Tag Archives: Foreign Language Teachers

Montana educator Tana Luptak earns 2024 Outstanding Contributions Award

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Secondary level World Languages teacher Tana Luptak of Shepherd, Montana, has garnered a 2024 Outstanding Contributions Award from the Montana Association of Language Teachers (MALT). Photo Credit: Montana Association of Language Teachers

There are many fine educators who earn recognition for their tireless work in the classroom. One of these is Tana Luptak, a secondary level World Languages teacher from Montana. She has garnered a 2024 Outstanding Contributions Award from the Montana Association of Language Teachers (MALT).

Tana currently teaches Spanish at Shepherd Middle School and Shepherd High School, both located in Shepherd, Montana. She has been employed there for seven years. Tana has a reputation for fostering an exciting learning environment characterized by community, collaboration, and culture.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Tana has served for six years on the MALT Board, including terms as Vice President and President. During her tenure, she drove significant organizational changes and improvements. In fact, she is largely responsible for expanding the Spanish-language program in Shepherd schools, even introducing international travel experiences for students.

Tana earned her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish with a Teaching Option from Montana State University, Billings, in May, 2013. While in college, Tana completed a study abroad program in Spain for a semester. She found that experience so enriching that, since she became a teacher, she has led two trips abroad with students: One to Spain in 2017, and the other to Costa Rica in 2018.
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In 2018, Tana earned her Master’s degree in Education and World Language Instruction from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. She even presented her Master’s thesis, “Montana World Language Teachers’ Beliefs and Perspectives on Effective World Language Teaching Practices,” at a conference organized by the Wisconsin Association For Language Teachers and the Confederation in Oregon Foreign Language Teaching (WAFLT-COFLT) in Portland, Oregon. Her thesis, exploring Montana teachers’ beliefs in comparison to national recommendations, showcased her commitment to advancing language education.

 

Jessie Redmon Vauset: Teacher, author, and magazine editor

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Educator Jessie Redmon Vauset was also a successful author and respected magazine editor. Photo Credit: Black History in America

Many talented educators have earned renown in fields other than the teaching profession. Such is the case with Jessie Redmon Fauset, a high school Latin and French teacher from New Jersey.

Jessie was born in Fredericksville, New Jersey, on April 27, 1882, although she was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Redmon Fauset, an African Methodist Episcopal minister, and Annie Seamon Fauset. When she was just a child, her mother passed away and her father remarried. Jessie’s father was not wealthy, but he instilled in all his children the great importance of education.

As a youngster, Jessie attended the highly-respected Philadelphia High School for Girls, where she may have been the only African American student in her class. Once she graduated, she wanted to enroll at prestigious Bryn Mawr College. Unfortunately, the institution was reluctant to accept its first African American student, and instead offered to assist Jessie in acquiring a scholarship to Cornell University. Jessie excelled at Cornell, and so she was invited to join the distinguished academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her Bachelors’s degree in Classical Languages in 1905, and later earned her Master’s degree in French from the University of Pennsylvania.

Even though Jessie had earned a superior college education, her race prevented her from gaining a job as a teacher in Philadelphia. Instead, she accepted teaching positions first in Baltimore, Maryland, and then in Washington, DC, where she taught French and Latin at Dunbar High School.

In 1912, while still teaching, Jessie began to submit reviews, essays, poems, and short stories to The Crisis, a magazine for African American readers founded and edited by author and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois. Seven years later, DuBois persuaded the talented educator to become the publication’s literary editor. Jessie did this work during the Harlem Renaissance, a period of prolific artistic output within the Black community. As the magazine’s editor, Jessie encouraged and influenced a number of up-and-coming writers, including Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, and Claude McKay. She also continued to write her own pieces for the magazine. In addition to her work at The Crisis, Jessie also served as co-editor for The Brownies’ Book, which was published monthly from 1920 to 1921. The goal of the publication was to teach African American children about their heritage, information the former educator had fervently wished for throughout her own childhood.

After reading an inaccurate depiction of African Americans in a book written by a white author, Jessie became inspired to write her own novel. Her first book, There Is Confusion (1924), portrayed Black characters in a middle-class setting. It was an unusual choice for the time, which made it more difficult for Jessie to find a publisher. In 1926, Jessie left her position at The Crisis in 1926 and looked for work in the publishing field, even offering to work from home so that her race wouldn’t be a barrier. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find enough work to support herself.

To make ends meet, Jessie returned to teaching, accepting a position at DeWitt Clinton High School in New York City. James Baldwin, the acclaimed African American novelist and playwright, may have been one of her students there. Jessie was employed in the New York school system until 1944. During her New York years, Jessie wrote three more novels: Plum Bun (1929), The Chinaberry Tree (1931), and Comedy: American Style (1933). Jessie’s primarily upper-class characters continued to deal with the themes of prejudice, limited opportunities, and cultural compromises. Because her last two novels were less successful than her previous works, Jessie’s extensive writing output decreased.

