Down the long hallway, the boisterous laughter of students can be heard. The sound becomes louder and louder as you walk closer and closer to his classroom. Inside, nothing but smiles are seen. As the door opens, the warm and friendly atmosphere draws you in and engulfs you into learning the beautiful language of French.
Learning new languages can be hard and quite challenging, but in Mark Ballesteros’s classroom, the challenges feel lighter as his support only gets stronger.
For new French 1-2 students, it can be scary to engage in something they’ve never learned before. Ballesteros eases that anxiety by not discouraging his students, nor doubting them even when they mess up. He is a teacher and a counselor with the perfect blending mindset of both. The assignments are assigned according to what you’ve learned recently. A test or exam is never feared for the fact there is always review before you are thrown in. He is lenient with mistakes, but never leaves them unfixed. The patience and effort creates a carefree and lighthearted environment where a student can feel like any answer right or wrong wasn’t wrong to say. Although no English is spoken, his words still reach you even if you can’t fully understand.
“Monsieur B always makes me feel seen and heard even when my French is pronounced wrong,” said Freshman Olivia Anderson. Involved students are not the only ones he makes feel recognized and heard, Ballesteros makes even the ones that don’t try in class feel a part of his teaching. “No matter what I’m doing, I’m still learning French because he always includes everyone and will keep calling on you until you actually answer in French,” said Freshman Miguel Contreras. Even though Ballesteros includes all, he always makes sure that his persistence isn’t ruining your comfort. Freshman Renne Andrews said, “I have really bad social anxiety and like sometimes I get super overwhelmed with talking to a whole class, so he never pushes me too far but enough to have felt proud that I spoke up.” This is a big deal to many students who have struggled with public speaking. A teacher who has the respect of his students’ boundaries feels hard to find in classes. All of his students can agree that Ballesteros’s classroom is as fun and easy going as going to a park. Everyone feels no pressure and even though it seems like fun and games, you still learn everything you need to. If you are a new student who is interested in learning French, you should sign up for his class by asking your counselor or even him!