Remembering When

by Cindy Beams

One of my favorite traditions is the story-telling that accompanies the holidays. In keeping with spirit of the season, I share the story of the birth of Breaking the Barrier with you!

John Conner delights in being a teacher, and since he began his journey in the Spanish classroom in 1978, he has given his students everything he’s got. “I always knew that I wanted my students to feel as if they were entering into a Spanish-speaking world the minute they crossed the threshold of my classroom. When I began teaching, I thought the atmosphere I created for my own students was enough. But before long I knew that I wanted to extend the boundaries of this space well beyond my classroom walls....and the only way to accomplish this dream was to begin writing my own materials.” 

Frustrated with textbooks written by committee, John wanted to deliver Spanish lessons in his own voice. Remembering the personal connection with wonderful teachers that had been such an instrumental part of his own learning, John was determined to give what he had received. He needed his formal teaching materials to reflect his thinking and personal connection to language learning.

So where to begin? By putting one foot in front of the other. Breaking the Barrier incubated as worksheets for students needing extra support. John was my Groton School neighbor, and I was the mother of a struggling Spanish student whose discouragement was nipped in the bud by John’s can-do approach, zany sense of humor and personal touch. During neighborly conversations, I, a teacher-turned- entrepreneur, encouraged John to get serious about what he had to offer. I told him: “I know what a brilliant teacher you are. All I need to do is look at my own daughter! Teaching is one of the only professions where your peers have no idea what you actually do on a daily basis.....I think you need to write a book that incorporates your ideas, infectious humor and personal style. Imagine the boost you can give to all those discouraged students and isolated classroom teachers!”

After visiting several publishers who loved John’s ideas but insisted on retaining editorial control of his work, we decided to strike out on our own. Much like a child’s early schoolwork, our first publication consisted of four photocopied chapters in oversized print. But they were our chapters; we liked them and so did our students.

Our tentative first steps, taken on a summer day of 1987, launched a journey that continues to engage and delight us. Although a lot has changed in the intervening 14 years, these things remain the same.

• We’ve created materials written by and for teachers.

• We’ve stuck to our original purpose and resisted fashionable trends, most of them technological, that promise dazzling results without the requisite foundation.

• We’ve taken it step by step, building carefully upon what we know to be successful.

• We’ve celebrated each step, no matter how small or how tentative, along the way.

At the ACTFL convention last month in Boston, it seemed as though we had been guided by a star to a wondrous place. It’s a story we had imagined for many years - overflow crowds eagerly wanting to connect with our approach to language, encapsulated in our workshop: The Ideal Lesson Plan: Ten Steps to Total Fluency. Spreading the word to teachers has become an increasingly important part of our mission, and will guide the next chapter of Breaking the Barrier’s journey. May your holidays be filled with the kind of story Breaking the Barrier feels privileged to share - a tale of light, life and wonder.