Learning a foreign language is really challenging considering we only speak one language for our whole life. Most people don’t ever really think about how hard teaching a foreign language could be. Here at THS we offer Spanish and French, and we have four teachers who work hard to make sure that the students here learn the language properly.
Ms. Stowe is one of the Spanish II teachers here at THS. She started learning Spanish in high school at THS just like a lot of the students here. After THS, she attended Longwood University and continued her studies in Spain. She has been teaching here for 12 years, but overall she has been teaching for 18 years. “My favorite part is watching students grow,” Stowe said. She decided to become a Spanish teacher when one summer she was working at the Danville Braves’ field and some of the players were hispanic. Their families came to watch them play, and they went to order food, but they really didn’t know what to order because they didn’t speak the language. So she used what she knew to help them order.
Mrs. Woodard teaches Spanish II and III at THS. She started teaching in 2019 and has been teaching for five years. She got a later start than most people, but she didn’t let that determine if she was going to be a teacher or not. She enjoys teaching a foreign language because it helps her show students that not only the language but also the culture and the beauty that language connects us all. “My favorite part is when I can see my students making a connection from English to Spanish and being able to form phrases and sentences and communicate in Spanish,” Woodard said.
These two teachers have worked very hard to make sure our students learn the language properly. Both of these teachers agreed that speaking the language and hearing it is the best way to learn. When I took Spanish it was the easiest way to learn, even though taking notes was also helpful. At THS, they ensure that our students here get a great education and all of our foreign language teachers here do just that. Stay tuned for a future feature article on Mrs. Ball and Sr. Colón.
