My Resume

Kenneth Fach
4288 Cool Emerald Dr, Tallahassee, FL 32303
KennethFach@gmail.com Cell: 850-210-7425
My Blog at http://KennethFach.wordpress.com

OBJECTIVEe

To use my Spanish language skills to satisfy and exceed expectations from clients, customers, students and colleagues.

EXPERIENCE

Spanish Tutor, Tallahassee, FL
July 1994-Present
Provide Spanish lessons to all ages.

Weichert, REALTORS-Anchor, Tallahassee, FL
March 2007-Sep 2008
Realtor Assist sellers and buyers with their real estate needs. Provide market evaluations, property information, and coordinate services leading to real estate closings.

Keller Williams Realty, Tallahassee, FL
November 2004 – March 2007
Realtor
Assist sellers and buyers with their real estate needs. Provide market evaluations, property information and coordinate services leading to real estate closings.

Exit Realty Advantage, Pensacola, FL May
2004 – September 2004
Realtor
Assisted sellers and buyers with their real estate needs. Provided market evaluations, property information and coordinated services leading to real estate closings

Dept of Children and Families, Tallahassee, FL
July 1998 – Ma 2004
Social Services Specialist (Bilingual) Used my Spanish language skills to assist callers concerning issues of abuse, neglect and exploitation of children or the elderly in Florida. Documented the issues in computer program used, and provided appropriate community services.

Decatur County Schools, Bainbridge, GA
August 1998 – June 1999
Spanish teacher at Bainbridge High School
Taught high school Spanish level 1 and 2.

Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
July 1994 – December 1997
Spanish Instructor
Taught undergraduate Spanish language courses while working on my Master’s degree at Florida State University.

Jackson County Schools, Marianna, FL
August 1994-May 1994
Spanish Teacher
Taught Spanish to high school students at Sneads High School.

EDUCATION

Master of Arts – Spanish, 1998
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Bachelor of Arts – Spanish,
1988 University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL

Bachelor of Arts- Anthropology, 1988
University of West Florida, Pensacola, 1988

SKILLS

Fluent in Spanish, Blogging, Writing, Fast typing, Internet research, Search engion optimization, Customer service skills, Good driving record.

CERTIFICATIONS

ePRO technology certification from the National Association of Realtors.

Received a rating of, “advanced,” on the Spanish oral proficiency test from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

VOLINTEER EXPERIENCE

Helped out with my son’s cub scount pack, webelos pack, and boy scout troop. Was an assistant at a cub scout summer camp. Church work.

HOBBIES

Blogging, reading, meeting people from other countries, organic gardening, Bible studies, camping, hiking, photography.

A la pucha usada en Paraguay

I heard the Spanish expression, “a la pucha” all the time it seems when I was living in Paraguay.

I like the sounds of “pucha.” “A la pucha is a good expression to know. It is used when something is not good, or right. It is used to express disappointment, aggravation, annoyance, or surprise. For example, we miss the bus: “A la pucha.” Our customer decided to use the service of our competitor: “A la pucha.” I messed up on the dinner: “A la pucha.” There are so many scenarios for the use of “a la pucha.”

It must be understood that although a word or expression is acceptable as appropriate language in one region, or country, it may not be acceptable in another part of the world, since it could be a bad word there. There are many examples of this in Spanish. It is best to stay with standard Spanish of the region you are in, or interested in visiting. The modismos and colloquialisms will become part of you in time.

Living in your second language

A good university foreign language program, will, or should require the student to live in a region of the world where that language is spoken. If the student is studying French, the student should live at least for a semester in France, Montreal, or other French speaking region. If the student is studying Spanish, there are many countries that the student can select to live in. In fact, students can even get paid in those countries by teaching English in a language institute or privately.

Although, I grew up exposed to the Spanish language, I did want to go to the University and get formally trained in Spanish linguistics, language and literature. I did do what was required, and that is to live in a Spanish speaking country. I chose two countries during my formal university Spanish language studies. I went to Mexico, and lived there for a summer, and later, went to Paraguay, and lived there for almost three years. The rewards of living abroad are innumerable, and wonderful: friendships are formed, more language is acquired, and cultural appreciation is enlarged and enhanced.

There are two important elements to a good foreign language program at a university: 1. Good teachers that care for the students progress in acquiring the language, and 2. living in a country where that language is spoken, and earning credit for that.

My First Spanish-speaking Country that I Visited

It was the beginning of the summer of 1985, that I flew from Pensacola, Florida, to Monterrey, Mexico. I had wanted for so long to visit Mexico, having grown up listening to music, conversation, and news from Mexico. Mexico was a land of enchantment, dreams, and color in my thoughts as I became a passionate observer of the Spanish language and Mexican culture.

