College graduates who hope to be teachers often find themselves searching for a place to substitute teach before being hired for a full- time job. FHS Spanish teacher Barbara Wiersma didn’t find this prospect too appealing, so she moved to Central America instead. “I figured that if they weren’t going to hire a fully trained English speaking teacher there (Costa Rica) I wasn’t going to get hired anywhere,” said Wiersma. When Wiersma got to San Jose, Costa Rica, she was already quite knowledgeable in Spanish, after traveling to Spain for the second semester of her junior year in college. “When I was there I just had to figure things out for myself,” said Wiersma. “But, I learned that Latin people are very loving and kind. If I was lost they put aside everything they were doing to take me right where I wanted to go.” Wiersma taught grades K-12 in schools for American students who were the children of diplomats. One of her favorite experiences with her students was when they went on a field trip to the park of Santa Rosa. They stayed in the jungle for three days and three nights. The beach near which they camped had algae that, according to Wiersma, would glow in the dark. “The waves would stir up the algae, then you could walk on it and your footsteps would glow,” said Wiersma. “It was an incredible experience.” Wiersma found a lot of differences in people across the continents, but there were always reassuring similarities. While living in Spain, Wiersma did not yet speak Spanish and struggled to keep up with the Sunday family discussions which included about 40 people. “They (Wiersma’s host family) decided they wanted a picture and the man taking it said ‘mirar el pajaro,’ which means ‘look at the bird,’” said Wiersma. “It was weird because that’s exactly what people used to say in the states.” Wiersma was hired to teach at FHS this year and students have found that her experiences abroad have affected her teaching. She currently teaches two periods a day and, according to students, provides a different perspective than most teachers. “She tells us stories about her time in Costa Rica,” said sophomore Amber Arvidson. “She teaches us a lot of stuff that’s not in the book, but she thinks is important.” In an attempt to share her experiences with others, Wiersma hopes to someday take her 15-month-old son, Jelani, to a Latin speaking country for awhile as he grows up. “Hopefully I can return to a Latin speaking country so he can get the experiences of both countries,” said Wiersma. While living in both Spain and Costa Rica, Wiersma had many experiences that would have never been possible in the United States. “So many neat things happened to me while I was living in another country,” said Wiersma. “It’s an incredible experience that can never be matched.” |
