Dear Parents and/or Guardians,
Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year at Discovery Bay International School. I hope that your family has had an exciting and enjoyable summer break with many opportunities for rest and relaxation together. It is a privilege to be able to introduce myself to you all as one of the new Spanish Teachers at DBIS.
My teaching career began in Brixton, London in a comprehensive school teaching French and Spanish. I was privileged to experience such a range of students, often with very contrasting and often challenging backgrounds. This really informed my teaching and showed me how languages can hopefully be made accessible and fun to students across the social and academic spectrum. I then moved to a high-performing girls grammar school in Kent where I had the opportunity to push the higher-end of language learning in French and Spanish, which I found rewarding and fascinating in different ways to my experience in Brixton. In Dubai, I taught international students for the first time. Teaching students with wider-world perspectives seemed to me to be the perfect ground to promote curiosity and to encourage a love of language. I also, at this time, started working in the world of careers guidance and higher-education admissions as Deputy Head of Sixth-Form, which I enjoyed very much. I hope to also bring this experience forward to DBIS.
As a Spanish and French teacher, my main passion is to demonstrate that languages are not exclusively for those students who are “natural linguists”. As human beings, we are all, to a certain extent, natural linguists and our ability for complex communication are what sets us apart on this planet. Languages can be accessible if they are broken down appropriately and students are engaged and aware of the far-reaching benefits of learning languages. Languages are a magical subject because you can get better by following other passions like watching films, reading, and listening to music. I have been delighted to see Latin-American music taking off on the pop scene in recent times. My eight years of charity work and translating in Mexico and Guatemala will always be cherished by me as some of my best years and the friends that I have met and experiences I have had will hopefully stay with me forever. None of that would have been possible without speaking Spanish. Languages do not appear and develop in a vacuum and are very much a reflection and manifestation of the culture that surrounds them. Spanish is spoken in twenty-two countries across three continents, so the culture and history behind it are fascinating and rich. I hope that, at the very least, I can convey my passion and, in as many cases as possible, nurture curiosity and enjoyment for Spanish here at DBIS.
In terms of myself in general, I am a keen musician and play the guitar, drums, bass and cello and have recently started to learn the piano. I love sports in general and try to keep active. I have lived and worked in six countries, and being able to travel and pursue new experiences is a cornerstone of my life. I very much enjoyed my years in social work and charity work and intend to pursue these at a later date in my life. I hope some of these interests will serve me well to add something to the school community outside of teaching.
In terms of classroom management, I fully intend to promote good practice as per the handbook at DBIS in relation to homework expectations, punctuality and resources. This will not be approached in a combative fashion but in a positive fashion and all from the angle that setting high expectations will only help students achieve results and progress that they will be proud of in the future.
Mrs Zapater and I are the Spanish team here at DBIS and please do not hesitate to contact us at any time if you have concerns at any point by email or by appointment. I would be delighted to have face-to-face meetings if you deem this necessary and would find it more beneficial. I believe that teaching can only be improved by effective communication and mutual support between teachers and parents.
I look forward to working alongside you to support the best interests for your child.
Sincerely,
Richard Koenig
Teacher of Spanish