Mrs. Vargas, a Spanish teacher here at Sequoyah, received the World Language Educator of the Month award for the state of Georgia. She also received the teacher of the month award for Sequoyah, because she won the World Educator of the Month award.

The World Educator of the Month award is given to teachers who have a positive attitude, are innovative, give great lessons and feedback, meticulously plan, and who reaches and encourages students.

“Wallace said that I got the teacher of the month award and I just could not believe it,” Vargas said. “They were just giving me flowers and a certificate and I was just so surprised and honored.”

Vargas was nominated for this award by students who noticed she is passionately engaged with everyone she teaches and is always dedicated to helping them learn the language of Spanish.

A meeting was held for all language classes, and it was here that Vargas was given her award by Patrick Wallace, who is a program specialist at the Georgia Department of Education.

Following the awards ceremony, Wallace gave a presentation about new educational and workforce realities. Wallace mentioned how Georgia is a growing destination for worldwide companies and that in order to be competitive in this day and age, you must have world language skills.

“Wallace wanted to share the importance of having a second or even third language,” Vargas said. “The speech was so good, he spoke about the global aspect that just really supported learning another world language.”

Vargas liked the speech because it emphasized the importance of how learning another world language is important.

“Learning another language opens yourself to different cultures and perspectives,” Vargas said. “When you learn another language you open yourself up to a whole new world.”

Wallace also spoke about the seal of biliteracy, which recognizes students who graduate from high school with a high language ability. This seal appears on the diploma at graduation.