HARVEST, Ala — One teacher takes her students around the globe from the comfort of her classroom immersing them in culture and language.
Her subject? French! Meet this week’s Valley’s Top Teacher from Sparkman High School, Jennifer Hamlett!
For French Teacher, Jennifer Hamlett the subject is more than a language. It’s a cultural experience.
“I started teaching in the Fall of 1999. So it’s been quite a while. I hope that I look younger than that actually, those numbers add up to be,” said Hamlett.
This is Hamlett’s third year at Sparkman High School, and between the years she’s taught both at private and public schools.
“My original goal was to teach elementary school students French, and I ended up with the oldest kids and it’s worked out great!”
She’s even taught in Germany!
“When I got the opportunity to learn another language, I also got the opportunity to travel. And I feel like that experience has continued to shape who I am, how I see the world and how I see other people, how I interact with others and I think that it’s been very beneficial and it’s made a difference in my life for sure.”
Hamlett hopes learning French will make a difference in her students' life too. “I think that some of the most valuable things I can learn is to expand their worldview, appreciate differences, understand how other people do things differently and that’s okay, and maybe even learn to take on some of those perspectives and some of those practices themselves that would be my goal in teaching language to students.”
She hopes to share a global connection, one French word at a time.
“Getting to play a role in improving communication in our world and understanding. Getting to play maybe a small role in planting seeds toward a better understanding, more cooperation between people, better communication between people. A love of things and a desire to love more about the world - that’s a win. That’s the best thing I could be doing,” she said.
[WEB EXTRA: Jennifer's Surprise]
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