Spanish teacher at Great River Middle and High School in St. Paul, Minnesota
Keyword: Education System in Peru, Traditional Textiles, and Language, Culture, Identity
As a child growing up with a polyglot language professor as a father, I was exposed from a young age to the wonders of knowing more than one language, and many childhood experiences sparked my curiosity in exploring and understanding cultures beyond my own. Though I loved learning languages, I rebelled against joining the ‘family business.’ I decided to study anthropology and declared I would never be a language teacher. As soon as I graduated, I promptly set forth on a language teaching career that has spanned 25 years.
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After earning my undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology with a minor in Linguistics, craving adventure and language immersion, I moved to Isla Mujeres, Mexico where I lived and taught English and Spanish in a variety of contexts for nearly a decade.
When I returned to Minnesota, I pursued my teaching licensure and Master’s degree. I currently teach Spanish 2 and IB Spanish at Great River School in Minnesota. I have long incorporated my experiences in Mexico into my curriculum, but recent experiences traveling with students (in Ecuador and Spain) reignited my passion for travel and reinvigorated my teaching, as I was able to infuse my new cultural learning into my lessons.
The Fulbright-Hays program in Peru allowed me to dive deep and be truly immersed in Peruvian culture. My experiences there, from the everyday joy of interacting with the clerk at the chocolate shop around the corner from my house (really, we went every day!), to conversations around the dinner table with my host families, to visiting the most magnificent marvels of the ancient world, will stay with me as I continue to develop curriculum that inspires my students to find the same joy and wonder as I do in learning about the world.