The GHS language department consists of Spanish, French, and German.
These three choices allow students to explore different cultures further and have the opportunity to go from level one of the language to the Honors/AP level. Spanish, specifically, is the most popular language at GHS. The high school Spanish teachers are Señora Garritano, teaching Spanish three and Honors/AP; Señora Matisak, teaching Spanish two and four; Señora Popivich, teaching Spanish one. These teachers love teaching the culture of the language and love seeing students understand a language they are not as familiar with. Learning Spanish has many benefits because it is one of the most commonly studied languages in the world. Over 500 million people are native speakers of Spanish.
In the article “How Many People Speak Spanish? A Full Breakdown by Country” Gabe Wood said, “Spanish is truly a global language. It’s one of the few languages that can help you communicate across multiple continents.”
Being bilingual is a good quality. It strengthens cognitive skills and opens up more job opportunities. Here at GHS, we have three brilliant and kind-hearted individuals who are passionate about the teachings of Spanish.
Señora Garritano:
Señora Garritano has been teaching for 23 years. She studied at the University of Akron. She decided on involving Spanish in her career because of her passion for the language and she loves making connections with her students. She went back to school to get her teaching degree and specifically wanted to work with high school students. She was 28 when she got her first job teaching spanish. ¨My favorite part of teaching is my students, I love making connections with my students and seeing them grow as a whole.¨ Said Señora Garritano. She loves the things she can learn from her students and she likes getting to know each of her students individually. During undergrad, she studied for a semester in Guadalajara and she got the opportunity to teach kids english skills such as reading and writing.
Señora Matisak:
Señora Matisak has been teaching Spanish for 32 years. She realized she wanted to have Spanish involved in her career when she was only eight years old. She said, ¨My aunt brought back 3 Mexicans from Mexico with her after her trip to Mexico in highschool and I had decided at eight that I was definitely going to learn Spanish because I couldn’t understand them and I wanted to know.¨ Señora Matisak’s favorite part of teaching is seeing her students understand the material that they are learning. When kids are trying to figure out a concept, all the sudden they finally understand it and say ¨I get this¨ and when she sees them understanding the concept of reading and writing in Spanish. She loves to see the students fully understanding the concept that she’s teaching them.
