At MPHS, we have five language teachers and four languages that you can learn. Our teachers are Profe Brown who teaches Spanish two and above, Profesora Packer who teaches Spanish one, Madame Lillie who teaches all French classes, Ms. King who teaches American Sign Language (ASL), and Frau Rameriez who teaches German.
Ms Ramierez, or Frau Ramierez has been teaching German for sixteen years. She uses the language she teaches outside of the classroom by talking to friends of hers who live in Germany. She became a German teacher because she started learning German in middle school and spoke it to college. Frau Rameriez went to Michigan State University and wanted to do hospitality management at hotels abroad. An education staff member came into one of her classes while at MSU and said that they needed more foreign language teachers. She transferred out of her original course at MSU and she says she is very glad that she did. Right now Frau Ramierez is teaching German one and two, foreign film, and academic support. She says that students should absolutely know more than one language. Frau Ramierez says that in the US, many people think that they don’t need to learn a foreign language because they have AI and Google Translate. She says that we are becoming such a diverse country that we need to be able to know more than one language to connect with other people from other backgrounds face to face-instead of having to look at a phone to communicate.
Next, we have our American Sign Language; or ASL teacher, Ms. King. This year is Ms. King’s first year of teaching. For the past ten years, she’s been an educational ASL interpreter. She uses ASL daily to talk to her friends who are deaf and she likes to teach her five-year-old daughter sign language. Her daughter likes to count in sign language and while her daughter was learning her abc’s, they would sign the alphabet. Ms. King was inspired to start teaching in college when she was in an ASL class and needed to get working hours. Ms. King taught a free community class. Since then teaching has always been in the back of her mind and when a teaching opportunity came up here at MPHS, she jumped at the opportunity. Right now Ms. King is teaching ASL and she is co-teaching science classes. She says she is excited to start teaching ASL 4 when the students will be fluent and able to have deep conversations with each other and other deaf people. When asked if she thinks students should learn more than one language, she said absolutely. She said that science says that children who learn a language at a young age and are bilingual have an easier time learning the language rather than having to learn it in high school.
Ms. Lille, or Madame Lillie has been teaching for eight years. She teaches French one, two, and three, academic support, and culture in film one and two. Madame Lillie lived abroad as a student, where she would speak French. She went to Central Michigan University where her roommate was a native French speaker, who she still is in touch with today. Madame Lillie has wanted to be a teacher since she got a rotary scholarship at CMU. She said that one of her teachers came up to her, poked her in the chest, and said to her, “You were born to be a teacher.” When she had a job in customer service, she was told that they needed more French speakers, and that was when she decided to start teaching French. When asked if she thinks if people should know more than one language she says “Absolutely!” Madame Lillie says the US is the largest country that speaks the fewest foreign languages. She believes that knowing another cultures language can be a form of respect to the people you speak to. She says that it’s great for travel and for your brain to know another language. She uses the French language outside of the classroom with other native French speakers who live in Mt. Pleasant and when she travels. She says “I use it every opportunity I get!”
Mr. Brown, or Profe Brown has been teaching for seven years. He has taught Spanish one through four but hasn’t taught Spanish one in a few years. He says he would love to teach AP Spanish. He uses Spanish with native speakers when he’s abroad and when he’s here in the US. He has always wanted to teach and says he would play school with his brother and have him be the student that he would teach. He never knew he wanted to teach high school-level students until he taught at a bilingual school in Madrid. When asked if he thinks people should know more than one language he says absolutely. He says there was a report in 2019 that says three out of four employers in the United States said that they had a lack of employees with language skills. He says that even if you think you’re never going to travel abroad, it can help you in the job market. He uses the language outside of teaching with his friends as a “secret code” and he uses Spanish around the US with other people.
We hope you get the opportunity to meet these amazing teachers and learn through them and from them.
