From Spanish Teacher to ESL Rookie

Written By Suzy Sylvester

From Spanish Teacher to ESL Rookie

I started my teaching career 20 years ago as a high school Spanish teacher, fueled by a love of languages I discovered while living abroad in Japan, Mexico, and Bolivia. Languages aren’t just words—they connect people and cultures in ways nothing else can.

Six years ago, I made what I thought would be a simple switch: from teaching Spanish to teaching ESL at the high school level. After all, I had been teaching grammar and phonics rules for years—how different could English be?

Well… English is not nearly as transparent as Spanish, and I quickly saw my students struggling to decode words. It was frustrating—for them and for me.

The Challenge of English Phonics

I realized that teaching English phonics at the high school level was harder than I expected. My students were trying, but decoding English words was tricky.

That’s when my work bestie, Suzy, a reading specialist, stepped in. She suggested we get certified in LETRS, and that’s when things started to click.

The LETRS Revelation

Once I learned the structured literacy approach, I began explicitly teaching English phonics rules to my high schoolers. And guess what? Their decoding skills blossomed!

But there were still two big challenges:

  • I either had to create my own materials to connect words to visuals.

  • Or I had to use resources designed for younger kids, which felt way too babyish for high school students.

After piecing lessons together for too long, we realized it was time to create our own system.

Creating ESL Word Nerds

We combined:

  • Structured literacy

  • Visuals to connect words to meaning

  • Grammar rules

  • Lots of practice opportunities

  • All FOUR domains of Language

And just like that, ESL Word Nerds was born.

Seeing Students Thrive

Watching our students’ language learning blossom has been incredibly rewarding. From struggling to decode words to reading with confidence, seeing their growth has reminded me why I fell in love with languages in the first place—they truly connect people and cultures.

Suzy Sylvester
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Why “ESL Word Nerds” Works for Multilingual Learners