VAIL, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
For the past eight weeks
Tucson News Now has been introducing Tucson to some of the most talented and
hardworking teachers here in Southern Arizona.
The last finalist in our
Teacher Tributes takes us to Spanish 101 at Empire High School. While learning a language can be tough it's not
in Kristen Maurer's class.
"It's the first class I've
had that you have to communicate with others and you speak a lot," said Moira Petrie, a sophomore in one of Maurer's classes.
Spanish One is very interactive
at Empire High School; Maurer uses what she calls the TPR teacher method. TPR stands for Total Physical Response;
essentially the technique is used to get the kids to learn the vocabulary and
act it out. By the looks of it, it seems
to be working.
"I really love working
with my students this year," said Maurer.
"It's so easy to engage them and I love how much they're willing to
participate."
"The stories that we write
we use a lot of creativity to come up with stuff and I think that's what helps
us remember things a lot," said Courtney Crownheart, a junior.
Of course she wants her
students to continue learning Spanish, her class is just an introduction to the
language. So she makes it fun. But many students already get how important
Spanish is to Southern Arizona.
"I'll probably continue because
of where I live and it's useful to be bilingual in Tucson," continued Moira Petrie.
Not just in Tucson though,
Maurer talks to them about how being bilingual can create so many opportunities
in a future career.
"I just love seeing the
growth the students make over the year because they start out in the beginning
of the year not knowing any Spanish at all and by the end I get to see that
progress that they've made with the language," said Maurer.
She has been teaching
Spanish at Empire High School for seven years.
Maurer says she grew up always loving Spanish and she says she truly has
made her passion a career.
This Friday Maurer will
join the rest of the Teacher Tribute finalists for an awards banquet at the
University of Arizona.
We will let you know who
takes home the Circle-K Teacher of the Year Award.
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