Spanish teacher Kristi McDonald pulls down the grammar and motivational posters from the cream colored cinder block walls. She prepares to pack as the school year comes to an end, mainly admiring the poster that quoted, ”Spanish saved my life” which caused query among her students throughout the year.
Through Baylor University’s 1990-1994 Study Abroad Program, Mrs. McDonald moved to Madrid, Spain for a school semester to be immersed in Spanish culture and lifestyle while earning college hours.
“I had never been out of the country and it was a really big eye opener that there was so much more to the world than my little bubble of Baylor,” Mrs. McDonald said. “You get a real feel for how old everything is in Europe compared to the U.S.”
She later taught at Juan Seguin High School in 2005, before being transferred in 2013, currently pursuing her plans to become a school counselor as she recently received her Master’s in School Counseling.
“I’ve been teaching for 15 years and I love it,” McDonald said. “I’m just ready to try something different in education.”
Although Mrs. McDonald believed that Madrid resembled the on-the-go lifestyle of New York or Chicago, the order and structure of the day was differed with a siesta, a break in the hottest part of the day where casual daily events and businesses typically started later than usual.
“The people in the smaller towns don’t rush and they’re more laid back, whereas Madrid was just go, go, go… and a faster pace,” Mrs. McDonald said.
Not only the Spanish atmosphere was new but the people’s attitudes and actions sought different expectations.
“Everyone there was really political and made me realize how much I took my rights and lifestyle for granted, because I was not very politically active,” Mrs. McDonald said.
Moving to Spain opened the floodgates to new ideas and opportunities for Mrs. McDonald as she used public transportation, saw mosques and learned more about world religions for the first time. Our everyday customs were seen as unusual to the people in Madrid such as having first hand access to washing machines, dishwashers and even having a public laundromat close by.
“It really impacted my life just to see how people in a different culture lived and enjoyed each other,” Mrs. McDonald said. “I realized how really privileged we are, even though Spain is a developed country, still you didn’t get ice in your drinks.”
After moving back from Madrid, Mrs. McDonald continued her studies at Baylor eventually earning her Bachelor of Science in Education. She then became a stay at home mom for about six and a half years, until she received the position as a Spanish teacher at Juan Seguin High School in 2005. Mrs. McDonald then transferred to Legacy in 2013 to teach Spanish, now finishing her 15th year teaching the language.
“I really love interacting with high school kids, I had a love with Spanish in high school and I just always thought it was the coolest thing to speak another language and open up a door to another culture,” Mrs. McDonald said. “I learned so many other things I would’ve never learned about, had I not studied the language.”
Her semester in Madrid, Spain meant more than just a grade or college hours, but an everlasting experience that impacted the rest of her life.
“I just really wanted to share that with other people and teaching just felt like a natural step forward in that direction,” Mrs. McDonald said.
Her husband, David McDonald, was given a poster that said “economics saved my life once” and she thought it was pretty funny, so he gave her the “Spanish saved my life once” poster one Christmas. Many students throughout the school year always brought up the famous question, “how did Spanish save your life Mrs. McDonald?”. Even though it didn’t literally, the language and culture has been a huge influence in her everyday life as she can say it guided her to this point.
“Spanish really did save my life in a way, because I don’t know what else I would be doing if it weren’t for having learned Spanish and deciding to become a teacher,” Mrs. McDonald said. “I feel blessed to do this, also getting to know hundreds of awesome kids every day and year, it may not have saved it but it certainly added a whole lot to it.”
