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High School Foreign Language Teacher

Interviews

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It's rewarding to teach students to speak a foreign language, says Fran Pettigrew of McLean, Virginia. Pettigrew has been teaching Spanish since 1967.

She feels proud when her students report that their Spanish speaking skills have benefited them in their daily life. For instance, one girl found a part-time job at a veterinary clinic. She was the only staff member who could talk to a Spanish-speaking couple when they brought in their sick dog.

Pettigrew learned Spanish when she lived in Panama as a teenager. "The Spanish language, the culture and the people became a very important part of my life," she explains.

When Pettigrew attended university in the U.S., she majored in Spanish and French education. She was certified to teach both languages. After graduation, she had several exciting job opportunities in various fields, but she decided to try teaching to see if she liked it.

"I fell in love with teaching the moment I walked into the classroom and met the kids. I have never left the profession," she says enthusiastically.

Pettigrew loves working with teenagers and helping them build a skill that will be useful to them. Since Spanish is a living language, the students have many opportunities to speak it in their daily lives.

"I love making the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world come alive for my students," she explains.

The workload is heavy. It demands a lot of time outside the classroom. Teachers must meet the needs of many diverse learners. It takes time to plan assignments and do assessments.

"I would love to be out and about on weekends, but I spend a lot of my free time planning lessons," she says.

Pettigrew arrives at school at 6:15 a.m. to get her classroom set up for the day. She starts teaching at 7:20 a.m. and teaches until 2:10 p.m.

After school, she stays around to talk to kids who want help, or to participate in out-of-classroom activities. She goes home around 3:30, then grades papers until 6:30 or so.

"Most of the good teachers that I know spend a lot of time outside of their school on school-related work," she says. "But it's rewarding when you see that your kids are learning."

At one point, Pettigrew was a coach for a program that worked with brand new foreign language teachers. "It was so rewarding to work with these bright young people all year," she says. "All schools need enthusiastic, devoted teachers."

Pettigrew recommends that would-be foreign language teachers study abroad for a semester, if their university offers that option.

Renee Hock teaches Japanese at a secondary school. Hock learned to speak Japanese when she lived in Japan for three and a half years. "I was an active member of Canada's national judo team," she explains. "A Japanese company sponsored me to go to Japan."

After returning to Canada, Hock worked in business and taught judo in the evenings. "I loved teaching so much that I decided to make it my career," she remarks. She enrolled in the teacher education program at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, she began teaching French and Japanese in the public school system. Now she teaches Japanese full time.

Jim Bigger teaches Latin to students in Grades 9 to 12 in McLean, Virginia. While in university, his advisor encouraged him to study the classics.

After graduating in the '70s with a degree in Latin and Greek, Bigger worked in the hotel and restaurant business for seven years. Then he began teaching Latin in a private school.

Bigger has been teaching classical Latin or Greek since the late 1970s. "It was not always full time. Not always in the public school system. Not always in Virginia," he says. "But one way or the other, I've been teaching for 22 years."

Bigger's day is busy. Since he teaches six classes, he arrives at school at 6:15 every morning. Some days, he might stay as late as 6 p.m.

"It's a heavy workload," he says. "I have four very diverse preparations to take care of."

Bigger points out that Latin is the foundation of many languages. Studying Latin helps students improve their English grammar and English writing skills.

He sees his students turn their achievements into bigger and better things. "I have seen some go into really good humanities and liberal arts programs at good universities," he adds.

Some aspects of the work are stressful. Bigger is stressed by administrators that he considers incompetent, the need to work long hours, the use of technology and equipment that is outdated, and the time spent connecting with parents.

"It's also stressful because teachers are expected to be secretaries, psychologists, bank tellers....all rolled into one," he says.

Bigger points out that there are many career options available to people with a degree in French or Spanish or the classics. "We're in demand because of the world economy," says.

"We can work at law firms, as teachers, in engineering firms. Plus the study of Latin and Greek is a great background for studying subjects like medicine, architecture and engineering. It even improves your SAT scores."