by Camille Sutton, language department chair & HS Spanish and French teacher
Madame Robin Lynn Clinard and Profe Camille Sutton present, and faculty bring new teaching techniques back to USN.
Students may have noticed almost all of their World Language teachers were absent Friday, Nov. 2. This was because USN's World Language teachers were attending the Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association's annual conference in Franklin. At this professional conference, K-12 teachers, college professors, and administrators from all around Tennessee gather to share ideas and expertise in language teaching and learning.
This year, two USN teachers also presented at the conference. Madame Robin Lynn Clinard and Profe Camille Sutton gave a presentation titled “Diversity as a Path to Proficiency: Using the World Language Classroom to Advance Diversity and Inclusion.” The talk focused on how students can practice the skill of negotiating diversity within the setting of the World Language classroom.
After the presentation, attendees had the chance to work in small groups to brainstorm how to use cultural misunderstandings – called the "That’s weird!" moment – as a jumping-off point to learn about different cultures' behaviors, worldviews, and values. Teachers of French, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish in the audience were able to share ideas from the languages and cultures they teach. USN's language teachers came back inspired and armed with new ideas they want to try out in the classroom and coming soon to a world language classroom near you.
Aliza Ahmed '26, Uma Ehrig '26, Victor Peng '26, Ruchika Ramachandran '27, and Yvonne Wang '27 participated in the Asian Educators Alliance conference this year in Atlanta, Georgia.
Anna Brook '30, Claire Yu '30, Clio Cherry-Pulay '29, and Liam Mooney '28 took him the championship during the 4th annual USN Middle School Quiz Bowl Championships. Two teams will travel to Chicago to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments Middle School National Championships on Saturday, May 10.
Cpl. Robert Gibson joined University School of Nashville in November as a School Resource Officer, a certified police officer who is primarily assigned to a school and provides safety and security-related functions, including emergency response, safety training, traffic direction, and patrol functions.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.