From playing Mario Party Superstars all the way to a zoo field trip, Bethany Griffith is one of Central Heights’ most innovative teachers. Throughout the past few weeks, Griffith’s Spanish IV class has been learning in many different creative ways. 

When learning in a fun environment, students are actually interested in the topics and want to continue to master all of the new information. 

“I almost turn everything into a competition,” Griffith said, “I try to do a bunch of different things because not everybody likes the same thing.”

Students in Griffith’s Spanish classes love the new system of rewarding “pesos” when actively participating in classwork. Each Friday during class, students are able to buy special treats with all of the pesos they have earned. 

“Spanish is one of my favorite classes this year,” Junior, Isabella Bedford said, “the pesos system keeps us all engaged in the class and we all want to learn more.”

Griffith thinks that when students are learning in a fun and active environment they take in more of the information. 

“It seems like they come away with more knowledge than I ever expect them to when its more fun,” Griffith said. 

A couple of weeks ago, the Spanish IV class got to play a video game, Mario Party Superstars, in Spanish. 

“I thought it was really interesting,” Bedford said, “We got to play against our classmates and learned a bunch of new Spanish terms.”

Griffith says that learning a new language is important because it opens your eyes to new cultures, and it also activates the part of your brain that helps you learn languages. 

“It’s just something that you’re never exposed to,” says Griffith, “your brain doesn’t ever pick that up if you’ve never been forced to do it. Plus, it tells you a lot more about your language.”