Walking into a Spanish class, you'd think you're about to dive into learning the full language, but Berkeley High School limits students to learning just one version, leaving the rich diversity of Spanish dialects out of the curriculum. While BHS teaches Central American Spanish, over seven major dialects of Spanish are spoken worldwide, each with unique nuances, expressions, and grammatical structures. BHS must improve its Spanish education by integrating other dialects, which would not only enhance students’ ability to connect with the broader Spanish-speaking world but also ensure they fully benefit from the language education offered.
“I don't have anything against learning a Mexican dialect,” said Lucia Ortiz Lage, a BHS freshman who has spoken Spanish at home her entire life. Ortiz Lage speaks the Castilian dialect of Spanish, originating from Spain, “I think it would be nice to not take that away but to add more different dialects. It would be good for students in the future if they could learn the ‘vosotros’ tense,” she said. Vosotros is a pronoun only used in Spain which can be best translated to “y’all.”
“I'm only just now being taught ‘vosotros’,” Raquel L’Esperance, a BHS sophomore who has gone through the Two-Way-Immersion (TWI) program since middle school, shared, “I'm in AP Spanish and my teacher does come from Spain, so we are getting taught the ‘vosotros’ form.” L'Esperance’s family speaks the Argentinian dialect of Spanish.
“In Argentina, they do use vos, but they don't use vosotros, so it's kind of a mix,” L’Esperance said. “Everybody speaks Spanish differently no matter where you come from.”
‘Vos’, a pronoun used in Argentina, is another form of ‘you’ with different conjugations but is rarely taught in the TWI program or high school classes.
“I do understand why there is a focus on Central American Spanish, given the majority of Latinos being Central American or Mexican in Berkeley,” L’Esperance said.
One of the main reasons students enroll in Spanish classes is to be able to communicate with those around the world. While learning Central American Spanish is undeniably useful, the exclusion of other dialects from the curriculum can be viewed as a failure in comprehensive language education.
While BHS’s focus on Central American Spanish instead of others like Argentinian, Chilean, and Castilian Spanish, is practical given its demographics, the lack of dialect diversity limits students' understanding of the language. By broadening its Spanish instruction, BHS can equip its students with the skills to thrive in diverse Spanish-speaking environments. Adding dialect diversity is not just about teaching a language — it's about opening doors, making connections, and preparing students for a future where they can confidently engage with the world.