Meet Grisel Pibida! New 2016 GHS Spanish Teacher

Ms. Pibida began teaching Spanish at Garfield last year. She originally comes from Buenos Aires, Argentina, so she’s a native Spanish speaker. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Buenos Aires, and she focused on bilingual education. While in Buenos Aires, Ms. Pibida conducted Spanish assessments for the University of Cambridge. She came to the U.S. to study for her Master’s degree at Cal State Fullerton, which was in bilingual bicultural education.

Prior to her time at Garfield, Ms. Pibida taught at Bishop Blachet High School. While at Bishop Blanchet, she taught Spanish 3 and UW in the High School. She brought that program to Garfield as well, so interested students can take Spanish for college credit.

According to Ms. Pibida, the first thing you need as a student of a foreign language is patience with yourself. Learning a language is challenging, and requires consistency. She says frequent practice is important, and she suggests students conduct research in Spanish by using Google from Spanish-speaking countries. Ms. Pibida also recommends getting out to concerts and other Spanish-language cultural events at places like the UW Center for Spanish Studies. – Thanks to Kris Morada for this story.