Mrs. Nancy Gregg

CLASS ACTIVITIES

There are so many fun things to do in the Spanish classroom!!  We will play games, sing songs, make up stories, act out our stories, watch videos, read short stories, enjoy popular music, and talk about current events. We will periodically have culture capsules to learn about life in various Spanish-speaking countries. The culture capsules may involve trying new foods, studying an artist, or delving into the history of a traditional celebration. 

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

The method of teaching in my classroom will follow the principles of TPRS® (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling®) and using comprehensible input. This method allows students to acquire the new language by listening to and reading materials they can understand. There is more focus at first on comprehension and then building confidence to write and then tell. Input is at the core of the curriculum so students will have meaningful interactions in Spanish rather than memorizing grammar and vocab. To be clear though, I won't entirely abandon all explicit instruction for storytelling, movies and songs. Rather, I will differentiate between teaching language and teaching about it. The goal is acquisition not just memorization. 

MISSION STATEMENT

My mission as a Spanish teacher is to make learning another language fun, engaging, and meaningful.  I want to help students first to develop an interest and appreciation of the language and the Hispanic culture as it has become such an important part of American Life.  Secondarily, I want to help students gain the skills to understand and communicate in Spanish.

WHY YOU WANTED TO BECOME A TEACHER

I truly believe that God has guided me here. The journey with learning about other cultures and languages started when my family hosted our first exchange student from Mexico when I was 10 years old. She too was 10 and we became fast friends. This is where my passion for learning languages was ignited. The following summer I stayed with her family in Mexico for 8 weeks. Since those days, Spanish has been a thread in the fibers of my life story. My family went on to host two more students and I continued my exchanges through high school and college. Knowing Spanish has also been an important contributing factor in my career - the one consistent thread has been the Spanish language. I have worked for some amazing companies organizing tours for student and adult groups around the world. God planted in me a passion for learning about other cultures and a wish to communicate in other languages. It is downright FUN and exciting!! What started out as a conversation to begin a Spanish Club here at Concordia has led to teaching. I pray that God can use me to spread his love through teaching and perhaps spark the same interest in my students.

HOBBIES/INTERESTS

Learning languages - so far I have worked on Spanish (of course!), German, French and one Community Ed class of Hmong. I LOVE to travel, see new things, and experience new cultures. Although I enjoy seeing all the main tourist attractions the real joy comes from the small conversations with the locals. That is where you really learn about your destination!