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Page 26
2017 EDUCATION MAGAZINE
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MARCH 1, 2017
N
ext year will be the last
year of teaching at Lincoln
Community High School for
longtime Spanish teacher Kathy
Stoyak, who has taught at the
school since 1995 heading the
Foreign Language Department
for seven years. For Stoyak,
it will mark the end of a thirty
three year teaching career.
During her time at LCHS,
Stoyak has helped several
students become eligible for
the seal of biliteracy, which
means they show a high level
of proficiency in a foreign
language. Stoyak’s colleague
Marsha Plumier says this seal
“ensures universities that our
students are fluent in Spanish
and worthy of college credit or
advanced placement in college
language classes.”
Stoyak says, “Students must
show that they are literate in
English and another language.
The method LCHS has chosen
for students to demonstrate
Spanish proficiency is taking
the ACTFLAssessment of
Performance toward Proficiency
in Languages (AAPPL) exam.
The AAPPL is comprised of
four sections that test students’
proficiency in speaking,
listening, reading and writing.
Stoyaks says, “A student must
earn an Intermediate 5 rank on
all 4 sections. This is just one
level below what a university
student needs to be able to
student teach in a language in
the state of Illinois.”
At left: Kathy Stoyak is in the center
with hosts William Chacón and his wife,
Adriana Montero Fernández from the
foreign language exchange program with
LEBLA in Costa Rica. William is a math
teacher at LEBLA and his wife Adriana, a
kindergarten teacher at a nearby school.
Great teachers:
Kathy Stoyak
and her work with the LCHS
Foreign Language Department
By Angela Reiners
Continued
u