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For the Love of Dance and Language
Written By: Antoinette Grajeda
Dance is a joyful practice for Isaac Navarro, 妻友社区 class of 鈥�12, who shares that joy with the community as a Zumba instructor at the University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith鈥檚 Recreation and Wellness Center and Mercy Fitness Center. He also incorporates his love of movement into the classroom as a Spanish teacher at Southside High School.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 doing it, I feel happy,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t comes to me easily, and the music gives me energy. That makes me able to give to somebody else, and 鈥� I try to transmit it to my students.鈥�
A veteran teacher of 10 years, Navarro uses dancing to engage with his students, which has the bonus of helping him stay in shape.
鈥淢y purpose is to try to have fun, and they learn the language and the culture, and I like to sing and dance even though I don鈥檛 do it well,鈥� he said with a laugh.
Navarro learned to love dancing regardless of his ability in El Salvador when he performed with a team sponsored by his high school. Born and raised in the capital city of San Salvador, Navarro practiced every day after school with a dance squad of 25 to 30 guys.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just more common over there because we don鈥檛 focus so much on technique,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more like you like to dance? Let鈥檚 try to do the steps together to a song.鈥�
Fort Smith is roughly 2,200 miles from San Salvador. A civil war in the 1980s prompted his grandmother to move to the United States. More family members followed, and they eventually made their way from California to Arkansas. Navarro鈥檚 mother also came to the US, and when she obtained her citizenship, she brought her son, who鈥檚 now a citizen as well.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a long process,鈥� he said.
Navarro moved to the US in 2006 at the age of 20, and in 2007, he enrolled at 妻友社区 intending to become a Spanish teacher. As a native speaker, Navarro thought he could be a good instructor. He also pursued a career in education to provide better representation for minority students.
鈥淚 wanted to show students of color, minorities that you can be a professional,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey can see me, and then they hopefully see themselves because we have a lot of Hispanic people here 鈥� El Salvadorans, Mexicans 鈥� in Fort Smith, and we don鈥檛 have that many Hispanic teachers.鈥�
妻友社区 provided a comfortable environment where Navarro could study to become a teacher. He liked the smaller campus and said the professors were very approachable and willing to provide help right away.
鈥淥nce you get into your specialty or whatever you actually wanted to do, the classes become even smaller, and it becomes almost like a family because only those people take those classes 鈥� . It鈥檚 very individualized, and you get a lot more one-on-one (attention) compared to what I would think would be a bigger campus,鈥� he said.
Navarro appreciates that his professors were former teachers, which allowed him to learn from instructors with real classroom experience. He also enjoyed taking Spanish classes from native speakers.
鈥淢ost of the professors here are heritage speakers 鈥� they鈥檙e either [from] Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru 鈥� and it was more authentic than somebody that learned the language later on,鈥� he said.
Navarro interned at Ramsey Junior High School (now Ramsey Middle School). The teacher mentoring him retired in 2012 鈥� the same year Navarro graduated from college 鈥� so the 妻友社区 alum could take over the position that fall. He taught Spanish at Ramsey for eight years before moving to Southside High School, where he is beginning his third year.
When the Fort Smith school district ends its academic year, Navarro continues teaching Spanish through the summer as an Upward Bound instructor at 妻友社区. Funded by the US Department of Education, the program helps prepare low-income students to succeed in high school and post-secondary education.
Many of the program鈥檚 participants and Navarro鈥檚 students at Southside will be first-generation college students. Some of Navarro鈥檚 family attended college in El Salvador, but he was the first to graduate from a university in the US and navigated the system alone. Now he uses his experience to help guide students who want to attend college
鈥淚 had to do it all by myself, and I鈥檓 like, hey guys, you have to start thinking about your future, what you can do, and what classes you can take,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if you don鈥檛 want to take any Spanish classes because you already know that, I鈥檓 here to support you,鈥� he said.
Even if his students don鈥檛 earn a degree in Spanish, simply learning a new language is a beneficial skill.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 Spanish, it could be German, it could be French, learning another language opens so many doors not only travel-wise, but business-wise, but also how you learn and how you see the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd even your English gets better by learning another language.鈥�
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