Prior to that summer, I was completing my classes at the University of West Florida. I was majoring in anthropology. I wanted to start a new major in Spanish. I met my new main professor, in the Spanish division, who was someone that inspired me so much in my love of Spanish, and pointed me to Mexico before actually starting my Spanish coursework. This professor was Dr Juan Caballero. He was so helpful, and went way beyond the call of duty to help me acquire all the Spanish I can acquire, and to instill in me, a deep love of Spanish language literature. It was Dr Caballero that suggested I visit Saltillo, Mexico for a semester, as part of my Spanish program, since he knew of a family there who keeps students and others in their home.

To Dr Caballero:
Saludos a usted, Dr Caballero. Me ha dada mucha inspiracion. Fue el mejor profesor que he tenido. Gracias por todo.
He will always be in my heart of hearts!!! Teachers are out heroes, our friends, our guiding posts.

I went to Mexico not knowing anyone there, but having an address of a family to connect with and live with for the several months I was in Mexico.

It was late at night, around 1:00 in the morning by the time the bus from Monterrey, arrived in Saltillo, Mexico. From the bus station, I was to call the Senora of the home I would be living in. The streets were quiet, as everyone was asleep. I took the taxi to the address that I provided to the taxi driver. When I arrived at the house, I knocked on the window and shook the metal bar gate entrance of the home. Nobody came to respond to my presence. I became worried. Everything was dark. Suddenly, the Senora came to me, and let me in. She directed me to my room, a big, spacious room, with six low lying beds. She keeps students and others in her home as a form a work. This is not uncommon in Saltillo, which is a school, university town, with students from all over Mexico. At a later date, I paid the Senora some money for allowing me to stay there, and have my meals there. She was a very good cook, and prepared real Mexico meals for her big family, and her guests, such as myself.

I pleasantly slept, and got up the next morning ready to start exploring the community, and mingling with the people. During my time in Saltillo, I met only one individual who was from the United States, and I was all over the community meeting people. This would be the normal pattern in my later stays in other communities, where English was not in my surroundings. That is a very good thing for second or multi-language learners.

The Senora taught me so many local coloquialisms, modismos, sayings, and metaphors. She taught me the right way to fold and eat tortillas, and also taught me how to cook some of the dishes. She had me participate in family activities, including house cleanup. She treated me not just as a guest, but as a Spanish language student.

The home I stayed in, with its physical connection to homes on either side, and its metal bars, sat very close to a beautiful plaza that I will always remember. In the plaza was a lake, shaped in the form of the country, Mexico. In the lake, people used row boats, and beside the lake, people ate their lunches, couple walked and sat on the many park benches, and students sat around with their books studying, or visiting with each other. I spent much time at this plaza and sitting beside the lake, meeting local residents, and other students, and forming friendships. On the other side of the plaza, was a spectaculor garden of big shade trees, bushes, and flowers. There were many spots to sit and admire the views of the park’s nature. It was really more a park, then simply a plaza, in my way of thinking. I only wish I remembered the name of the Plaza. I will have to get out my map and look that up.

Give me corazon in Spanish

The Spanish word, “corazon,” is used so much in Spanish. “Corazon” is in songs, poems, stories, and conversation. It is a good Spanish word to know, since it metaphorically refers to the divine, love, sweetness, kindness, goodness, romance, honey, baby, home, and more. Of course, “corazon” directly means heart.

I heard this word so much in my life, that I became bored with hearing “corazon” this, and “corazon” that. However, I finally decided to think and ponder upon this word, and get a better feeling for it. Now, I like hearing it since to me, it define the heart of the many Spanish-speaking cultures around the world. The people do have big heard, and do demonstate a lot of “corazon.”

I could only hope to have a big “corazon” as I found many having in my experiences in South America.

Spanish teacher and classroom desk arrangements

The way desks are arranged in a Spanish classroom, or any foreign language classroom has an effect among the students in getting them motivated and interested in learning, or acquiring language. I think that most Spanish teachers, certainly I can speak for my years of teaching, want students to have the best learning atmosphere. We start by arranging the room in a certain way.

In my six years of teaching Spanish (hopefully there will be many more), I was always unhappy with desk arrangements. Can anyone relate to that? I moved desks in this order and that order, trying to find the perfect fit for the room. Sometimes, I even rearranged desk positions and order more than once during a day. This became a nightmare, a ridiculous chore, that I know I had to eliminate from my list of tasks to do. Once I found TPR, I found the perfect arrangement for desks.

TPR is Total Physical Response. I strongly endorse TPR for teaching language, any language, because the results are visible quickly, and it works on the right hemisphere of acquiring language, in which students internalize and not memorize language. I did not start out using TPR strategies until I went to workshops, read books, and saw research and demonstrations online about the TPR ways of acquiring language, the natural way we all acquire our first language. TPR works because it gets the students out of their seats responding to and acting out language. It is not a worksheet, and memorization way of learning language. It is about making language inherent in you, making it be one with you. In essence internalizing words, phrases, syntax, and semantics. The ways the classroom desks are arranged in a TPR classroom, allows the students to interact easily with language commands, and stories in the target language.

