Profiles: Benson excited about immediate, long-term future at BHS

Ms. Stacy Benson can attest to the value of exposing kids to French culture, as well as cultures in general. And Bearden’s new French teacher has big plans for the future.

But first she has to adapt to her new environment, a process that involves obtaining a new license, new license plates, and just establishing herself in general.

“Initial impressions are good,” Ms. Benson said. “I’m a football fan so I fit right in.”

As well as having to adjust to a new state and new school, Ms. Benson also has to juggle incorporating the new MacBooks into the classroom, which students will receive at the end of September.

“I know a lot of teachers are overwhelmed with the new computers,” Ms. Benson said. “I’m just overwhelmed with a new school, new system, a block schedule, so the computers is just a small part of that.

“I guess everyone else is so flabbergasted. And I just feel like I’ll roll with it.”

So how will this new technology be implemented in the language room?

“We’re already getting into some programs, some verb conjugation programs our department has decided to use; I’ve been trying to get the kids registered for that,” she said. “We do projects, especially in level two.

“I like projects, so it works out well to have computers for all the kids. Hopefully they can do a lot of research on their own.”

Besides these short term plans, Ms. Benson is considering organizing an international field trip. At her former school in Youngstown, Ohio, she participated in three class trips to France between 2004 and 2012.

“I have already expressed to the kids that I would love to do [an international trip] with them,” Ms. Benson said. “And I think there’s some interest here. So I think it’s just a matter of figuring out who wants to go, when they want to go and where exactly they want to go.”

France exports trillions of dollars of goods that keep them relevant in international trade, making them the fifth largest economy in the world.

“French is spoken on five continents, and I think a lot of people forget that,” Ms. Benson said. “It’s spoken in Vietnam [and] Laos, as an area where the French battled long ago. It’s spoken in lots of parts of Africa.

“[When] you go into cooking, there’s so many French cooking terms. You go into science – you can’t go into science without a romance language no matter what it is. French is a good option. I’m a firm believer in that.”