By Susie Chen
<[email protected]>

The selection of the new department chair brings changes to the foreign language department. Angelika Becker, a former teacher from West Lafayette High School, replaces Ruth Buechlein as the new department chairperson.

Former department chair for eight years, Buechlein implemented many changes to the foreign language department. During her administration, Classical Greek and American Sign Language (ASL) were added to the curriculum, whereas Hebrew was eliminated. Several Amity scholars, who are students from other countries that come to the United States for one semester to help in the classroom, joined various foreign language classes. The department also worked with the school to create a better environment for the freshmen who are planning to take foreign language classes.

Buechlein’s retirement resulted from personal family matters. She said, “My family life changed. We have two grandchildren in two different states, and this job is pretty time-consuming. There was not enough time to visit them,”

Becker, the new department head of world languages, transfers over from West Lafayette High School after teaching German there for three years. She first plans to become acquainted with the department and the school.

“I am looking forward to my new students, working with my world language colleagues, the rest of the staff, the administration at CHS and becoming a Greyhound,” she said.

According to Becker, the addition of new languages will not occur until the next school year because the schedule is set for this school year. However, the revocation of AP Spanish Literature, which does not have the minimum requirement of students needed to form an official class, still remains.

Amy Baques, Spanish V student and senior, signed up for this class during scheduling and said she felt AP Spanish should not have been removed from the curriculum.

Baques said, “I think it would’ve been a lot better class because there would be (fewer) people in it. There would have been more attention focused on the students unlike the larger classes now.”

Although the changes that will occur to the foreign language department may seem like a challenge to the new department chairperson, Becker said she is excited to fill this position and accomplish as much as she can.

“I like to see teachers being life-long learners, learn new techniques and be excited about teaching,” she said. “Being department chair will allow me to achieve this.”

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MEET THE NEW WORLD LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT CHAIRPERSON
Name: Angelika Becker; middle name is Monika; her students call her by her nickname Frau B
College: IUPUI and University of Nebraska in Lincoln
Majors: BA Education at IU and MA in curriculum and instruction at University of Nebraska