Hola, Hallo, Nǐ hǎo! Welcome, new World Language teachers! This year, Fenwick added new teachers to the World Languages Department. The new teachers are Herr Blank, Mr.Zhao, Mr.Garcia and Ms. Corey. We are not only excited to welcome these new teachers but to see what they have to offer to the Fenwick community.

     Herr Blank is the new German teacher. Mr. Blank admires Fenwick, stating, “From the earliest encounters I have only been amazed by the beautiful Fenwick community.” He is hoping to enrich students’ experiences in learning German by diversifying class and teaching students real-life conversation. German II student Rowan Auriemma notes, “The class has been very fun so far, as we have been getting situated into a new school year and teacher.” According to Auriemma, Mr. Blank teaches through interactive powerpoints and lots of partner work. “The class is very immersive, and I’m looking forward to learning lots!” Auriemma added. Overall, it sounds like a class with Mr. Blank will be lots of fun, and students will really improve their German. 

     Mr. Zhao is the new Mandarin teacher this year. Sophomore Natalie Fuentes is taking Mandarin this year and she praised Mr. Zhao, commenting, “Mr. Zhao teaches classes with lots of different activities to pique our interests.” Mr. Zhao plays lots of games with his classes to keep them interested in learning Mandarin. One particular game Natalie liked to play was “Hot Potato,” where whoever it stopped on had to read and translate a sentence in Mandarin. These fun games show how Mr. Zhao is not only passionate about teaching Mandarin but hopes the students are enjoying it. Students in his class are lucky to have such a great teacher!

     Mr. Garcia is the new Spanish teacher. One of Mr. Garcia’s students, Citlali Sahagùn, shared, “It has been a great experience so far. Mr. Garcia starts class by asking us questions in Spanish which is really helping me learn.” They’ve done lots of fun projects in class this year. Recently, his students did a project on what they did over the summer which helped the class get back into the swing of things and remember some Spanish from last year. Students will learn a ton in Mr. Garcia’s class this year!

     This year should be fun and exciting. Students are not only excited to get to know their new teachers but also to know more about the new languages they’ve chosen to study. It should be an interesting year for everyone as we get back into a normal routine again. Best of luck to all the new world language teachers this year!