Cherie Dennis is Georgia's 2022 Teacher of the Year. She is also a dedicated, lifelong language teacher and learner. Currently she teaches ESOL at Hesse K8 in Savannah, GA. We discuss Cherie's early experience learning language, her travels and how Japanese helped her land a career in advertising, and how a move to Savannah in 2004 led her to pivot and enter the classroom as a teacher.  Then we dive into all things ESOL, and Cherie provides some tips and perspectives on how to enhance the language-learning classroom.

Dr. Sarah  Wike earned a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in Romance Languages, Literature, and Linguistics from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Doctor of Education degree in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in educational technology from the University of Florida. She has been recognized for multiple professional accolades, including Outstanding Teacher (2014) for the North Carolina Technology in Education Society (NCTIES), Teacher of the Future (2014) for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the Blackwell Award (2014) for teaching excellence in the humanities, and Outstanding Teacher (2015) for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  In 2017, Sarah transitioned to a role as Director of Educational Technology at a PreK-12th grade independent school. 

In today's episode, Sarah mentions some excellent tech tools to augment the learner's experience, including EdPuzzle, FlipGrid, Peardeck or Nearpod, Newsela, and Quizlet. 

In Episode 2, Dr. Dorothee Mertz joins us to talk about the strategies and activities she used to rebuild the French program at Armstrong State University (now Georgia Southern) in Savannah, GA. This episode will especially be of interest for anyone looking to drive student engagement in language learning! 

In our first episode we feature Mr. Patrick Wallace from the Georgia Department of Education.