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Teaching language isn't foreign to these experts |
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Written by PAT TODAK
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Thursday, 01 September 2005 |
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FOSTORIA - Could it be the vocabulary drillsThe way they conjugate verbsIs there some secret ingredient, a hidden formula perhaps behind the success of the foreign language program at Fostoria St. WendelinThe keys seem to be simply hard work, laughter and a whole lot of heart.
We have many students who succeed, and every year our program is improving, says Notre Dame Sister Elayne Bockey, who has been teaching French and Spanish at St. Wendelin for the last seven years, and previously taught at Notre Dame Academy. We know our goals - are focused on them - and so are our students.
The focus is paying off as the students at St. Wendelin excel at the University of Toledo academic foreign language competition held each spring. St. Wendelin has won first-place trophies for schools offering two languages for the past two years. The school's students have also performed well in a yearly national language test.
About their success, Sr. Elayne says, The momentum grows from year to year. As younger students see older ones who have done so well that encourages them to say, h, I could do the same.' She emphasizes that, Every class counts.
The school employs a variety of methods to teach the curriculum set forth by the diocese, including videos, CD ROMs, drills, songs and games. It's just hard work, she says adding, If the students see results they are willing to go along. And they do see results quickly. On the first day of the first year they can leave class and know how to say something in French or Spanish.
Laughter is an important component of Linda Schalk's classroom. One of the things I take for granted is that learning is fun, says the Spanish teacher. It's fun to say things you could never say before.
A graduate of St. Wendelin, Ms. Schalk has been teaching at the school for seven years now. As a student, Ms. Schalk organized a three-week excursion to Costa Rica and ended up being adopted by a family there. She attended high school and college both in the U.S. and Costa Rica and lovingly talks about her siblings, nieces and nephews who live there, as well as her own natural family back home.
She shares stories about her family in Costa Rica as part of her teaching methods. I love making language into an experience that is not just conjugating verbs, but learning a culture, a community - gaining a sense of people.
Jessica Sobczyk is one of the St. Wendelin language department success stories. Now a freshman majoring in Spanish at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Ind., Jessica believes the variety of teaching methods offered at St. Wendelin's helps students learn the language. We do drills, we do reading activities, we watch videos of cultures, she enumerates.
She also credits her teachers with making the language classes interesting. Both teachers really love their subjects and convey their enthusiasm to the students.
After studying French for five years with Sr. Elayne, recent graduate Sara Hathaway decided to make that her major at Miami University. Her style of teaching works well for me, she says. She remembers one class in particular where the students pretended they were in a cafand ordered food from their waitress, Sr. Elayne. The roles were then reversed. Sara believes Sr. Elayne's patience and love for the language are critical to the program.
I don't think there is any secret, admits Ms. Schalk . Those of us who are involved in it are committed to it, believe in it and give our heart and soul to it. If that's what you give, you'll see solid, positive results.
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