A look at Spanish’s continued popularity and its implications for the K-12 classroom.
Since 1998, the Instituto Cervantes, one of the world’s largest institutions dedicated to teaching Spanish, has published an extensive annual study that compiles the state of the Spanish language in the world. The most recent report, published in November 2022, has important implications for Spanish teachers in the United States. The numbers showed U.S. demographic changes, including how the U.S. has the largest Spanish-speaking population outside of Latin America and Spain. This trend suggests a need for programs and resources catering to Spanish-speaking students’ specific needs and learning styles for native and heritage speakers.