Dr. Barletta, OHS Spanish Favorite
Dr. Barletta is a favorite in the language department because of her lively discussions and enthusiastic personality. Co-editor, Zaid Badiger, learns more about Dr. Barletta in the interview below.
Pixel Journal: How did you decide to become a teacher?
Dr. Barletta: When I lived in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to work with middle- and high-school students on two health-related projects. I found this experience very rewarding, and I decided then that I wanted to focus on k-12 education, both as a teacher and a researcher.
PJ: Why did you decide to teach Spanish?
DB: While I was earning my PhD in Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I was given the opportunity to teach university Spanish courses. I had never taught Spanish before, but I relished to opportunity to share my language and culture with students and learn more about the language practices of other Spanish-speaking countries. With over 400 million Spanish speakers in the world, there’s a lot of diversity.
PJ: Based on your experience as a teacher, what is one piece of advice you would give to OHS students?
DB: Learn Spanish! No, seriously, don’t miss out on the chance to learn other languages, travel to new places, and learn from people who don’t necessarily share your experiences or point of view. Textbooks are very useful, but they have their limits. Studying another language compels you to get out in the world and engage it more fully, and this means opening yourself up to learn not just about others, but also from them.
PJ: What does your life look like outside of school?
DB: My husband and I have two school-aged girls, so we spend a lot of time driving them from one place to another and having a great time with them. We take long walks, go for swims, play board games, and watch movies. During summers, we like to travel abroad. My husband and I work a lot in local cafés, and we also spend a lot of time talking about social issues and things we’ve read. I’m also long-distance runner, so I run six days a week. I’m training for a marathon now, so I’m slowly increasing my mileage. To finish my day, I relax by reading a good book or the news of the day.
PJ: If you had to choose, what would be your favorite piece of Spanish literature and why?
DB: This is a difficult question, because I have favorite books for different contexts and emotions. If I absolutely had to choose one, however, I would pick Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo (1955). It’s an interesting and beautiful piece of literature; it presents the reader with a confused world where the distinction between life and death isn’t clear and where fiction and reality co-exist in apparent harmony. Well-known authors such as Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, and Jorge Luis Borges all considered it a major work of literature, and to my mind it’s the best Mexican novel of the last century.