News
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Everyone speaks English, right? Well, certainly not everyone speaks English. Only 5.6 percent of the world's total population speaks English as a primary language, according to the CIA World Fact Book.
Learning another language opens up new opportunities and gives you perspectives you might never have encountered otherwise. Personal, professional, social and economic considerations all point to the advantages of learning a foreign language.
The top recommendation from the Incline Schools Reflective Task Force Committee report of 2009 was to hire a Parent Involvement Facilitator (PIF) for all three of the area schools to provide direct personal contact and assistance to bicultural families and increase parent participation as it relates to student achievement.
As of 2011, Incline Elementary School was approved for this allocation. And IES has also been generously granted a certified teaching allocation for a half-time Spanish teacher to teach all students from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Our current Spanish teacher, Karah Lucas, and I sat down recently and conversed about her experiences here at IES and what drove her to become a language teacher.
Karah openly shared, “I became a language teacher because learning about world cultures and languages was by far the most interesting part of my day all throughout my education. I wanted to share that with children and broaden their perceptions of the world and people who don't share their language and customs. I know my language teachers inspired me to see the world and think about things differently, and I want to have the same effect on my students.”
And, in reflecting about her job each day, she explained, “I think it's hard for people who have never stood in front of a class with the knowledge that it is your job to get them to really learn something to imagine how difficult a teacher's job can be. The hardest part of my job is coming up with ways to reach students who speak Spanish at home, students who have never been exposed to Spanish, and students who are academically talented and will get bored if I move too slowly all at the same time. There is such a broad spectrum of learning levels in any given class. All of this is worth it, of course, when students are visibly excited to be singing songs or answering questions in Spanish. And I will never get tired of hearing “hola!” when kids see me in the halls.”
Karah earned her bachelor's in International Affairs and Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno, and after substitute teaching for a while in the Washoe County School District, she decided she “might have something to offer in the classroom,” so she went on to complete her M. Ed also at UNR.
Lucas does offer a comprehensive Spanish class with rigor and relevance, and IES students are the lucky benefactors of learning a foreign language.
— Kathleen Watty is principal of Incline Elementary School.
Learning another language opens up new opportunities and gives you perspectives you might never have encountered otherwise. Personal, professional, social and economic considerations all point to the advantages of learning a foreign language.
The top recommendation from the Incline Schools Reflective Task Force Committee report of 2009 was to hire a Parent Involvement Facilitator (PIF) for all three of the area schools to provide direct personal contact and assistance to bicultural families and increase parent participation as it relates to student achievement.
As of 2011, Incline Elementary School was approved for this allocation. And IES has also been generously granted a certified teaching allocation for a half-time Spanish teacher to teach all students from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Our current Spanish teacher, Karah Lucas, and I sat down recently and conversed about her experiences here at IES and what drove her to become a language teacher.
Karah openly shared, “I became a language teacher because learning about world cultures and languages was by far the most interesting part of my day all throughout my education. I wanted to share that with children and broaden their perceptions of the world and people who don't share their language and customs. I know my language teachers inspired me to see the world and think about things differently, and I want to have the same effect on my students.”
And, in reflecting about her job each day, she explained, “I think it's hard for people who have never stood in front of a class with the knowledge that it is your job to get them to really learn something to imagine how difficult a teacher's job can be. The hardest part of my job is coming up with ways to reach students who speak Spanish at home, students who have never been exposed to Spanish, and students who are academically talented and will get bored if I move too slowly all at the same time. There is such a broad spectrum of learning levels in any given class. All of this is worth it, of course, when students are visibly excited to be singing songs or answering questions in Spanish. And I will never get tired of hearing “hola!” when kids see me in the halls.”
Karah earned her bachelor's in International Affairs and Spanish from the University of Nevada, Reno, and after substitute teaching for a while in the Washoe County School District, she decided she “might have something to offer in the classroom,” so she went on to complete her M. Ed also at UNR.
Lucas does offer a comprehensive Spanish class with rigor and relevance, and IES students are the lucky benefactors of learning a foreign language.
— Kathleen Watty is principal of Incline Elementary School.
