by Anika Ajgaonkar
Anika: Alright, so let’s get started. To begin, could you tell me a little about yourself? So, things like your family, any hobbies, education, anything you’d like included in a little blurb.
Profe Bozzone: So, this is, like, my fourth career. In my past life, I was the editor-in-chief of a national magazine for teachers, so we talked to a lot of education experts. But then, I really wanted to be in the classroom because I had talked to so many teachers and I thought it would be fun. I come from a family of teachers and educators and teacher librarians. This is my 6th year at Biotech. I’m a mother, and I have 2 daughters who are in high school, so I know what high schoolers are going through [laugh]. I have a freshman, so I certainly know what freshmen are going through. Hobbies? Well, I recently took up pickleball, which is really fun because it’s like ping pong crossed with tennis: it’s played on the ground, but on a small court so you don’t have to run as far. It’s quick and less intense than tennis. That’s why I’m taking it up, it’s fun. I like yoga, too.
Anika: Okay, great to hear that! So, as Biotech returns for in-person instruction again this fall, I think a lot of people, myself included, have been reflecting on last year’s virtual/hybrid nature of teaching and how it compares. What were the highs and lows of teaching Spanish last year? Was there anything you actually liked and considered keeping for this year? Or, what challenges did you face that you are glad to be rid of?
Profe Bozzone: Well, I think there’s no substitute for in-person instruction. It’s just, you cannot learn Spanish on Rosetta Stone. You can learn some on Duolingo, but when I think of the teachers that I remember the most, or I think of the professors in college, I remember their rooms. I would sit in class and think, “I want to go to all these places in Spain and in the Spanish-speaking world. Their rooms were just so colorful and I was just enthralled with that. So there is something to say about the physical space, and the personality of the teacher has a lot to do with it. The passion that the teacher has can really be contagious to students, I think that’s so important. You can’t have conversations or see people’s reactions online. Because of virtual school last year I think I have a permanent crick in my neck [laugh]. So it was literally a real pain in the neck last year, just being on the computer all the time. But some things I would keep from virtual year: I began to put a lot of documents online, so what I’ve advised freshmen to do this year is when I share documents on Google Classroom, that they should add them to their Google Drive, and they should create a folder for Spanish 1. And then folders within the folders for each unit, and then folders within those folders for different topics so that it’s all organized. They can start it now so that when they want to go back during junior year or IB, and they’re thinking, “What was that about the present progressive? What were the irregulars?”, they’ll have it. So that aspect of online teaching I’ll be keeping.
Anika: Yeah, that’s awesome! Obviously, there are also some benefits to combining education with the digital world. So, Biotech is known for its specialization as a STEM and science-focused school. How do you feel about your role and contributions in a learning environment where language and the humanities are not as much of a priority for many students?
Profe Bozzone: Well, what I always tell them is, this is not a class; it’s a skill, because Spanish is a vehicle for learning anything. So, you can learn biotechnology in Spanish, it just happens to be a vehicle for learning it. Also, there are 19 countries in this part of the world, and Spain and Equatorial Guinea, and the territory of Puerto Rico, and in the United States, there are so many Spanish speakers. There are opportunities to work in biotechnology while using one’s Spanish. So, I see learning this language as an integral part of the education at Biotech. I think it’s as important as any class. You may not be doing physics when you walk out of here, but you’re going to have a marketable skill if you can speak, read, write, and understand Spanish.
Anika: That’s very, very true. Moving on, many students feel that Spanish isn’t their strong suit, and have the misconception that it’s something simply beyond them. As a result, there can be a feeling of helplessness and apathy that stems from the subject not clicking for them. What advice would you give these students, and perhaps to other students as well looking to improve their Spanish skills?
Profe Bozzone: Well, I would say, a lot of students in the school play Chopin on the piano, for example. And that didn’t just happen. I don’t know anything worth doing that didn’t take a lot of effort and a lot of work. No one said it was going to be easy. It’s difficult. But, everyone’s wired to learn a language. There’s no such thing as, “I’m no good at it.” Some people have more of an aptitude than others, but everyone can do it. It’s a long, slow, hard slog. But it can be really fun if you embrace it, which is why we do a lot of singing and dancing in my class. It’s also about keeping the goal in mind. Like, when we listen to authentic songs, you think “Geez, wouldn’t it be great if I could sing along here and actually know what’s going on?” Or, you go to the Freehold Mall and you hear people speaking Spanish and you think, “What’s going on here?” and you’d like to contribute to the conversation or help someone out. I think if you keep the end goal in mind and you consistently put in effort over time, you’ll see results. For instance, by the end of the year a lot of people look back and they realize how far they’ve come. You have to take baby steps, but one after another, they amount to a lot. So you just have to stick with it and get help if you need it. But never think, “Oh, well, I can’t do it. I don't have the gene.” No one said it was going to be easy, but you can make progress with practice.
Anika: That’s true, and I think that’ll be really encouraging for a lot of students. So, some people may be aware that you are also a nonnative speaker, just like the majority of the students at Biotech. On your website, it says that you even took your first Spanish class in 8th grade, a similar age to many of us! How were you able to develop an interest and passion for Spanish from a young age, and how does your journey learning Spanish as a second language relate to that of your students?
