Señor Poullard of CMS West Makes Learning Spanish Fun

Anthony Poullard joined CMS West teaching staff just a year ago, but has already made a huge impression on students and parents!  He graduated in 2008 with a major in Spanish from UT (for all that know him, UT is his close to his heart).  He was enrolled in the UTeach program, which has prepared him well for the world of teaching.  Anthony studied abroad in 2006 and taught in a secondary school in Argentina in 2007—as a teacher’s assistant teaching Spanish to Spanish speaking students. 

Anthony Poullard

Before coming to CMS West, Anthony taught in the Richardson school district for 6 months.  He knew growing up that he always wanted to be a teacher.  In remembering what his own classes were like, he learned, but he was not excited about learning.  Sr. Poullard set out to change that for his students.  As a PreAP Spanish teacher, he does many random things in class…some may even think he’s a little crazy at times…but he will do anything to keep their attention and their interest in learning.  “As long as they are learning, it is going to be fun.”

Sr. Poullard loves building the relationships with the students.  Teaching is in his blood—he grew up in a family of educators.  He just happened to “stumble across Spanish” and fell in love with it.  He especially enjoys time with the students outside of class, when he can “take off the teacher hat” and really get to know them.

Anthony loves traveling, especially internationally.  This summer will be his 3^rd excursion to Argentina, this time to the northern part of the country as a trip leader for a group of high school students from across the United States.  In the rural community of Salta, each student will be responsible for an individual project and the group will also work on a larger community service project together. As a year end project, his PreAP Spanish students at CMS West are designing and creating children’s books for ages 3-10 that he plans to distribute while in Argentina.  Anthony’s Mom will be joining them too! 

A true gifted teacher, Sr. Poullard is able to differentiate each of his students.  He holds each accountable for their own level of academic abilities, which allows them to advance and remain challenged – goals that all gifted students have in common.

 Some words of advice to gifted students and parents—“keep a nice balance between academics and FUN”.  As a parent of one of Sr. Poullard’s students, it is rewarding to watch them enjoy learning Spanish and it is very helpful to have the weekly email updates from Sr. Poullard on expectations, homework and upcoming projects.  We actually receive some homework too…to ask our sons and daughters about what they have learned and for them to tell us in Spanish.