How Much Spanish Should A Teacher Speak In Class?

A common dilemma that foreign language teachers face is how much Spanish to speak in the classroom. The simple answer is: as much as possible. In my opinion, the only time and reason to not speak Spanish is when it might actually hurt the students' understanding of the language; more specifically, when you are explaining a new concept to the class or a new form of conjugation. Educational psychology contends that it is critical that students learn new concepts accurately upon initial introduction or they might lose interest or get frustrated and close their minds to it. The ideal situation or goal should be immersion in a foreign language classroom. All the literature I have read and all my mentors and instructors have all been in agreement that as much Spanish as possible (or hopefully even immersion) is the best way to go. I know from personal experience as well that this is the way to go. In my second year of high school Spanish my teacher spoke in only Spanish except for a few select set of circumstances (teaching a new concept was one of them). It was overwhelming at first and it was hard to even imagine how I would make it through the whole year but I did get used to it and grew tremendously because of it. I believe this is a good model to go off of.