Spanish has become more and more popular, especially in Texas because of the growing Spanish speaking population, so Emerson High School has made sure to keep up with the demand by offering four levels of Spanish courses. New to Emerson in 2024 school year, Ann Loeffler is making a difference for native and non-native Spanish speakers in the Maverick community.
Loeffler was not interested in teaching as a career when she was young, but she did have an interest in learning languages, especially Spanish. She loved how the language flowed and fit together like a puzzle from the lessons her teachers would share.
“I just really latched onto the language, I am a language nerd. I liked, in English class, to diagram sentences, which you also don’t do anymore. I loved learning how the language fit together,” Loeffler said.
One of her early jobs was subbing for an English as a Second Language class where she knew she had to go back and get her certificate for teaching. She realized that her love for teaching had surprised her and decided to make a change.
“I graduated college with zero job prospects and very little money so I had three jobs that year, and one of them was subbing ESL for adults in west Chicago,” Loeffler said. “ So then I went back to school and got my certificate,” Loeffler said.
From her time teaching younger kids, she encourages understanding the gravity of language learning. She has experience with a range of ages and different experiences, but she hopes that they all get the same theme of her lessons.
“I really hope they find a usefulness for what we’re learning. I hope they get an understanding that sometimes doing difficult things is necessary. I hope they see that I’m passionate about what I’m teaching, and that learning to communicate with other people in different cultures is an important thing,” Loeffler said.
Language is the key to opening doors to making connections with people and building relationships with different cultures which Loeffler highlights in her Spanish classes. She creates so many opportunities to develop these new goals by creating fun games in brain breaks and giving individual attention to students when help is needed.
“If you can make a connection in a fun setting by really interacting with the content, it makes the material easier to recall,” Loeffler said.
Practicing Spanish verbally can be awkward to some who don’t like to talk in front of people, and Loeffler works to make that process as stress-free as possible.
“With language specifically, it’s just making everybody feel comfortable with it and knowing that if they screw up that’s not the end of the line,” Loeffler said.
Loeffler takes her knowledge of teaching and applies it to what she would have said to herself in her youth.
“Find whatever it is you love,” Loeffler said. “I probably would have still picked language and do something with it.”
Linguistics takes repetition but more importantly, the willingness to learn. Teachers have a responsibility to help but not necessarily to make it engaging. Loeffler goes above and beyond to make sure students feel welcome and comfortable being involved in games and interactive lessons. She emphasizes the importance of languages and the history each language holds, especially Spanish. The story does not stop here. She continues to involve kids everyday in Spanish-speaking culture and is an asset to the Emerson community.