Profe Bozzone: I think some of the best teachers are people who learned [Spanish] as a second language because then they’re aware of the pitfalls, or the interesting things about it. It’s not something they take for granted because they had to learn it. I love to travel, I love traditional festivals. I think it’s so much fun to go to those, it’s so interesting. I love learning about people’s customs, their culture, and their food. So if you speak Spanish, you can go to all these countries and you can talk to the people there. For example, I went to Japan once, and I loved it. But I was so disappointed that I couldn’t speak to the people who were so friendly. I traveled to different places around the country, and by chance I was there when they were celebrating age-old festivals. And I thought, “Oh! If I could only speak to these people, ask them about their traditions, and be included in them.” But I didn’t have the language skills. So I want my students to understand that learning a language can help them understand people, history and even politics. Why are people coming to the United States from different parts of the world? What did they leave behind? What are they coming to? Language is an all-encompassing thing, so whether you’re interested in archaeology or anthropology or even just cooking [laugh] it’s helpful to learn a language.
Anika: That’s great, and that actually leads to my next question about your travel. You spent a lot of time in Spain for higher education and to learn the Spanish language and culture. You also return to Spain every summer (though perhaps not this past year due to COVID-19). How did your first trip to Spain impact your mindset, coming from a country with mostly monolingual English speakers and where being bilingual or multilingual isn’t considered obligatory?
Profe Bozzone: Well, it’s an essential skill, and I think people should see it that way. The United States — we’re going to be in a difficult position internationally if we don’t wake up and realize that. Being bilingual is great, but being multilingual is even better. It helps you to understand the cultures of each language you’re speaking. I actually went to Spain for the first time when I was in second grade because my father was a history teacher and he had a sabbatical. My parents took us all over Europe. They took us out of school and we traveled for 5 months from Germany to Greece to Spain to Italy to Belgium. We went all over Europe, and I thought, “I would love to be able to speak to these people. I want to learn as much as I can about their history and their culture.” And I was just fascinated. I have quote on my wall by Oscar Wilde. It says, “Travel enobles the spirit and does away with our prejudices.” I really believe that. I think the more you travel, the more you see how different people are from one another, but you also realize, more importantly, how similar we all are. How we’re all one, and we’ve all got to get together and live together on this same planet. So there’s much more that holds us together than there is that tears us apart. There’s great joy in discovering the differences among different cultures, different places in the world, and how different countries in the world develop their way of life.
Anika: Right. I can see your passion for travel just from looking around the room. There are so many different things that you brought to decorate this space, like that flamenco poster over there. You really like Spanish dancing, right? I believe you learned about it.
Profe Bozzone: [laugh] Yes, well, flamenco (which is F-L-A-M-E-N-C-O, not flamingo like the bird) actually means “Flemish,” because those people came to Spain and people said “Oh, they’re Flemish,” which was shorthand for “foreigners." But it’s only one part of the traditional dancing in Spain. So I learned the jota, J-O-T-A jota, which is another traditional dance. So yes, I love traditional dancing. I think it’s so much fun. I’d learn all of them if I could [laugh].
Anika: And would you say that your travel in 2nd grade fueled your later interest in learning Spanish in 8th grade?
Profe Bozzone: Yeah, because when I got to 8th grade, I thought, “This is great.” Actually, I wanted to learn Italian, because Bozzone is Italian, and I thought I’d like to go to Italy. But then, Spanish — I just loved the classes. When I went to college, there was the opportunity to study abroad for the school year. Once I landed in Spain as a college student, I felt like I had been there my whole life. “I’m so comfortable here, I love it here.” And I just couldn’t get enough of learning about the history and their culture and what people do for fun (past and present). I think it’s important to open your mind; people nowadays can be very close-minded. And that’s to our detriment because we all have to think globally now. We’re all connected in ways we never were before. We better appreciate one another if we want to have a good future in the world. I think everyone should travel. Not during a pandemic, of course. [laugh]
Anika: [laugh] Of course, of course. That’s very insightful, thank you. So, thanks to your language skills, you have had a very global career involving international travel and bilingual cooperation. How did learning Spanish language and culture broaden your horizons and perspective as a person, and what kind of impact has it had on your life as a whole?
Profe Bozzone: Well, it’s been enriching. I would say that when you speak another language, you also understand the true meaning of colloquial and idiomatic expressions. You see that the values that other cultures have are different. People’s sense of humor is different across languages, what’s important to them, their pearls of wisdom from different generations, all of these are very culture-specific. I think that it [learning a language] just helps to make you a more open-minded person who has more to give instead of closing yourself off. I think we all have to be able to listen to one another. If I watch the news in Spanish, and I see them giving news about the United States, I can see their point of view, like how they see us. There’s an old expression from the Native Americans that you can’t understand a person while looking at them; you’ve got to go around behind them and see what they’re seeing. To stand, literally, in their shoes. A language helps you do that.
Anika: That’s so true. Now, just to wrap things up, would you like to end this interview with a few words for your students, both old and new? What advice do you have for them about Spanish or school life in general?
Profe Bozzone: I would say… try to enjoy yourself as much as possible. Learning can be stressful because you have a lot of deadlines, you have commitments outside of school. And I think that often, we lose sight of how great it actually is to be a student. To be able to just learn new things all day. That’s not going to continue forever, so try to enjoy it if you can. If things are kind of overwhelming in a class, don’t be afraid to ask the teacher, “Can we go over this again?” or “Can we slow down? We need more time.” You should always advocate for yourself.
Anika: Okay, thank you so much for that. And thank you so much for your time today! I really appreciate it. That just about concludes the interview.