I followed the way TPR classrooms are supposed to be set up. I divided the desks into two halves, each half facing the others, allowing a space between the two sections so that students and teacher can be seen by everyone, and so that staging, acting, role play, and language responses can be more easily performed. At the end of the space area between the two sections, and against the wall, maybe the chalk board, or white board, are three chairs. The middle one is for the teacher and on each side sits a student. The teacher can now get up followed by the student on each side of him, and say the language, and act it out with each student acting out language with the teacher. For example, the teacher gets ups and says, “Anda a la caja.” “Walk to the box.” the students on beside him go with teacher to the box, and wait for the next command, or language, to respond to.

At the other end of the space (or stage area) between the two divisions of desks in the room, is a table. In a TPR room, box, basket, and other props become very important. They need to have a fixed place in the room. A storage closet is useful.

After having arranged my classroom in this manner, I had better student performance overall in my Spanish classes, and had better discipline in the room. The desk arrangement is important. Students should be able to be seated in a way so they can be engaged in the subject, and be able to engage each other. In my classes I always allow ample interaction among students, since students like to practice, and demonstrate what they know. The old way of long rows and columns just do not fit in a foreign language classroom.

My goal for the classroom, and for children and adults that I provide private Spanish tutoring to, is to provide opportunities for language acquisition. I am not following the old school ways of language learning, because I want students to retain what they learn. To acquire language is the higher level of learning language. To acquire is to make inherent, and to possess it, says the dictionary.

Get out to your classroom, and rearrange those desks. My students seemed to have liked my arrangement, after so much time trying to find that ideal placement for desks.

A good site to practice your Spanish with others

I recently found a good language learning website called LiveMocha.com. Here, you can practice the language you are learning (I rather say, acquiring), with others who are learning your language. So, you and they, mutually benefit from this language acquiring platform.

When you find a language buddy on LiveMocha, someone who wants to learn English, and the buddy’s first language is Spanish, and you want to learn Spanish, then you both can acquire each others’ language through conversation. He asks you where you are from, what you are into, where you go to school, and you do the same. You correct his English, and he corrects your Spanish. On LiveMocha, you can also turn on the audio or your webcam and actually hear and see each other. LiveMocha offers language tests, and lessons. You will be asked to correct someone’s writing. This is a very popular use of LiveMocha.

When you are searching for a language buddy, you can view profiles which have pictures, where the buddy is from, and what is motivating the buddy to learn English or whatever the language may be. LiveMocha is for other language learners too, like French, Portuguese, Italian, and many more.

As a Spanish teacher, I look at the profiles of language learners from Spain, Mexico, Central and South America. I have made friends in Colombia, one place I am most interested in learning more about. LiveMocha for me is not about learning Spanish, since I have long since acquired Spanish, but about making friends in other cultures, and learning about Spanish speaking cultures and the speech patters, and forms in those cultures.

If you hear of other good langage site please share with me so I can share with others.

Stop memorizing Spanish but start acquiring it

If we are going to become fluent in Spanish, or any language, we acquire it, not learn it. There is a big difference between learning something, and acquiring something. Learning is short-term, and not build-in like a rock. What we learn, we can forget shortly. However, if you acquire something, such as language, it is built-in like a rock, and not easily neglected or lost. Language acquisition is acquired language for the long term, whereas, language learning satisfies what needs to be remembered for the test, or for the immediate future. Think of riding a bike. I did not ride a bike in years, and started riding again, and I remembered everything. Bike riding was something I acquired. Maybe a bad analogy, but think about it.

From Webster’s New Universal Abridged Dictionary:

Acquire: “1. to get or gain by one’s own efforts or actions.
2. to gain, by any means, as a thing which in a degree is permanent, or which becomes vested or inherent in the possessor; as, to acquire a title, estate, learning, habits, skill, dominion, etc…”

Learn: “1. to gain knowledge of (a subject); to acquire information concerning, as by instruction, study, obervation, experience, etc. ; to acquire skill in (anything); as to learn the news, or a lesson…” “2. to come to know how; as, we are learning to swim.”

We see the word “acquire” in the definition of “learn.” Acquiring something is a higher degree of learning it. The fact or sense of permanently having knowledge of something and having that knowledge become inherent or vested, does not appear in the definition of “learn.”

In my Spanish language lessons that I provide as a Spanish Tutor, (and that I provided as a classroom Spanish teacher), I teach for language acquisition, not language learning, and to achieve acquisition, I use total physical response, role playing, and storytelling strategies. Students like this because they can see the effects of language being acquired. It is a pleasant language experience for them, and a pleasant teaching environment for me. Acquiring language is internalizing it, not memorizing it.

