Student Spotlight: HISTORY PROF. DAVID SINGERMAN - AND HIS BABY DAUGHTER!

David, tell us a little about yourself and the role Spanish plays in your life and work. 

My wife and I moved to Charlottesville from Boston in 2016 for jobs at the University of Virginia—I teach in the history department and my work often incorporates Latin America. I often have to read documents and books in Spanish, so my Spanish reading is pretty good, but at various points--especially when I lived in Argentina and Puerto Rico--my speaking and listening have been much better.

What motivated you to register for an individual Spanish course with Speak! this year? 

Happily, there were lots of overlapping motivations. Being conversant in another language opens your view of the world, and I really missed that feeling. So when I learned about the UVA education benefit + Speak tutoring from a colleague, I knew right away I’d sign up for it at some point. Then from mid-January to mid-March 2020 I was on paternity leave, and I was looking for something to do with a 6-month old. Taking her to Spanish lessons seemed like a great way to expose her to a second language early (and, in practical terms, a way to kill some time during those long early-parenting days). And finally, civic service and volunteering have become a bigger part of my life since moving to Virginia, and I was increasingly aware that there were a lot more ways I could be useful as a functional Spanish speaker.

You've been able to bring your now 2. year-old daughter to your lessons at Speak! and now she is often present for your zoom lessons. What's it like learning with your daughter and how do you think having her present changes or affects the learning experience? Do you practice Spanish with her beyond your live lessons? 

As I mentioned, bringing my daughter to Speak! Lessons began as a way for a scrambling new dad simply to find something to do! But it turned out to be a stroke of genius, if I may say so myself. Having a baby gave Paola and I an endless subject to talk about, stories I could tell about our week, and a funny motivator for unexpected vocabulary (one of the first verbs Paola and I conjugated on the board was retorcerse, “to squirm”!). You might think having an infant would distract Paola and I from the serious work of teaching and learning a language, but instead everything became more fun and set everyone at ease. In one of our first classes, I remember she (my daughter, not Paola) was giggling so hard that people from other tutoring rooms came over to see what on earth was going on. And absolutely—I do try to incorporate Spanish outside of our lessons. A baby is a great listener!

A New Perspective:

“It’d be easy to say “oh no, another lesson, an hour a week I can’t spare,” but that’s upside-down: it’s an hour spent taking care of yourself and you’ll feel refreshed and invigorated at the end of it. I found it such a joy to be immersed in another linguistic world, and my lessons with Paola were the hour I looked forward to most every week.”

- David Singerman, University of Virginia, Department of History

The Covid-19 pandemic occurred in the middle of your course and moved your lessons from in-person to online. How has that transition been? What do you enjoy about online lessons and what do you miss about having lessons at Speak? 

Obviously the transition to Zoom was a bummer at first, and I’m excited to get back to in-person lessons soon. But in a way, doing a lesson from home provided so much new material for conversation. You don’t realize the stories embedded in the objects that are around the house, or how much vocabulary is embedded in a kid’s snack time. And my daughter was growing every week, developing new abilities that gave Paola and I plenty to talk about. And because Paola was at home too, we wound up talking about her kids and family as well, although not every teacher needs to do this or would feel as comfortable. But in our case it was great and very natural; we certainly got to know each other better than if we had only seen each other in the classroom. And frankly, grownup life is boring compared to the exciting world of kids.

Even when their lessons switched to Zoom, David’s daughter was able to join in the fun !

What do you enjoy most about your Spanish course with Paola? How has it helped you grow as a Spanish speaker, scholar and father? What do you love about speaking Spanish and how does it make you feel when you are speaking it?

I can’t say enough good things about Paola as a person or a teacher. She was totally adaptable to what I wanted from the lessons, which was really an opportunity to practice and learn conversation, with the more explicit educational components (like learning idioms, or irregular verbs, or new vocabulary) rolled in. If I wanted more structure she was ready for that too. She had lots of resources to share, from documentaries to TV shows to places to find a wide range of Spanish newspaper articles from across the world. 

It’d be easy to say “oh no, another lesson, an hour a week I can’t spare,” but that’s upside-down: it’s an hour spent taking care of yourself and you’ll feel refreshed and invigorated at the end of it. I found it such a joy to be immersed in another linguistic world, and my lessons with Paola were the hour I looked forward to most every week. 

Paola reflects:

“At first,I was not sure how the lesson was going to work with a baby in the room!  It could not have been any better. David and I made her the center of the conversation. It was fun to teach Spanish by talking about her, connecting childhood customs from different countries. Even more, they shared with me so many special moments, and I feel honored that I was able to be part of her milestones. Can’t wait for round 2!”

What are your language and travel goals for the future, both for you and your daughter? 

Now that the world is slowly and carefully opening again, I am excited to go back to Spain and Cuba and Puerto Rico with my whole family, and explore places none of us have visited yet. As academics we are lucky that we sometimes get to work for six or twelve months in other countries, and languages give us so many more options to look forward to. Looking ahead, I want to keep working on my Spanish, with Speak!, to go back and bolster my French, and then—what I would really like to do—add a language that’s entirely new to me. For UVA employees, the educational credit is an amazing renewable resource.

Do you have any advice for parents with young children who are considering starting a language course?

I stumbled into this idea, but for someone on parental leave with a new baby, taking lessons at Speak! turned out to be a stroke of accidental genius. I can’t recommend it highly enough, and I can imagine it working remotely, in a classroom at the language school, outside on a walk with a stroller, or however else you can fit it. In general, what I’ve learned is that if you incorporate these lessons into the shape of your life, it can be a powerful asset, not just a constraint you’re working around.

Now my daughter is almost 2, running around and generally setting the agenda, so it would be more challenging. But for those days of early parenthood, my only regret is that I didn’t choose to do two lessons a week!

David’s Teacher, Paola, Shares Her Experience:

Where do I begin? When I first met the Singermans, it was a cold day in February. David walked with a stroller, and I saw his adorable daughter! A beautiful and full of energy seven month old baby. I was not sure how the lesson was going to work with a baby in the room!  It could not have been any better. David and I made her the center of the conversation. It was fun to teach Spanish by talking about her, connecting childhood customs from different countries. Even more, they shared with me so many special moments, and I feel honored that I was able to be part of her milestones. I saw her bedroom, her favorite book and her favorite toy (yellow jeep). I watched her trying to take her first steps alone!. These experiences are priceless. Even after our classes were over, David sent me videos of her, one when she just started walking!!! Teaching David and his daughter was more than just grammar lessons, it was and still is a long lasting friendship. I can’t wait for round 2!