The Spanish Teacher: Señora Abbott
Señora Abbott is the Spanish teacher for Bonny Eagle Middle School. She has been teaching there for 17 years, since 2001. She was born in Biddeford, Maine but grew up in a suburb in Pittsburgh, which helped establish her strong love for the Steelers! Señora Abbott’s favorite former player is Troy Polamalu. She prefers the Pittsburgh Pirates over any other baseball team.
She likes technologies in the classroom because it can help students stay engaged with the classroom activities. Her role models growing up were her parents, and her favorite movie is Pretty in Pink.
Her favorite part of being a teacher is getting to know students, and she hopes to get students to appreciate other cultures and languages. The most frustrating part of being a teacher in her opinion is keeping her students motivated.
“Why did you decide to teach Spanish?” I asked her a kind of obvious question, and she said, “Spanish is my first language with my mom growing up in Mexico and with my dad in Saco Maine,” She quotes.
Señora Abbott loves the community and all the staff in the school. She taught at a preschool for children with Autism prior to Bonny Eagle. Her management style is a structure for students to be interested and respectful to each other, while they are learning.
She grew up traveling at sea through a program called “Semester at Sea”. When her father was at school, he was the Dean of Students. This totally affected her life. As she traveled, she started to appreciate what we have, seeing the cultures and people.
She loved traveling. Señora Abbott has traveled to the following countries and some others: Spain, Egypt, Greece, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Taiwan, Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Russia, Barbados, St. Lucia, Bahamas, Irrael, Malaysia, Canada, and Aroostook County.
When I asked Señora Abbott to critique BEMS, she could not. She thinks the school is absolutely wonderful. Some of her hobbies and favorite activities are snowshoeing, walking, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
The thing Señora Abbott hates to hear when teaching is something like, “I don’t want to learn a Foreign Language, and I will never need it in life!” Being bilingual will always help you in life! She thinks kids should take a foreign language through their entire schooling.
Señora Abbott’s first name is Ana, and her sister who lives in Puerto Rico’s name? Elsa. She believes they are the original Ana and Elsa sisters. Although, Elsa is the redhead this time!
“Be kind in life, and always try to appreciate other languages, cultures, and people.” - Ana Abbott
