Hey there. My name's Sadhana and I'm a freshman at Hopkins majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Medicine, Science, and the Humanities. I'm currently a pre-med and want to become a gynecologist and obstetrician in the future. And I'm a teacher for Sharing Languages at the Hampden Family Center site. And, similarly to most other pre-meds at JHU, most of my friends also happen to be pre-med. A question that I get from them a lot is: Why are you so active with Sharing Languages?
I guess in theory their question makes sense. There isn't too much that's very "pre-med" about Sharing Languages. When broken down to the basics, I help write lesson plans to teach Spanish to fourth and fifth graders, and then I go conduct them. Easy. But I also got involved with their executive board, so I help head the publicity and recruitment committees and am the treasurer for the organization. But why do I spend so much time on something that isn't really directed towards my career goals?
Honestly, it's because I love it. Like, let's be real, I'm not sure how much kids we're teaching are actually picking up complex conjugations or memorizing the vocabulary without looking at their cheat sheets. But I do know that they have fun playing jeopardy, charades, and "I Spy" with the vocabulary they've learned. And I know they love competing for prizes (Especially food. Yes, a decent amount of our budget has in fact gone towards buying drinks, cakes, and candy for the kids). I also know that one of my favorite parts of the week is packing up all my notebooks and my laptop, leaving the library, and going to Hampden Family Center with some of the other teachers from Hopkins.
One of the little girls at Hampden is a tiny bit obsessed with me. To be fair, she refuses to remember my name (Some of her variants include: Savana, Ana, and Sana. My name is Sadhana). However, she always comes running up to me before class starts, hugs me, and compliments my earrings, or shirt, or shoes. She also tries to set me up with her cousin, but we just ignore that. She writes down everything we teach in class, copying down the words on the powerpoint and giving us grief if we switch slides too quickly. Honestly, I wouldn't feel bad coming to teach only her. Or really any one of the students in the class. Teaching them is so refreshing, a reminder of a time when learning really was just super fun. I know I'm only eighteen, so it feels a little silly to say this, but I guess they "keep me young." Learning isn't just grinding and memorizing and practicing—it's also fun games with prizes, where getting distracted is totally cool and encouraged. And it's super rewarding to be so involved in an organization that preaches that.
I guess this post is a little different from the other posts on this website. I wanted to give you a little bit of insight into the way one specific teacher at one of the sites thinks about her commitment to Sharing Languages. It's #quarantinetime right now, so it'll be a while until we get to see the students and teach them in person again. Hopefully this website and our other social media platforms (shameless plug, check out our Instagram and Facebook!) will be a good way to stay connected to our love of teaching and interacting with students through Spanish!
- Sadhana
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