John Conner
Breaking the Language Barrier with Substance and Style
John Conner is a man with a mission and an uncanny sense of timing. Upon graduation from Amherst College in May of 1977, he decided to sweat out the summer by backpacking through Europe while hoping his “waiting list” status at Northwestern University Law School would morph into “admit.” It was during this odyssey, designed to take his mind off the future, that John fell in love with Spain - its language, people, and culture - and pushed the “delete” button on a legal career.
Heading to the University of Wisconsin a year later for graduate studies in Spanish, John Conner, the son of a minister and a second-grade teacher, immediately discovered his own pulpit, the modern language classroom. His first long-term job, as a Spanish teacher at Groton, a private school outside Boston, was a good fit. Twenty-five years later, you’ll still find him there. Affectionately known throughout the Groton School community as “Señor,” John heads the Modern Language Department, is a beloved teacher, a lively public speaker, and the creator of a Spanish and French language series called Breaking the Barrier – and it truly does just that.
Known for his smarts – for starters as a high school national chess champion at the height of the Bobby Fischer era, and later as a test developer and grader of the Advanced Placement exams for the College Board, John Conner is also admired for his wicked sense of humor. Did you ever have a teacher who wrote imaginary love letters to Elvis Presley as a way of demonstrating the “familiar” form of the pronoun “you?” Recently heard on NPR as “Spanish Teacher to the Motley Fool,” John was the initial developer of teacher resources for People en Español. A lover of pop culture, John’s talent is for unusual combinations, such as casting fast-breaking Hollywood news as the carrot for taking a rigorous look at the grammatical structures upon which the language of the news is actually constructed.
“Many students think the subjunctive tense is a conspiracy cooked up by overly-zealous language teachers – something designed solely to confuse them. But when students realize their favorite stars are actually speaking - or their favorite singers actually record lyrics in the subjunctive - you’ve got them on board!” John’s newest project, a monthly column, Hablando de Gramática, has become a must-read feature of the popular magazine Think Spanish, a publication of high-interest articles on diverse topics related to the Hispanic world. The growing audience for his page-turning textbook series has responded with unqualified enthusiasm, as thousands of students in classrooms from all corners of the country eagerly await each new edition.
Shining an unapologetic light on the importance of mastering grammar in the study of foreign language, John Conner’s Breaking the Barrier series also reflects his boundless creativity to make just about anything fun, an artful tongue-in-cheek humor, and his unwavering belief that everyone, given the proper tools, can successfully master a foreign language. "Grammar is the bone structure of language. Without it, I'm afraid you'll end up expressing yourself primarily through gestures and infinitives.” Well aware of the growing urgency for all Americans to learn another language, he continues: “To communicate effectively with people from other cultures, understanding the subtleties of their language is crucial. And to do this, there’s simply no getting around the grammar.”
John was frustrated by traditional textbooks, which he found overpriced and watered-down, because they didn’t give students the essence of what he thought they really needed to develop true fluency. Fueled by his unwavering commitment to student success, John began by writing down tips for struggling linguists in the clearest language and most organized way he possibly could. His students ate it up, and he kept at it. They loved his step-by-step approach, student-friendly voice of encouragement, and zany sense of humor. Making frequent reference to his favorite things – among them his beloved Chicago White Sox, the Latina pop star Shakira, and McDonald’s French fries, John leads his students on an adventure that artfully blends rigorous content with unexpected, humorous twists.
After writing his three-volume series that guides students from the very beginning through the most sophisticated structural nuances of the Spanish language, John continued by dramatizing the original dialogues found in his texts through the melodramatic lens of Radio Theater. The result is a series of acclaimed CDs that accompany the texts.
John’s availability and interest in communicating with fellow teachers is one of the tenets of Breaking the Barrier. John attracts standing-room-only audiences at professional workshops he delivers across the country. His most recent pep talk for teachers is entitled “The Ideal Lesson Plan -- Ten Steps to Total Fluency!” Once again, he’s determined to share his ideas and extend an encouraging hand to colleagues whose working conditions are often less privileged than his own.
John Conner’s generosity and abundant talents are as palpable as his missionary zeal – “It’s more important than ever to speak another language. And everyone can succeed. Here, let me show you……” John frequently observes that he leads a charmed life, doing every day what he loves best – teaching. “I’m truly blessed.” With a barrier-breaking language series under his belt and several new projects in the works, his classroom now extends far beyond the walls of Groton School and just keeps getting bigger.
