Study abroad trip to Chile inspired woman to teach Spanish

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Step inside Jennifer Page’s classroom and you’d never know its her first year teaching.

Page teaches Honors Spanish III and International Baccaluareate classes at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington.

“I’ve told them, I’m learning this along with you, we’re going to do this together hand in hand and I feel its made a big difference being very open and a little bit younger even though its my first year,” said Page. “They can relate to me and I can relate to them.”

While completing her Master of Arts in Teaching at UNCW with a concentration in Spanish, Page took part in a study abroad program in Chile.

“I stayed and fell in love with the culture, I fell in love with the people, the language is so beautiful and it pushed me out of my comfort zone in more ways than one,” she said.

Before graduating from UNCW, she interned at John T. Hoggard High School and when the school had a vacancy, they offered her a teaching position.

Today, she shares with students about her adventures abroad.

“I can engage with them a little bit more,” she said. “I can tell them real-life experiences. That gets them engaged and then they’re like ‘Oh, I want to hear about this’ which in turn gets them to want to learn even more.”

Page says leading students in their study of Spanish comes naturally.

“I definitely feel like I’m good at teaching but I’ve always had a passion to work with children, work with students of any age, with kids,” she said. “I’ve always had a big heart for high schoolers and I think they are the most interesting.”

Keeping up with the pace of such high-level curriculum is no easy task according to Christi Lea Osborne who serves as New Hanover County Schools’ International Baccaluareate (IB) Coordinator.

“The IB classes are very challenging and something that is unique to Hoggard and not a lot of people have any knowledge of these courses so it was a big task for Ms. Page to step up and take these courses as a BET, a Beginning Education Teacher,” Osborne said.

On behalf of WWAY and Mattress and Furniture Liquidators, we’re delighted to recognize Page as our Teacher of the Week.

“I feel really grateful that my kids even nominated me,” she said. “Its my first year of teaching so I definitely didn’t expect anything like this my first year.”

If you want to nominate a great teacher like Page who is doing remarkable things, click here.