LIBRARY RE-IMAGINED
Library German Classes Lead to Fun and Foreign Travel
Brigitte Woloszyn brings her passion for her native language to library customers.
Why Learn a Foreign Language? > To instill curiosity and respect for other countries and cultures > To prepare for international travel or working abroad > To train your brain and keep it sharp > To gain a deeper understanding of your own language
RELATED PROGRAMS
WHEN BRIGITTE WOLOSZYN retired from WinstonSalem/Forsyth County Schools as a German teacher in 2015, she expected that she would leave behind her passion for teaching her native language and pursue music, her second love. “It was a hard transition because I missed the interaction with the students,” she said. Then in 2016 Natalia Tuchina, the branch manager of the Walkertown Branch, asked Woloszyn to teach German classes at the library. Woloszyn started with a beginning German class. She was surprised to find that her students ranged in age from 11 to 82, she said, and they came from all areas of the Triad. Those students made such progress that she started an advanced German class. By 2017, she had four German classes meeting each month at the Walkertown Branch. “It is simply amazing how many people learned so much and had fun doing it,” she said. Among her students was a young engineer who planned to pursue a masters degree at a German university. He just passed one level of the German Language Competency Exam in Washington D.C., and is continuing his studies, Woloszyn said. Two mother-and-son teams enrolled in classes and both sons are taking high school German. When the pandemic closed libraries to in-person programming, Wolosyzn’s classes continued on Zoom and she looks forward to resuming in-person classes when it’s safe to do so. “You enjoy each other’s country so much more when you understand the language,” she said. “It makes you a better citizen of the world, and we need citizens of the world.” I | S
Learn to Speak a Language Walkertown Branch
Spanish—Beginner classes on Fridays at 4 p.m. and advanced classes on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. English-as-a-Second-Language classes on Tuesdays from 9:15-11:15 a.m. Russian—May 4 and 8 and June 1, 15 and 29 at 3:30 p.m. German—May 10 and 24 and June 7 and 21 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Zoom classes for Spanish, English as a Second Language (ESL), German and Russian Walkertown Branch
For more information or to register for any of the classes, please call 336-703-2990 or email tuchinnb@forsyth.cc.
14 INTERSECTIONS MAGAZINE
