Stephanie K. Appel
2006 Hall of Fame Nominee
Fair Lawn Schools
Fair Lawn, NJ
2006 Finalist from NECTFL
French
“I am a prime example of why it is so important to give value to language and culture. Teachers need to establish a purpose for their students to use the language and their knowledge of other cultures. In less than a decade we have been faced with the weakening of our national security due to a lack of proficient speakers of other languages critical in the world today. Corporate Americais leaving town with our jobs making us more and more reliant on other countries for our basic goods. Without providing a concrete need for a second language our students will remain monolingual or novice speakers at best. Although Americans are slow starters in the race to compete globally on an even playing field, I believe that we are making greater strides to prepare our current and future language teachers. Teachers’ methods and new vision are gradually driving their students from simply understanding a language’s structure to using it with a purpose. Much like learning to walk, students and teachers began rolling with translation, started crawling with the audio-lingual method, and have just begun walking with the aide of the five C’s and the modes of communication.”