the past five years  The Bolt interviewed her to find out some more information.

Q: If you were able to work a different occupation for one day what would it be?

A:For one day, I would like to be a CEO of a company because I could tell people what to do. Which I’m  really good at because I’m a teacher.

Q: Some people say that the sixth graders are difficult to teach, what are your thoughts on this?

A: I concur. I don’t like teaching sixth grade because it’s very elementary, very like identify the stuff so it gets very redundant. I think it’s because we teach the same thing over and over again every marking period and then in seventh and eighth grade you have the ability to do more and the kids do more things.

Q: Have you ever lived in a country other than the US?

A: Yes, I lived in two other countries. I lived in the Dominican Republic and I lived in Puerto RIco.

Q: Are there any other subjects you could see yourself teaching?

A: Life skills and also writing.

Q: What is the best part about teaching?

A: When the kids learn something and they have their “aha” moment, that’s the best part.

Q: When you were a child what were your aspirations for later on in life?

A: I didn’t want to be poor because I’m a different kid, you know, I came here when I was younger so my mom said, “You know we are in America, you have to do great, you have to take this opportunity.” So I was like alright I’m going to school, I’m gonna get a job, I have to make my mama proud because they’re gonna kick me out of this country if I don’t. I didn’t see myself becoming a teacher, I wanted to be a psychologist. But I don’t have a lot of empathy for people, so I feel like I was not gonna be a good psychologist. But I did like children and teaching things, so I was like, oh maybe I should become a teacher. I was really good in Spanish class, so I was like ok I guess I’ll be a Spanish teacher.

Q: Do you find that the way Spanish is taught now is different from how it was taught when you were in school? Which do you think is a more effective way of teaching language?

A: No not really, I mean the way I teach is different from how I was taught in school. I just feel like people should just try to say things and it’s okay if you mess up, just try it because at the end of the day you get better. You only get better if you practice and you shouldn’t be scared to speak.

Q: Do you think that it is harder for native speakers of a language to take a class of that language than it is for non native speakers?

A: Yes, if you’re in a traditional class it is a little harder, and I was one of those students. I knew how to write and speak in Spanish, but I didn’t understand the grammar, so yeah it is a little hard.

Q: What was your least favorite class in school when you were a student?

A: Oh math. I was really bad at math but then when I went to college I was really good at math. But I guess it depends on the teacher and how they teach. Math was just fast and I was just like no. I was like what happened to what we were learning last week. It was just too fast at school. School was just too fast for my brain.

Q: What is one unusual talent that you posess?

A: I can cook for a large amount of people, I can’t cook for a small amount of people.  

Q: When you’re not teaching, what do you do to fill the spare time?

A: So when I’m a teacher, I make copies, I figure out who I’m going to teach next, I figure out how I’m going to make it better and I ask kids to email me with ideas. But over the weekend, I’m with my children and sometimes I speak to my family and I listen to how they speak. Then I can come back [to work] and tell the kids like, “hey, you don’t HAVE to use this word, but you could kinda get the idea of it.” I cook, I paint my nails, I shop, I reorganize my house all the time, build shelves and I just learn how to do other things.

Q: What is one thing everyone should know about you?

A: I feel like I’m really caring. When you look at me you might not see that, but I care a lot about the people and the kids I work with.