¡Hola! My name is Katie Kerekes, and I've been teaching at Washburn since 2011. This year ('22-'23), I will be teaching Spanish 1 Spanish 2. I live very close to Washburn with my husband Gabe, our sons Julius and Raphael, and our two cats, Jenga and Pickle. We love to spend our free time ice skating and taking walks.

I received my undergraduate degree in Languages and International Studies at the College of St. Scholastica in 2007, and my graduate degree in Education from the University of Minnesota in 2011. Along the way, I participated in many study abroad and internship programs. I studied social justice for a semester in Mexico, I spent

a language-intensive summer in Costa Rica, I interned at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, DC for a semester, I developed a summer program for Liberian and Sudanese refugees in Fargo, ND, and I did one year of graduate study in Bogotá, Colombia.

In the lowest levels of language learning (1 and 2), our department introduces students to the language using a mix of CI (Comprehensible Input) and TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling). Students in these levels will learn to manipulate vocabulary to put them into stories. We use these years as a time to lay the foundation of vocabulary and structures that will be used in the more

advanced levels.

In the middle and upper levels, students focus more on broader global themes. In these levels, students might debate animal rights, discuss poverty's effect on gang culture, explore immigration and US policies affecting immigrants, learn about water shortages in the world, and many other themes. These themes are taught 100% in Spanish, and students are expected to converse with each other and their peers 100% in Spanish as well. Students in IB Spanish prepare for the SL and HL exams.

The best way to contact me is by email. My email is kathryn.kerekes@mpls.k12.mn.us. Thanks!