Meet the Teacher: Angela Stracke

It was a big summer for Angela Stracke.

After spending the past three years teaching English as a Second Language in Colombia, she moved back to the United States, got married and accepted a new job.

Stracke leads the new K-2 Spanish/World Language Program at Schumann Elementary in Orono. The Spanish program is designed to meet the five goal areas established by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), including communication, cultures, connections, comparisons and communities.

A native of Chippewa Falls, WI, Stracke received her undergraduate degree in early childhood Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She studied abroad in Mexico for one semester. 

Stracke holds three teaching licenses in K-12 Spanish, Early Childhood Spanish and Early Childhood ESL. After graduating, she and her now husband moved to Colombia to teach at an American school in Cali, Colombia, where she taught eighth grade English.

Prior to that, Stracke student taught Spanish in high school and middle school ESL in Wisconsin. Her other teaching experiences include working as a program coordinator for the ESL Institute, a summer ESL instructor in Wisconsin and an ESL teacher in a Mexican elementary school.

She said she strongly believes in second language learning at a young age. However, Stracke stresses that the World Language Program at Schumann Elementary is not an immersion program. Students in an immersion program learn core subjects in the second language throughout the majority of the day.

Full-day kindergartners have World Language class for 40 minutes each week, while half-day kindergarten students have class for 40 minutes each week every other month on a rotating basis with art class.

Students in first and second grades will have approximately 50 minutes of Spanish instruction each week.

Stracke is currently working on getting her Masters of English as a Second Language degree at Hamline University.

In her free time, she likes to spend time with her husband, family and friends. Stracke also enjoys rollerblading, cross country skiing and biking.