In connection with National Teacher Appreciation Week, swark.today salutes our area teachers and offers profiles of several who have made essential contributions to bringing our youngsters along toward bright futures and greater control of their lives.

Above photo: Hope High Spanish Teacher Stephanie Alvarado assists a student recently.

There was a time when Blevins native Stephanie Alvarado thought her place in education would always be with elementary students.

After spending five years teaching third grade at Blevins School District including the difficult “catch-up year” following the COVID pandemic that she described in a 2022 interview with SWARK.Today Alvarado took what she now calls “a leap of faith” and moved into a very different classroom setting.

Today, instead of leading third graders through reading, science and math lessons, she teaches Spanish at Hope High School, helping students not only learn another language but gain an appreciation for cultures beyond Southwest Arkansas.

“It ended up being one of the best decisions I think I’ve ever made honestly,” Alvarado said.

Born and raised in Hope in a Spanish-speaking household, Alvarado said the desire to teach developed naturally at an early age. “When I was younger I used to help teach like classes, including gymnastics classes,” she said. “I think naturally I’ve always just like enjoyed helping others and mentoring younger kids.”

She also credits influential teachers from her own school years with helping shape her direction. “A big influence who has now passed away was Mr. Earhart from the high school,” she said. “He was always a very inspiring teacher and I used to go to his class and he would be very encouraging and just would sit down and have a real conversation with me.”

Another major influence was longtime educator Kim McMullan. “She was over student council and I’m now over the student council now actually. I’m one of the sponsors.”

After graduating from Hope High, Alvarado attended Henderson State University and then was hired at Blevins Elementary. Though she initially envisioned herself remaining in elementary education, an opening at Hope High eventually persuaded her to reconsider.

“One day I saw the high school Spanish position open and I decided to take a leap of faith and try something different,” she said. “It was really out of my comfort zone, because I had always thought I wanted to teach elementary kids but never in my life had considered teaching high school.”

The move also connected closely to her own family background and upbringing. Her parents' first language is Spanish, and her grandparents are from Mexico, and trips there became a regular part of her life growing up. “We went to Mexico a couple of times a year,” she said. “And I really love the culture of it."

That personal connection strongly shapes the emphasis she places on her classroom instruction. “My goal for them is that they genuinely enjoy learning the language and learning about the culture,” she said.

Alvarado said she encourages students to continue learning beyond the school day, something she has begun seeing happen more often. “A few students came up to me and they said, ‘Oh I’ve downloaded Duolingo,’” she said. “They want to continue outside of the classroom learning more Spanish and learning about its cultures."

One of the biggest changes in her teaching over the years, she said, has come through the adoption of a new curriculum centered on “comprehensible input,” an approach that emphasizes active speaking and listening rather than repetitive worksheets and memorization. “We switched to a new curriculum this year and it’s more about having the students speak it,” Alvarado said. “They’re getting up, we’re doing little story scripts where they act out these scenes in Spanish and they’re using the language out loud.”

The results, she said, have been noticeable.

“I’ve seen an improvement from this year compared to the past two years,” she said. “It’s not like they’re just like writing stuff down. They’re actually using it and speaking it.”

For Alvarado, however, the most meaningful part of teaching continues to be the relationships built with students over time, "watching them come out of their shell as the year goes on and watching their confidence go up,” she said.

She said those moments when students voluntarily continue their studies outside the classroom provide affirmation that her courses are making a difference. “You know you’ve made an impact on them whenever they start wanting to learn Spanish outside of the classroom,” she said.

Because of that, she strongly encourages young people to consider the profession of language education themselves. Teaching in her hometown has added another dimension to the experience.

“I graduated from Hope High School,” Alvarado said. “So I work with some of the teachers that used to teach me and that’s been really enjoyable.”

Looking ahead, Alvarado hopes to continue growing professionally while remaining in education. “I would love to just continue growing as an educator,” she said. “I would eventually love to go back and get my Masters degree.”

At the same time, she hopes her students carry with them more than vocabulary and grammar lessons “I just hope my students will want to continue the learning of Spanish outside of the classroom when they graduate and also learning about the culture,” she said. “And not even just Spanish, but any culture.”

In a small town setting, she believes that exposure to different cultures can broaden perspectives in important ways. “I think that’s beneficial to everybody,” she said.