Chapter 25 is a super short chapter about how Melinda's Spanish class is going. The verdict? Not well. As with most language classes, the course is taught entirely in Spanish, which can be tricky for a beginner's class. It can also provide opportunities for students to pretend they don't understand things they want to avoid doing:
"My Spanish teacher breaks the "no English" rule to tell us that we had better stop pretending we don't...
Chapter 25 is a super short chapter about how Melinda's Spanish class is going. The verdict? Not well. As with most language classes, the course is taught entirely in Spanish, which can be tricky for a beginner's class. It can also provide opportunities for students to pretend they don't understand things they want to avoid doing:
"My Spanish teacher breaks the "no English" rule to tell us that we had better stop pretending we don't understand the homework assignments or we're all going to get detention. Then she repeats what she just said in Spanish, though it seems as if she tosses in a few extra phrases" (pg 51).
Though this chapter of the story seems to mostly be played for humor and to demonstrate the laziness of teens and irritation of their teachers, it does also relate to the title of the novel Speak and the theme of difficulties in communication. The Spanish teacher and students aren't on the same level as each other. Not only are they speaking different languages literally, but they are also speaking different languages in regards to their goals and motivations. Melinda notes that if the teacher had just taught them swear words up front, they'd have listened to her for the rest of the year. Since the teacher isn't clued in on how to motivate them, she has to resort to threats. Though this ends up getting Melinda to do the work, it doesn't endear the teacher to her very much.
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