FLAG Spotlight Congratulations Christy Belbey, Dacula High & Erica Poole, South Gwinnett High November 2011
Christy Belbey in Paris, France
I am delighted to write this Spotlight feature article on two dynamic foreign language teachers, both from Gwinnett County Public Schools, Christy Belbey, who teaches French at Dacula High, and Erica Poole, who teaches Spanish at South Gwinnett. Their incredible and innovative teaching styles and creative nature in the foreign language and education field have led these two great educators to receive the noble honor of Teacher of the Year at their respective schools. They were honored at the GCPS Teacher of the Year Banquet on November 3rd at the Gwinnett Civic Center.
Ms. Belbey has been teaching French since 1993, beginning at Stone Mountain Junior High and later in 1994 arriving to teach French at Dacula High School (levels I.–V.), plus she was the department chair from 2002 to 2005. During her years of teaching, she has garnered several honors, such as Georgia High School Teacher of the Year for the American Association Teachers of French (2009), local Teacher of the Year Finalist (2002, 2003, 2011), Teacher of the Month (May 2002), listing among Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (1996, 1998), National Society of High School Scholars, Educator of Distinction (2008), and the GCPS Foreign Language Program PEAK Award in Exemplary Foreign Language Instruction (2008–2011). She earned her degrees in Georgia with an Associate of Arts, Liberal Arts from Young Harris College, Bachelor of Arts in French (1992), and a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Pedagogy (1999), both from Georgia State University. She attended the Universite de Montreal (summer 1990), Montreal, Quebec, Canada and earned her teaching certificate from Jacksonville University, Florida. (story continues on page 2)
Christy Belbey continued Ms. Belbey has always been a very actively involved French teacher and believes in teaching students the importance of French culture by regularly organizing educational trips to France for students (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010). She has a great “amour” for teaching her students about French culture and the importance of broadening the mind culturally. Belbey says, “I have made it my goal to encourage Dacula’s students to experience other cultures first hand through travel and study abroad. Go abroad and see the world, and then decide for yourself the validity of another culture’s way of life.” She has even taught workshops on sports, cooking, art, and music at the French Immersion Camp offered by Georgia’s American Association of Teacher of French (AATF) and went as far as to facilitate French Immersion workshops for teachers. She has served as Georgia’s AATF French Contest Administrator. Furthermore, she has proved her achievements as an extremely active and efficacious educator at her high school by sponsoring French Club and French Honor Society, and is always on the cutting edge of the latest technology in foreign language education as a “techspert” for the Foreign Language Labs, where her students engage in meaningful conversational activities in the French language through the various authentic speaking activities she creates.
Christie Belbey (above) & Erica Poole (below) receiving their awards at the November Teacher of the Year Banquet
At the county level, she is an author for the online GCPS Communication Center website, which provides foreign language teachers with activities, games, PowerPoint presentations, songs, and music and much more for their classrooms. She was honored with her TOTY plaque at the 2011 banquet. Congratulations!
ERICA POOLE South Gwinnett High
Erica Poole, performing in Fronteras 2011
Erica Poole has been an outstanding Spanish Teacher at South Gwinnett High School since 1997, and also has taught as an Adjunct Faculty member at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, GA, where she taught conversational Spanish to adults in the Continuing Education program. Before teaching in the Gwinnett County Schools, she taught 7th and 8th grade Spanish in the DeKalb County School System at Miller Grove Middle School. Erica earned her AB in Romance Languages and a Certificate in Global Studies from the University of Georgia (1994), Masters of Arts in Teaching Spanish from Piedmont College (1999), certificates in the Portuguese Immersion School from Middlebury College, Vermont (June, 2005) and in Faculty Development in International Business for Business Spanish at the University of South Carolina (June, 2006). She has a knack for languages and
speaks fluent Spanish and BrazilianPortuguese. Her work outside of the foreign language classroom extends to the international business world. She has translated business literature for a variety of companies such as Sprayglo Auto Refinishing and Body Repair and Classic Ground Covers. In addition, she served as an interpreter for visiting Brazilian music professors at the University of Georgia School of Music back when she attended. She is the owner of her own business known as 3 in 1 Corporate Language Trainer, LLC. Erica has a great passion for flamenco dancing and teaches her students this great art form as well as the importance of culture generally. Studying the percussive artistry of flamenco dance allows her to hone her ear to its extensive footwork vocabulary and to apply intricate rhythms whereby she stays inspired to learn its language. As a result, Erica's teaching goal for her students is for them to remain motivated outside of class to always apply and refine their Spanish skills. She has been very active in the Flamenco dance community by serving as a volunteer staff writer for Atlanta’s online Flamenco Newsletter at jaleole.com. As a matter of fact, she performed a Flamenco dance at the 2008 Teacher of the Year ceremony at her school, which can serve as a total full circle moment for Erica inasmuch as she was honored with her TOTY plaque at the Gwinnett County 2011 banquet. Congratulations! ∞
Joe Frank Uriz, Ed.S. Foreign Language Association of Georgia
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