The confusement, nervousness, and excitement of being a freshman new to high school on the first day of school is not limited to the students. These feeling were also felt by Ms. Elizabeth Flaherty on her first day as a new Spanish teacher at Walpole High School.
Flaherty went to college at Holy Cross in Worcester where she majored in Spanish and capitalized on the opportunity to study abroad and studied in Spain for a year with her school. While in Spain, Flaherty taught English to a local small town. Ms. Flaherty then brought her Spanish speaking skills to Winthrop High School in Boston, where she taught her first Spanish classes. Flaherty taught there for only year, teaching mostly freshman and sophomores. When the town of Walpole offered her a job as a foreign language teacher it seemed to be perfect. Flaherty said, “there are always jobs opening”, but Walpole High worked out nice for her because it was a quicker commute than Boston and was a part of a great school system. She knew that Walpole High School was a hardworking program and she was more than willing to be a part of such an honorable program. Flaherty says she has been adjusting very well to Walpole with the help of her fellow foreign language teachers and says she is very pleased with the students in her classes. At Walpole High, Flaherty’s classes consist of mostly sophomores and juniors.
Ms. Flaherty loves to get students talking about different aspect of their lives in Spanish. By practicing speaking on a regular basis, the students are emproving their Spanish speaking skills along with their writing and listening skills that are practiced throughout the rest of class. Flaherty has always wanted to be a Spanish teacher, but when asked what she would be doing if she wasn’t teaching she said, “I would be traveling and living in Spain.” Along with living in Spain, Flaherty has visited Mexico. Ms. Flaherty hopes to help her students grow in their Spanish skills and to help them in anyway possible during her time here at Walpole High School.