In 1929, Jessie fell in love and married businessman Herbert Harris. She was 47 years old at the time. The couple made their home in Montclair, New Jersey. They lived there until 1958, when Herbert passed away. After her husband’s death, Jessie returned to Philadelphia, where she died on April 30, 1961, a victim of heart disease. She was 79 years old.

Pennsylvania French teacher Karyn Senita garners PSMLA honors

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High school French teacher Karyn Senita was named the 2022 Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania State Modern Languages Association. Photo credit: Grove City Area Senior High School

Many excellent teachers earn accolades for their work with students. One of these is Karyn Senita, a high school world languages teacher from Pennsylvania. In 2022, she was named the Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania State Modern Languages Association (PSMLA).

Karyn teaches French at Grove City Area Senior High School in Mercer County. In a career that has spanned more than 20 years, she has worked at Grove City High for the past six years. The honored teacher attributes her successes to her growth mindset. To this end, she has founded a PSMLA Global Scholars program. The purpose of the program is to help  students evolve into global students who have an understanding and appreciation of world cultures. Karyn has also served as a sponsor for her school’s Interact Club. And as if all that were not enough, she serves as an Adjunct Education Professor of World Language Methodologies at Grove City College.

Karyn earned her Bachelor’s degree in French and Secondary Education from Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania, in 1998. She earned her Master’s degree in French from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 2008.

 

FL teacher Susana Diaz Hernandez named finalist for Dwyer Award

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Elementary school teacher Susana Diaz Hernandez was named a finalist for a 2023 Dwyer Award for Excellence in Eduction. Photo credit: Economic Council of Palm Beach

There are many fine educators working diligently in Florida schools. One of these is Susana Diaz Hernandez, a Spanish language teacher from Palm Beach, Florida. She was named a finalist for a 2023 Dwyer Award for Excellence in Education.

Susana teaches Spanish at Greenacres Elementary School in Greenacres. Ever since she joined the faculty at Greenacres, she has worked diligently to advance her goal of creating an environment where her students can embrace the Spanish language, engage in Spanish literacy, and honor Hispanic cultures. To this end, she has contributed to supplying and sponsoring English and Spanish books in vending machines so that students could have easy access to reading material. Additionally, she organized a Hispanic Cultural Exhibition on her campus in order to honor Hispanic cultures.

For her outstanding efforts as an educator, Susana was named a finalist for the 39th annual William T. Dwyer Awards for Excellence in Education presented by the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Inc. in 2023. The Dwyer Awards is an annual program developed and supported by the Economic Council to honor outstanding educators from public and private schools in Palm Beach County. The awards increase awareness of exemplary teaching in the community, provide financial support to educators, and encourage all residents to promote high standards for excellence in education. In addition to her Dwyer Awards honors, Susana was also recognized at the Hispanic Heritage Awards Celebration from the Florida Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce in 2022.

Teacher Eve Balfour helped save a Jewish life during WWII

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Eve Balfour, a world languages teacher in Maryland, helped save a Jewish woman’s life when the Nazis occupied Poland during World War II. Photo credit: US Holocaust Memorial

Throughout history, there are many remarkable educators who have performed deeds of heroism. One of these Chalkboard Champions is Eve Kristine Vetulani Balfour, a world languages teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War II, she helped save a Jewish woman’s life from the Nazis when they occupied Poland.

Born a Catholic in Krakow, Poland. Her father was a professor at Jagiellonian University and her mother was a homemaker. As a young girl, before the outbreak of WWII, Eve studied several foreign languages in gymnasium, the European equivalent of high school.

Eve was born into a family that abhorred the Nazi regime. During the war, the Vetulanis adopted a Jewish woman, thereby saving her from the Nazis. In 1942, after the Germans invaded and occupied Poland, Eve was captured and forced to work in Nazi slave labor camps. Although her life there was difficult, her knowledge of languages saved her life, because she was more valuable to the Germans as a translator and interpreter than as a slave laborer. Fortunately, she was liberated from the Nordhausen labor camp by the Allies in 1945.

After the war, Eve became a displaced person. She was able to secure a position as a translator for US Army intelligence and was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. She also enrolled in classes at  Frankfurt University. In 1950, she immigrated to the United States. Upon her arrival, she first enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. After moving to Maryland, she graduated from Frostburg State Teachers College in 1962, and in 1966 she earned her Master’s degree in French from Middlebury College, Vermont.

For over 25 years Eve worked as an instructor of French, German, and Spanish at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She retired from the teaching profession in 1988. Able to speak Polish, Russian, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, Eve translated historical documents for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, after her retirement. She also worked for the Red Cross at their Tracing Bureau, assisting efforts to re-unite Holocaust survivors with their families.

Eve Balfour passed away in 2004 at the age of 79, but she will always be remembered as a true Chalkboard Champion. To read more about her, see this article about her published by the United States Holocaust Memorial.