TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER PUTS LANGUAGE REALITY IN THE SPANISH CLASSROOM

Donna Ellis puts language reality in the Spanish classroom at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

"I expose my students to the cultural and linguistic diversity in the Spanish-speaking world," Ellis said.

This is evident as one enters the classroom, which is decorated appropriately.

"You feel like you're in a culturally-rich environment and the students will be actively involved in cooperative learning and speaking Spanish," Ellis said.

"It's a non-threatening environment where students care about each other, are willing to take risks to learn and form cooperative relationships and spirit that brings the class together," she added.

Her interest in teaching began while growing up as an "Army brat" living in the Panama Canal Zone.

"This afforded me numerous educational opportunities," she said.

Traveling, making friends and her love for new experiences and learning led her to pursue a career in teaching.

Ellis majored in Spanish and English at the University of Missouri at Columbia where she received a bachelor's degree in education. She has taught for 25 years.

She finds teaching Spanish rewarding.

"Students feel a sense of immediate gratification," she said, "when speaking an entire sentence in Spanish, writing a paragraph or essay, or knowing the answer to a daily trivia question."

Several years ago, Ellis had an exchange student from Spain and another from Mexico.

"It didn't take long before my students were constantly asking for their help in writing assignments, and so the exchange students decided to play a joke on several in a Spanish IV Class," Ellis said.

"They told them totally incorrect words and even added some very spicy passages. The students didn't ask them for help after that."

Ellis' husband, Bill, is a professor in the department of agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University. They have a son, Todd, who is a senior at Southeast.

Ellis enjoys boating, crafts, traveling, reading and exercising. She also likes increasing her knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world and computer technology.