When I saw my class list in August, I admit I was anxious. For the first time in 11  years teaching Wall Climbing, I had three students who spoke limited English.

Now, I have traveled out of the country, but I wouldn’t consider myself a world-traveler.  I have spoken politely to the residents of these countries but have not tried to hold a conversation.  So trying to teach these young ladies – Ailin, Alexa, and Marcela –  how to tie knots, belay, and climb a 30-foot wall was going to be a challenge.

Three months later, I’m reminded again of a teaching cliche: Teachers learn from their students as much as students learn from their teachers. 

And Ailin, Alexa, and Marcela have taught me lessons I will never forget.

Ailin is the “tell it like it is” person.  She will be patient and work with you, but if you are acting a fool, as ‘90s rappers would say, she will call you out on it.  Ailin is also a great belayer.  She knows what she is doing.  Alexa is the athlete.  She shows a great interest in climbing.  Give her a wall and a challenge and she will work hard to complete it.  Marcela is the happy, let’s-have-fun person.  She sings along with the music, smiles and laughs.  Her climbing skills are improving.

The first lesson they taught me is that they were as anxious about being in wall climbing class as I was of teaching them.  In fact, they had the harder task, to do a sport that naturally instills anxiety and do it while only understanding half of the teacher’s words.

Now mind you, all my students this year are fantastic, so the experience I want to share is not to take away from the other members of our climbing community. I have the pleasure of working with some great students all day.

While I was anxious in August, teaching my English language learners has been easier than I originally thought because of one thing they reminded me of:  People are people with universal truths.  If you are of a certain age you may have the Depeche Mode song People Are People in your head right now.  

All students, regardless of income level or race or gender, want to feel like they belong. They want to make connections with people they can trust. They want to succeed.  All students want to find the humor and joy in life even if they are not outwardly showing it.  And, as my students are reminding me, they all share common human emotions that we can use to understand one another.

Ailin, Alexa, and Marcela may not be able to explain to me in English how they are feeling, but I can read their emotions.  I can read when they are feeling confused or happy or joyous or frustrated.  And I can use what I read from them to help them succeed.  

For example, teaching an English language speaker to tie knots can be difficult, and I could soon tell from the girls’ mannerisms and facial expressions that they were confused.  This told me to try a different approach. 

Another example is learning how to belay, which is holding and pulling the rope in a specific fashion for the climber .  Well, if you are going to learn how to belay you are going to need a climber.  This is where I saw the anxiousness and fear creep in their faces.  I immediately started to think how am I going to have the belayer practice with a climber who doesn’t want to get on the wall.  

Again, I didn’t need to know Spanish to understand I would have to motivate the climber to trust their partner and trust their equipment. And to trust me.  

I understand if you are rolling your eyes because this lesson sounds elementary; however, it’s another reminder to me that experience greatly adds to knowledge.  I had the knowledge that human emotions are universal regardless of where in the world someone is from.  

I was reminded of this during my experience with Ailin, Alexa, and Marcela.  So, what I am taking away from this experience is I do not need to be anxious about language barriers.  In fact, I can embrace them.

Also, funny is funny in any language.