Student Life
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
T eacher
F eat ur e
Spanish Teacher Ryan Palmer shares his experience on “House Hunters International,” his biggest fear and his favorite travel experiences Mary Mei Student Life Editor Where are you from? I grew up in South Williamsport, Pa. near the Little League World Series, but I’ve never been to a Little League World Series game. For college, I went to Millersville University, studied abroad in Chile and now I’m at Villanova. How did you decide to become a Spanish teacher? I was sitting in my high school Spanish class, and I enjoyed it a lot. I looked at what my teacher was doing, and I said to myself, “I think I can do this.” There was only one Spanish teacher in my high school and she was really influential to me. It was a snowball effect from there. I really liked the idea of being in education and Spanish is a lot of fun. Why do you think it’s so important for students to take Spanish in this day and age? The world has become very interconnected, and the idea that you only know one language is so antiquated now. The majority of Europeans and the rest of the world probably speak more than one language. In order to stay relevant and in order to stay competitive, you have to know another language. How do you spend your time outside of school? I watch a lot of cat videos, I read a lot of books, I volunteer, I spend a lot of time with my wife and we watch teen TV shows like “Teen Wolf” and “Jane the Virgin.” I also enjoy making music — I dabble a little bit with the guitar and the piano. I heard you were on “House Hunters International,” what was that like? Reality TV is totally fake, but it was a really fun experience. I was painted
out as the cool guy while my wife was the mean, cranky wife. Everything is fake on the TV show. You have to have the house before you go on the program, and you have to have everything settled. Then they show you two random properties. The hardest thing about it is that the entire time your mic is on so all of the conversations you think are private are actually being listened to by someone else. That was pretty uncomfortable. Where did you buy the house on “House Hunters International?” We live about an hour west of Seville in Spain. It’s on the coast in a town called Cataya. It’s right on the water. If you weren’t a teacher, what would your job be? If I wasn’t a teacher, I would probably be a therapist. I like working with
people, and one thing I love about teaching is how spontaneous it is and how it changes from day to day. I think therapy would always present a new situation. Do you have a secret talent?
I don’t know how secret it is, but I often make spontaneous songs on the guitar to my wife. I am a master punner and rhymer. I love to make puns and rhymes. I think that’s all, I can’t tell the rest because they are secret. What were some of the hobbies you had or clubs you were a member of in high school? In high school I was in the chess club, National Honor Society,
What are some of the countries you have been to? Aside from Canada, we’ve been to Costa Rica, Perú, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Italy and England. What were some of of your favorite travel experiences? I really liked going to Berlin. My sister lives in Germany and we went to visit her there. We also
Ryan P a l me r Student Council and the Spanish club. For hobbies, I played too much guitar. I was one of those kids that it was like, “oh no, he has his guitar again.”
went to Machu Picchu last summer and that was amazing. What’s something goofy about you that your students don’t know? I’m not ticklish. If you could have dinner with any three people, who would they be? Walt Whitman, Frederick Nietzsche and Julius Caesar. What’s your biggest fear? My biggest fear that is not really a fear was, for a while, the water fountain and the part that curved. I was afraid that whenever I would drink out of it someone would hit me, and I would hit my mouth on that part. My real fear would probably be reaching the end of my life and asking myself, “What did I do?” If you could give one piece of advice to high school students, what would it be? Worry less about your grades and worry more about making good memories.
Favorites: Movie: “Fellowship of the Ring” Band: Explosions in the Sky Food: Italian Hot Sausage TV Show to Binge Watch: “The Walking Dead” The Spoke 11