Tennessee Education Lottery Educator of the Week: Amber Morgan
GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — Amber Morgan teaches Spanish at South Gibson County High School in Medina. She said listening to music prompted her interest in the language. “I listened to a lot of Shakira and I listened to a lot of Juan and Juanes from Espana, and it really helped me get a feel for the language, and so I just started studying it on my own.” Morgan says she is passionate about the uniqueness of the Spanish culture. “I really loved the way the Spanish language sounded, and I just love the culture,” she said. “I thought that the culture that the people have was very interesting.” After she fell in love with the language, Morgan wanted to pass along her passion to others. “I just wanted other people to be as excited about it as I was,” she said. “So I said, ‘well, how can I do this? Oh, I could teach it.’ Then I can put my own little style into it and I can hopefully inspire others to learn the language and connect to the culture and the people that speak it.” Morgan tries to make learning a second language easier by doing fun projects that tie the culture to the curriculum. “We did a cocoa-bean project where they had to make something out of chocolate, so I try to do real-life things and really inject the culture into everything that happens.” She wants her students to be able to appreciate the Spanish language and culture even though it might be different from what they’re used to. “People that speak Spanish are just like them — they have the same goals, desires and dreams, and I just don’t want them to look down on them and just accept them as part of our community because they have an awesome culture and they have awesome things to share with us.” Morgan will be eligible for the statewide Tennessee Education Lottery Educator of the Month Award. To vote for her or any of the other nominees, visit seehowitaddsup.com. To nominate a teacher for the WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News weekly award, email us at educator@wbbjtv.com.
