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Frau/ Sra. Kopaz

It has been my privilege to teach the children from the Upper St. Clair community since 1999.  I look forward each year to sharing my love of languages, people & culture with my students. I hope that my students will love languages as much as I do and share their excitement in experiencing a new culture at home!  

 I speak German, Spanish & Italian and have taken a little Chinese as well!

 I earned a bachelor’s degree in German at Duquesne University and  a Master’s Degree in Teaching and Spanish certification at the University of Pittsburgh.  I spent a semester abroad studying in Firenze (Florence) Italy at Centro Linguistico Dante Alighieri, a summer at Cuahnáhuac in Cuernavaca, México, a summer at the University of Bonn, Germany & 2 weeks at the Colegio de España, Alicante, Spain. I worked for one summer at Bayer in Leverkusen, Germany.

I enjoy traveling & have traveled throughout Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, México & Japan. I taught German 1-3 and Spanish 1 in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and then began teaching at USC in 1999.  

At USC, I have taught  5th, 6th, 7th & 8th grade German , German 1, Passport to German, German 2 & German 3 and 6th, 7th & 8th grade Spanish as well as Introduction to Spanish, Spanish 1, Intermediate Spanish & Spanish 2.

In addition to teaching, I also help to coordinate both the Spanish and German (Gapp) exchanges. I co-sponsor German club and in the summers I teach at a local Language Camp.

  • One of the fantastic things about World Language is that WL is a real world skill that can be applied. There are amazing opportunities that you shouldn’t pass up! Please feel free to contact me for more information about opportunities to expand your language skills, cultural competence and international friendships.

               World Language Opportunities At Home:

    • USC German & Spanish Clubs
    • German Day Competition
    • Summer Language Camp (1st full week in August) www.languagecamps.org

               World Language Opportunities Abroad:

    • Exchange to Spain with Santa María de la Hispanidad in Madrid, Spain
    • German Exchange, or GAPP (German American Partnership Program) with Lise-Meitner High School in Leverkusen, Germany.

                       Live the Language: Even for those who are not able to travel abroad, I would encourage all students to surround themselves with the language by listening, reading, speaking & practicing. Listening/ watching can be done through TV or technology with movies, shows & music in the language. Books & magazines are available in the classroom as well as online. Speak with the exchange students when they visit. Don’t be afraid to take risks in speaking in class with your classmates & teacher. Why not order in the language at a restaurant and see how rewarding it is to speak another language?

                Opportunities for online practice:

    Dictionaries (Do not use translators, such as google translate!)

     German:  www.leodict.com              Spanish/ other languages: www.wordreference.com

     Vocabulary practice (German, Spanish +)

     www.linguascope.com  (see your teacher for current password)  

    www.quia.com/web -see Canvas/teacher for class specific page

     quizlet – see Canvas/teacher for class specific page

     Grammar

     https://german.net/exercises/                               www.studyspanish.com

     https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar          https://espanol.lingolia.com/en/

     Verb practice (both German and Spanish)

    www.conjuguemos.com                                       

     General Language Practice/proficiency                        

     German                                                                                 Spanish/French

    https://learngerman.dw.com/en/languages                   www.kwiziq.com

     
     
     
Last Modified on January 13, 2020