3 Ways Empathetic Lessons Can Transform Your World Language Classroom

Years ago, as a young high school Spanish teacher, I dreamed of making a difference in the lives of my students. And while I’m not sure that every student I taught walked away with a full-fledged love of Spanish, I think most of my students grew into more proficient and confident speakers and listeners. And many increased their cultural curiosity, which is a passion of mine.    

Even with all the joys that came with my job, I was frustrated by my inability to differentiate and individualize instruction within a system structured to teach masses of students. I found myself feeling ineffective, overwhelmed, and burnt out. The impossible demands on teachers and the lack of support and resources took their toll on me.

Leaving the classroom was difficult, but I had to acknowledge that my day-to-day frustration had overtaken my passion for teaching. I was fortunate enough to find a dream job in the private sector that allowed me to use my teaching experience in a new way. It was here that I first learned about User Experience (UX) design and became certified in UX.

With my new learning in tow, I began to think about what I would have done differently in the classroom if I’d known then what I know now. My first steps would have been to gain more understanding of what my students needed from their learning experiences and approach them more empathetically as they learned a new language. 

How Can User Experience (UX) Make World Language Lessons More Engaging?

UX design is a process that focuses on creating products and services that are easy to use and satisfying for the end user. Immediately, I began connecting UX to the impossible demands put on teachers to individualize instruction for every student.

As I discovered more about UX design, I realized that it was a practical approach teachers could apply in their classrooms that would engage students without requiring a different plan for every learner.

Here are my top 3 takeaways from my UX training and some ideas about applying them in the classroom.  

1. “Fun and Easy” Can Lead to Better Student Understanding

One thing UX design taught me about my years spent teaching is that I hadn’t fully understood my purpose. My job was not merely to teach Spanish but to make Spanish easy and enjoyable for students to learn. 

At the beginning of my teaching career, if a student had told me that my class was “fun and easy,” I would have seen this as a problem to fix. Maybe they weren’t challenged enough; maybe my assignments weren’t rigorous. Whatever the reason, I would have seen my class being accessible as a shortcoming on my part. 

Through the lens of UX, I learned to appreciate that “fun and easy” classes can be tough to design. Teachers need to consider many skills, competencies, and pedagogical approaches when developing instructional design for the user experience to be easy and enjoyable. 

Let’s tweak a class activity using UX principles.  

I often taught my upper-level students poetry, which can be challenging due to its use of figurative language and complex literary devices. My approach was fairly traditional: we’d read the poem aloud, students would share what they noticed, and I would ask questions to get them to dig deeper. Some students were engaged; many weren’t. What if I had asked them to access the poetry in a different way?  

To make reading and understanding poetry “fun and easy” for a broader range of students, I could have incorporated visual images into lessons. Images can provide a concrete representation of abstract concepts or themes, making them more accessible. Additionally, images can enhance the emotional impact of a poem, helping more students connect with the message. 

But how can a teacher do this? Sure, some famous poems have been illustrated, but this is the exception rather than the rule. How about using AI? Here’s an image I created with an AI program called Midjourney illustrating García Lorca’s "Prendimiento de Antonito en Camborio en el camino a Sevilla" to help students visualize the setting and emotions evoked by the poem.

Once students see how images can bring poetry to life, you could ask them to find or even write their own target language poem, create an accompanying image, and then present their work to the class. Giving students the freedom to find or write a poem about what matters to them and then creating a visual representation will make for a wonderful user experience.  

2. When It Comes to Understanding What Students Need, Don’t Always Trust Your Gut 

Another key lesson UX taught me about teaching is that it’s okay to question your gut instinct. In my early teaching days, I would make a lot of assumptions about what would work based on a gut feeling and then feel deflated when my students didn’t find my favorite Spanish author relevant or my colleague’s scavenger hunt engaging. If I found something interesting, I concluded that it would engage my students, too—and this wasn’t always the case.  

I thought my passion would fuel my students because I didn’t understand that a UXer’s worst enemy is their own ego. Instead of focusing on themselves, a UX designer needs to hone in on the needs and preferences of the user. This doesn’t have to mean individualizing instruction for every learner, but it does mean building connections and empathy with students, which was a huge mindset shift for me.

Now, if I were to design a UX-inspired language lesson, I’d work to discover what my students were into instead of going off my gut. Whether it’s music, video games, or volunteering, I would build my content and approach based on what enlivens students’ imaginations and helps them learn best.