This letter from a former student to Eric is, in my view, where the rubber meets the road in this work:
Hi Mr. Herman!
It’s Heather from last year.
I just wanted to tell you where I am right now with Spanish. I’m currently taking Spanish 2 at Ridgeland High School in Mississippi. I thank you for teaching me in a way that actually stuck to me and interested me. I have a lot of interest in continuing to learn Spanish all throughout high school and also visit Spanish speaking countries in the future. Don’t get me wrong though, Spanish class is a lot less fun where I am. The activities we do in class are a lot less personal and on paper and independent. When you work with students, you try to learn about them individually and also understand the way that they learn (whether it’s visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). I miss movie talks and making up stories in Spanish. What I’m trying to say is your method of teaching has had a good impact on me. Everything we’ve learned so far in Spanish 2 is everything I learned with you (except we’re getting deeper into affirmatives and negatives right now). I appreciate your effort in teaching and hope you continue to teach for a long time. And also, I wanted to let you know I completely support everything you do for Honduras. If anything is needed, you have my support.
Hopefully everything is well!
Heather