Jordan Holmes: Spanish Adolescent Education Major

Meet Jordan Holmes, a Spanish Adolescent Education major here at Fredonia. Jordan first recalls becoming interested in Spanish in eighth grade. He recalls being really interested in the culture and music and when he saw the movie, Selena, featuring Jennifer Lopez, he fell in love with Spanish. This love grew when Jordan traveled to Spain for a week during his senior year of high school. He felt like he couldn’t get enough of it. He felt inspired to continue learning Spanish and become a Spanish teacher.

During his time studying Spanish, Jordan has faced some challenges with the language. The most challenging aspects were speaking with confidence while using different verb tenses and pronunciation. However, Jordan says that the key is to stay patient. You must realize that you won’t be able to say everything, which is why circumlocution is so crucial. Jordan also said that learning a language is something you have to practice as much as you can. You have to keep challenging yourself and get out of your comfort zone to improve.

Jordan has also had the opportunity to study abroad. He spent a semester in Madrid, which was a center of culture and business in Spain. To Jordan, it felt like living in New York City but he loved it. Madrid may be an international city but it still felt like a small town where Jordan had the opportunity to build relationships with the locals. Jordan is also planning to study abroad this summer in Mexico. In the future, Jordan would like to travel to Argentina because of the dialect and the mix of Latin and European culture.

Jordan’s favorite Spanish class so far was called “Historical Perspective in Art,” which he took in Madrid. In this class, Jordan learned about the history of Spain through artwork. Part of the class was taught in the classroom and part of the class was experiencing the art in the Museo Nacional Del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

If Jordan could recommend any piece of literature in Spanish, he would recommend reading Margarita poems by Gabriela Mistral or La Casa en Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.

To Jordan, being a Fredonian means being an open-minded person in a supportive community. Even for a small town, Fredonia is a diverse and well-rounded community full of opportunities for students to grow.

In ten years, Jordan would like to be an established Spanish teacher in a bilingual classroom. His goal is to have the opportunity to teach both in Spanish and in English.