¡Hola!  My name is Alison and I’m a secondary Spanish teacher.  I’m also the face behind SeñoraQ, a resource creator for fellow profes.  I’m so glad you found me!

The 2025-2026 school year is year #17 in the classroom for me.  The vast majority of my experience is with high school students, but I briefly taught middle school as well.  Over the years, I have taught Spanish 1-4 at differing levels: Fundamental, Academic, Honors, and Pre-AP.  I also teach Blended courses, meaning that I meet face-to-face with students every other day, and on the off-days, students complete asynchronous assignments.  

What kind of teacher am I?

I am a firm believer in proficiency over perfection and my focus in the classroom is on developing interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication skills.  However, that doesn’t mean I think grammar is the enemy (it’s not!), but when I teach grammar, I teach it in a context where my students would use it in an authentic, real-world situation.  For example, do you want to teach commands?  Have your students give directions around your town.  Are you teaching the imperfect?  Your students can describe their childhoods.  Stem-changing verbs like “pedir” and “servir”?  Have students practice ordering food at a restaurant.  For me, if students can complete these tasks proficiently, I consider that a win!  Will they make mistakes?  Sure.  Can they be understood?  That’s my goal.

I’m the teacher who is constantly gamifying lessons.  I think that if my students are having fun, they will engage with the language more, and will learn more as a result!  Of course, I enjoy Blooket, Gimkit, and Kahoot!, but some of my favorite games are low-tech/no tech ones.  Board games, Jeopardy-style trivia, Pictionary, and relay races help my students learn, build positive relationships with each other, and enjoy coming to Spanish class – win/win/win!  

Authentic resources are my jam.  If I want my students to be able to use Spanish outside of my classroom, I have to teach them to interact with authentic resources.  I love technology and am all about harnessing it for good in the classroom, and there are SO MANY authentic resources to be found online – newspaper articles, videos, radio programs, and even social media posts by native Spanish-speakers are fantastic resources for students.  I find that my students tend to be more interested in resources that come from real-world settings and see the value in it.  They also feel proud of themselves when they can understand texts and audios that were meant for native speakers of Spanish!  

Lastly, I believe that preparation for success in AP courses begins in Spanish 1.  The more practice students have had with AP tasks like the simulated conversation, email reply, and cultural comparison, the more comfortable they will feel by the time they reach AP.   Your Spanish 1 and 2 students CAN do these tasks!  The key is just making sure the expectations are level-appropriate.  Are you studying food in Spanish 1?  Have students compare meals and eating habits in their communities with those of a Spanish-speaking country.  Start with a Venn diagram and have them write short phrases.  Provide important transition words and have students regularly incorporate them into their Venn diagrams.  Your students can also complete a simulated conversation about going to a restaurant or write an email describing their favorite meals to a friend.  Once your students get to AP, they will thank you for starting the tasks with them early – trust me!   

Click below for a FREE email reply activity on the house and family that is appropriate for Spanish 1!

So, why should you come on this journey with me?

I am certainly not an expert on all things education, but I want to share strategies and activities that work well in my classroom in the hope that I can help you or provide you with new ideas, and hopefully save you time and stress!  Teaching is a stressful job and, in my opinion, it’s impossible to do without a support system.  Let me be a part of that support system for you!

Thank you for sticking with me so far.  I’ll be back soon!