Entertaining. Intelligent. Organized. These characteristics are a necessity for any teacher who wins teacher of the year. My German teacher, Herr (Mr.) Gliniecki has all of these qualities and more.
The first day of senior year I walked into my German 1 class. I knew I would be the only senior among about 20 other freshmen and sophomores, so I was worried. Herr Gliniecki walked in the room and had a smile on his face; he proceeded to tell something to the class but we had no idea what, and that didn't make me feel any better. I remember thinking, There's no way I can stand this for one year. But I always knew I had to stick it out because my Swiss boyfriend's parents only speak German and since I was going there over Christmas, I wanted to at impress them.If that didn't work they would at least get a good laugh at my broken German and ability to talk about my name, my interests, and school supplies.
The second day of class, I realized that Herr Gliniecki is an enthusiastic teacher who is obviously passionate about teaching and of course, German. This was great because I am also excited about school and learning and having a teacher that compliments that is a perfect combination. He uses gestures and even if I can't understand his words, his nonverbal communication is wonderful.
He has the ability to switch back and forth between German, Spanish, and English. He tells stories about his life experience in Europe and stresses importance of learning the details of the language. All the while making it fun with daily games.
My ambition, combined with the emersion teaching style of Herr Gliniecki, allows me to speak a good amount of German by the end of the year. I would like to say thank you to him for being everything that makes a teacher great and that I am fortunate enough to have him for my teacher this year.