Teaching Spanish to migrants in Spain: the teacher´s perspective

The aim of this paper is to approach the reality of Spanish classrooms for migrants in Spain and to reflect on different aspects of this type of teaching from the teachers' perspective. For this purpose, we have worked with a sample of 20 teachers of Spanish for migrants in several organizations located in different Spanish cities, who were interviewed between 2021 and 2022. The study is descriptive in nature with a qualitative data analysis and focuses on three dimensions: the students, the teachers and the teaching process. The results show that, in relation to migrant students, teachers consider their students to be vulnerable, but also indicate that they are more motivated by the need to know the language in order to find work and integrate into the host society. They also agree that a teacher with migrant students should be empathetic, patient, understanding, capable of mediating possible conflicts and interested in the social work involved in this type of work. As for the teaching process, the need to adapt materials and focus on a communicative approach that enables students to use the language in their daily lives was emphasized. The lack of autonomy of the students and the need to improve written comprehension and expression were highlighted as weaknesses. It should also be noted that this study is based on the teachers' experience, so it would be advisable to expand it with future research that gathers new data, such as the students' experience or the evolution of teaching in recent years.