Candace Braun

School: Johnson Park Elementary
Years Taught: 5 years
Subject/Grade Taught: Spanish, grades 3-5
Education: Bachelor's degree in Biology from St. Mary's College, Md.;
Certificate of Advanced Study in Spanish
Most Memorable Book: Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Person You Admire: "Both of my parents are role models for me. My father's been a teacher in the Philadelphia School District for over 30 years, and my mother is a nurse. They are both very dedicated professionals and have also been married for 32 years now. That's something I hope to accomplish with my married and professional life."

The best education comes from immersing yourself in the area of study, rather than book learning. Particularly when your education leads to becoming a teacher.

That's true for Mark Eastburn, a Spanish teacher for third, fourth, and fifth graders at Johnson Park Elementary. Since his three-week journey to South America last January, Mr. Eastburn has improved his Spanish, and found relevant ways to teach his students about the world, while helping them learn a new language at the same time.

The Spanish teacher has been with the Princeton Regional School District for three years. While he said he is happy with his chosen career and has decided he would like to continue teaching Spanish to elementary school students, it was not the path he was originally expecting to take.

With a biology focus in college, Mr. Eastburn had intended to teach that subject to older students upon graduation. But, after learning a great deal of Spanish while studying abroad in Mexico, and after volunteering in the Peace Corps in Panama for two years, his interest in Spanish grew.

Mr. Eastburn's interest in teaching also began to show as he educated Panama farmers on improved agricultural techniques and vegetable gardening. It was after he married a Panama native that his Spanish skills were strong enough to pursue a career in the field.

In June 2001, Mr. Eastburn interviewed for a Spanish teaching position at Johnson Park. One month later, he was hired.

"I hadn't really thought about teaching at the elementary level, but since I've been here I've had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the experience," said Mr. Eastburn.

Perhaps part of the reason Mr. Eastburn enjoys teaching young children is due to his two-year-old son, Logan. Together he and his wife are teaching his son to become bilingual, and they intend to do the same with their daughter, whom they expect to be born within the month.

"Children that young don't even realize there are differences in the languages," he said.

Using Outside Experience

Last January Mr. Eastburn was fortunate enough to be chosen as the only American teacher to travel with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on a program called SALLJEX, or the South American Low-Level Jet Experiment. Mr. Eastburn and another teacher from Buenos Aires, Argentina followed along as a group of scientists examined the effects of low level jet streams on the Amazon rainforest. Mr. Eastburn was chosen for both his Spanish and biology background.

The teachers, centered in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, were able to interview those working on the project, as well as fly inside the NOAA P-3, the same plane that flies inside hurricanes to map them out and identify the direction they are heading.

So that he could incorporate his studies into the classroom, Mr. Eastburn was able to post a log and video recordings on the web, where it is still currently posted. While Mr. Eastburn was away his students were able to watch what he was learning about in both English and Spanish, which proved to be a one-of-a-kind experience for both the students and teacher.

"It was an incredible experience," said Mr. Eastburn. "Even this year, I make use of the experiences I had in my classes. . . The students can get a much wider view of the spectrum of countries that use the language they are learning about."

Teaching Strategies

Since obtaining his job as a Spanish teacher, one of the remarks that has impacted Mr. Eastburn's teaching skills more than any other is when someone tells him that he or she disliked learning a language while they were in school. Because of this, Mr. Eastburn focuses on making learning fun for the children, creating an environment that they want to be involved in.

"My goal is to make the students comfortable with the language, making sure they have fun while learning," Mr. Eastburn said. "I want to make it a positive experience."

Mr. Eastburn said that one of the advantages he has with teaching children a new language at such a young age, is that young students are braver and less self conscious than older ones.

"When students are younger, they are less apprehensive about trying new things. If something is fun, they'll want to continue with it," he said. "Especially when students get more self conscious in junior high or high school, they won't talk as much."

At times Mr. Eastburn has trouble adapting his classroom activities to students who are new to the school, as well as Latino students, who speak Spanish as their first language.

The teacher said he has overcome this obstacle by focusing many of his language lessons on areas of study that students are learning about in other classes, such as the solar system. He will teach lessons in Spanish, which helps newer students learn the language, while keeping Spanish-speaking students from becoming bored with the subject material.

Another exercise Mr. Eastburn likes to incorporate into the classroom is an animal guessing game. Through the use of miniature animals made from tagua nuts that he purchased while in Panama, students play a guessing game by answering questions in Spanish that lead their classmates to guess which animal they have in their possession.

One of the most memorable moments for Mr. Eastburn occurred recently during the fifth grade assessment testing. Since this particular class was the first he had taught for three consecutive years, it was his first opportunity to watch the students learn and grow through his teachings.

The test involved each student creating an imaginary place and talking about it in front of the classroom. One of the students talked with ease in Spanish for approximately five minutes, making jokes in Spanish and interacting with the other students in the foreign language.

"Just seeing how much that student could say in Spanish and how the other students were responding to that was an amazing moment for me. It made me feel like all the activities I'd done with the children had really made a difference," said Mr. Eastburn.