A native of Royston, Georgia, Tracy Rucker was raised in Atlanta, and later studied French at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. There, as Mr. Rucker passionately learned to manipulate conditional sentences and nuanced subjunctive forms, he honed his craft by embracing cultural anecdotes from the Francophone world. He graduated with a B.A. in French in 1994, and later matriculated at Middlebury College where he also participated in theater and specialized in studies of the Francophone world. Since completing his studies, Mr. Rucker has led student trips to France, and he has studied Quebecois language and culture in Chicoutimi, Quebec as well as regional cultural influences in Bordeaux, France. When Mr. Rucker is not teaching, he enjoys grading Advanced Placement French Exams for the College Board.

Most recently, Mr. Rucker organized a 10 day French Exchange program with Charles de Gaulle High School in Dijon, France. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Rucker organizes an annual multicultural dinner for his school. In 2014, Mr. Rucker was awarded the prestigious Dorothy S. Ludwig Award. This award is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French and is given to one teacher in each level of education. In 2016, Mr. Rucker completed coursework to attain certification through Actfl (American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages) to become an OPI certified tester of French. In class, Mr. Rucker combines authentic resources with technology to encourage students to embrace 21st century skills. He believes in developing language skills through active participation, appreciation of world cultures, and quotidian values. Songs, films, video clips, pictures, and reading passages make up this master teacher’s repertoire, and he is eager to share some of his crafted techniques with you.

After immigrating to the United States from Germany in 2002, Andrea received her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 2009. In 2015, she published her book on W.G. Sebald’s poem After Nature. Currently, she is a lecturer of German at Northern Kentucky University’s Department of World Languages and Literatures. Her research interests include German travel and expedition literature as well as language pedagogy, service learning, and transdisciplinary teaching approaches.

Maria Consuelo ( Chelo ) Diaz Martin earned her degree from the University of Extremadura. Masters in Filologia anglogermanica, and a degree in the Art of Teaching ( Curso de Adaptacion Pedagogica)

She has been teaching Spanish for over 17 years now in KY, recently in Ryle High School and few years too in NKU.

She came with the visiting Teachers Program from Spain. Soon she felt in love with this community and her amazing, passionate students and her colleagues at her schools.

She is a College Board AP Ky advocate, a Table Leader at AP Spanish language and culture reading, an AAPPL rater, a member of ACTFL, KWLA, AASTP, and has been a Presenter in conferences in KWLA, SCOLT.

She is a Passionate Teacher that constantly encourages her students to immerse in the Spanish culture, provide them with the most appropriate resources to achieve their goal: to be able to communicate in the target language and to be prepared to be a Global citizen.

Yanhong was born in the city of Harbin, Heilongjing province, her husband, Xingyin Duan, was a businessman in Harbin and now a self-employer—house repair service at Lexington.  She got the bachelor’s degree in English Education from Heilongjiang University in China; a master’s degree in English Education from Harbin Normal University in China.  She was a key high school English teacher at Harbin No.12 High School for 13 years.

She got Chinese teacher certification from Northern Kentucky University and began to teach Chinese since 2007 until now.  She was the Chinese guest teacher at Jessamine career and technology center and Asbury University from 2007-2010 and is the Chinese teacher of FCPS now.  She has taught Chinese at Veterans Park Elementary School, Winburn Middle School, Bryan Station High School and Southern Middle School.  She teaches Chinese at Asbury University for the evening classes, too.

She has been a member of KWLA since 2009, joined in Chinese teacher STARTALK training at Nebraska University-Lincoln 2012 and 2014; at Holy Cross College in 2013; at McDaniel College in 2016, attended Asia Society Confucius Classroom Teachers Institute in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.  She has taught FCPS students at STARTALK Chinese camp since 2012, was named Teacher of the year by KACLT in 2014.

Currently in her tenth year of teaching Latin in Kentucky public high schools, Lucianne Junker has developed her own curriculum and utilizes active Latin in her classroom. Lucianne has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Classics and Philosophy, a Master’s of Arts in Teaching World Languages, and a Graduate Certificate in Latin Studies from the University of Kentucky. Lucianne received the Swift-Longacre-Scaife Fellowship in 2009 and the Outstanding Latin Teacher of the Year in 2018. As a participant and discussion leader in the active Latin community in Lexington both during the school year and summer conventiculua, Lucianne continues to develop her active language use by reading Latin literature and conversing in Latin both in and outside of the classroom. Lucianne credits her professors of the MATWL and Institute for Latin Studies programs at the University of Kentucky for her active Latin capabilities and pedagogy.

Madeline Griffitt teaches French at Eisenhower Elementary School in Louisville, KY is the Kentucky representative for the National Network for Early Language Learning and was NNELL KY Teacher of the Year in 2017.  She is passionate about engaging her young students in language learning to become a globally and culturally competent citizens.