José Diaz headed to Spain on Fulbright

Early in life José Diaz gained an appreciation for the power that language has in making connections to other cultures--and even his own. Although the Braintree, Mass., resident's father is Chilean, the Spanish language was not actively spoken at home. Diaz later began to learn it at school as a young boy.

"I vividly remember speaking Spanish to my father for the first time at the age of 10," the Wheaton College alum said. "I still recall how happy it made him to see me learning his native language in school, even though I kept calling him hongo(mushroom) instead of hombre. Though fleeting, that brief linguistic bond has remained a bittersweet memory. For many years, it was the closest I had ever come to a real conversation in Spanish."

Now Diaz, who became serious about learning Spanish while at Wheaton, will be creating linguistic bonds himself. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Spain to be an English teaching assistant.

The 2008 graduate will teach English in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of methodological approaches to working with students with learning differences, building upon experiences he has had as a peer mathematics tutor and a counselor at a camp for challenged children. Inspired by his cross-cultural thesis investigation that focused on Spain and the United States, he also plans to further explore the impact of globalization on Spanish culture.

Diaz, who majored in psychology, was a leader on campus as a preceptor and resident advisor. He also was a research assistant in the psychology department. But it was his work one summer with international students at an English as a second language program that greatly inspired him to seek to teach English as a Fulbright scholar. That summer program showed him how language can bond people in mutual cultural exploration.

"Language has always been a strong uniting force through which distinct peoples can find common ground," he wrote in his Fulbright essay. "Through shared language, we are able to break the barriers that hinder mutual understanding. A teaching assistantship in Spain will allow me to help students learn, practice and comprehend English, among other subjects, while honing my own Spanish language skills."

After the Fulbright in Spain, Diaz said he hopes to combine his love of language and his work with youths to pursue a career in teaching English as a second language to adolescents. "I hope to dedicate my time to using the skills learned from my experiences to impart the knowledge and language proficiency necessary for my students to seize the many opportunities that await them," he said. "There are many doors that are open only to those who speak and understand languages other than their own."