What’s your name, and what department do you work in? My name is Laura Jacobson, and I work in the World Languages department.
How long have you been teaching Spanish at Niles North? At Niles North, maybe 28 years, I think.
How long have you headed up the Spanish Honor Society? Oh, not long. The past four years. And I’m not doing it this year. I’ll help out, but I’m not leading.
What’s your favorite thing to do? Outside of speaking Spanish? I love to travel, but I also have other loves, like music. I used to play clarinet in school, but right now I’m learning how to play classical guitar, so I love the guitar. And I also love astronomy–that’s always been a passion of mine. I used to work at an observatory for many years, and I taught at an observatory through the local school district where I grew up. Those are my passions–Spanish, astronomy, music. Not necessarily in that order, except Spanish is always Number One.
What do you love about Niles North? The students. I love the students that I have, and I enjoy my classes with the students and the various activities, like [the Spanish Honor Society], with the work we’ve done together, and also the [astronomy club]. I love watching how motivated the students are.
This is your last year of teaching. What are you most looking forward to about retirement? I think I’m looking forward to doing a lot of traveling, and spending more time with my family. I hope to continue teaching; and Spanish, of course. And I’d like to do some outreach with astronomy with the community.
What does the Spanish Honor Society do? The Spanish Honor Society is a service organization, based on a student’s merit and their grades in Spanish, and their dedication, through the years, of Spanish. So it’s not a “club”, it’s an honor society. They get invited [to join]. In the past, we’ve done some service work like the Pulsera Project, where the students are selling bracelets from Nicaragua and Guatemala, some handcrafted things to help out the artisans in those countries. Also, they have done a calendar drive for the refugee community here at Niles North. So, there’s different service organizations that we try to support every year.
What might be the benefits to learning Spanish, or any other language? Well, there’s so many benefits to learning another language, because it helps you understand the world and how other perspectives are. You don’t have tunnel vision when you learn a language–you can be more empathetic to the plights of other cultures, understand how they live, so it just broadens your perspective.
What do you love about teaching Spanish specifically? Well, I love sharing my experiences with the students. I’ve traveled a lot–I’ve traveled to Spain, I’ve traveled to Panama, I’ve traveled to Argentina, Mexico–I’ve traveled to many Spanish-speaking countries, so I just love sharing what I have learned and my experiences with the different cultures and the different languages and different dialects within those countries, and showing the application of those languages, and why they’re so important. And they are important, because you’re not just understanding other cultures and other countries, but like I said, it opens up your world, the students’ world, when you do that. You’re just not stuck here, speaking English–you can talk to somebody from another place, right?
Are there any students you remember who really benefited from taking your class? Oh, sure! I have students that have reached out to me while they’re traveling; some have come back from university saying they were well-prepared and excited to continue their studies in Spanish. Some have gone on to teaching. Some have gone on to the business world, so they use their Spanish to handle that, which is good. It’s good to see that they’ve cared enough, that they’ve embraced it enough, to continue on.
Who are some other people you work with in the Language Department? Pam Benitez, Elizabeth Roman, Laurie Aranica, Alejandra Anteaga, Jenny Almaraz–those are all the Spanish teachers. And Tom Neal–he also teaches German, and French. We have French, we have Hebrew, we have German, and now Assyrian is the new language at our department, so yeah, it’s a big department.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world, and the cost was no object? I don’t know. I’m happy where I am right now, but I like visiting other places. I love Spain, I love Argentina, I love Mexico, I love different places. So I guess wherever I am, I’m happy with, as long as I’m with my husband.
What’s your favorite thing about traveling? Again, people. People and friends are the most important thing you will have in this life. Things are all replaceable.
