Mrs. Oak is a Spanish teacher in Bethpage High School. She is someone that both of us look up to and always look forward to going to her class. Whenever someone in a bad mood or not feeling well, she can tell as soon as we, or other students, walk in the door. She is really easy to talk to whenever you are struggling with school or other problems. Mrs. Oak gives us mini life lessons, not on Spanish, but about something that we can take with us outside of the classroom.

Mrs. Oak has been teaching Spanish for 11 years and says the people at BHS are her favorite part of the job. She says, “This really is a special place.” She originally wanted to study to be a linguist, but Mrs. Oak chose to teach Spanish to high school students because she loves the language, and was inspired by her high school Spanish teacher. She loves the subject because she gets to discuss art, music, literature, history, sociology- all in another languages She says it is challenging to teach a language to students, but it also so rewarding. She says, “It’s so gratifying when a student tells me that they helped someone by translating for them, or got to use their Spanish outside the classroom. That’s the whole point – to be able to communicate with someone outside of these walls.”

Mrs. Oak studied abroad in Valencia, Spain. She says, “It was one of the best decisions I ever made.” Studying abroad helped her become a more fluent speaker and she met great people who she considers lifelong friends. She highly recommends studying abroad in college.

Growing up, Mrs. Oak was not exposed to the Spanish language. She first started studying the language in school in 7th grade. Mrs. Oak chose Spanish because she knew it was something she could always continue to learn more about.

Mrs Oak says she looks up Mrs. Costello because “She is a great friend, and she inspires me to keep learning.”