When we memorize something, we can easily forget it next year, but if we work to internalize it, it stays with us, and is inherent in us. This is how we naturally learn our own language as little children.

Please let me know if you have any useful thoughts that I can add to this topic of language learning/acquisition.

Language learning classrooms often bore and turn off students. language acquisition classrooms provide engaging, yet challenging action for the students and the issue of boredom, and distaste for the language often is not there.

Should we study the Spanish language?

It has been natural all my life to want to know about other cultures, the Spanish language, and Spanish-speaking cultures. There was not doubt eve in my mind of the importance, and wonder of learning other languages. As a child I was influenced by the Spanish language in the music I heard around me, the festivals and hispanic events I attended, and the friends I made who originated from Spanish language cultures. I was deeply moved and inspired by the sounds of the Spanish language, and wanted to be able to speak that language.

My uncle Carl, always came over to visit us, and always brought maps and brochures of many different places around the world. He also brought his stamp collection. I learned much geography through the stamps, brochures, and maps. It amazes me even today, how much you can learn about the world through stamps. A little piece of paper can hold historical, geological, and cultural information about a country, or state. Uncle Carl would always show me places on the map, in far away lands, and would pronounce the names for me. He would say how much fun it would be to visit those places, although, he never did. Uncle Carl tested me in geography on so many occasions. I grew up know where places were.

When I took a geography course at the University of West Florida, students were agonizing over where rivers, capitals, cities, mountains, were, but I already knew just about everything taught in that course. That was truly an easy “A,” but it also gave me more appreciation for map makers.

If you look at the world map, you will see that a big region of land on earth has a Spanish-speaking population. Spanish is one of the main languages on earth, and the Spanish language influence in the United States has been, and is very strong. Yes, it is a good idea to learn Spanish. It is possible for everyone to acquire some Spanish, and use it in real life.

I get tired of hearing teenagers in high school complaining about why they should take Spanish in school. They say offensive things such as how horrible the Spanish teachers are, how crazy they are, how stupid Spanish is, and what a waste of time that academic subject is. Where do they get that? Often, the Spanish teacher is not engaging the students in the language, and is teaching old school ways that just do not help one acquire language. Therefore, Spanish teachers do hold some responsibility for the attitude and resentments some students may have towards Spanish.

For me, I mostly taught myself Spanish, since at an early age, I knew I wanted to be fluent in Spanish, and speak like a native speaker. I did not need teachers to do that for me. I saw teachers as a tool to help me become fluent, but much of the work was on my own: reading everything i could find in Spanish, and reading to myself outloud; mingling with Spanish speakers and listening to Spanish speech forms; visiting and living in Spanish-speaking cultures; singing songs in Spanish; listening to Spanish radio, and imitating sounds, and sentences; and watching Spanish television. As a child, I kept a Spanish journal discussing my daily events, and I went crazy learning words from my Spanish dictionary.

Yes, I was an extreme case, I am sure. I was passionate and in love with the Spanish language. That passion has remained, as I perpetually pray, think, make decisions, reflect on things, all in Spanish. I wake up in the middle of the night having had an adventurous dream in Spanish. That has come natural to me.

Now, I see more than ever before that I made a wise decision to acquire the Spanish language as it is very useful and employable in the United States today. I worked in a Florida state agency call center for a few years using my Spanish language skills to assist incoming callers, and interpret and translate from Spanish to English. I have been called on to interpret for business groups, and individuals. I have been asked to translate some brochures related to agriculture. I have maintained a standing a Spanish tutoring business.

Recently, I read that China is hiring more Spanish teachers, as well as English teachers. China is very much interested in South America for cultural, economic, and perhaps political reasons. Chinese influence in Panama is strong and getting stronger. I read that Ireland is hiring many Spanish teachers to work in that land. Here, within the United States, Raleigh, North Carolina, other areas in that state, the state of Arkansas, Texas, and other parts of the country are looking outside for Spanish teachers, and bilingual workers for business and government. The opportunities are there for those who are fluent in Spanish. Spanish is indeed the second biggest language in the Western Hemisphere, and is the dominant language in parts of the United States. There is a strong Spanish language community growing in eastern Canada and spreading.

Should we study the Spanish language? I studied because I was attracted to its beauty, and music. I never thought of economic reasons to learn the language. I hold that Spanish is a language of beauty, love, romance, poetry, history, family unity, praise, courtesy. All these qualities are built into the Spanish language. There is a hierarchy of greetings, respect, and courtesy inside Spanish. There are ways we talk to our elders, our youngers, our friends, and even to the Creator, using special words and syntac.

If you are not fluent in Spanish, it is never too late. You can acquire a language at any age. Age should never bar one from language studies.