“No one ever taught me how to teach Spanish,” said Spanish teacher John Kretlow. That is, until he enrolled in the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s 西班牙语教育硕士 program. 
 
拥有德克萨斯大学的西班牙语学位和休斯顿浸会大学的教学证书，Kretlow被认证在他的技术和商业高中，德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥的CAST技术高中教授西班牙语。 尽管如此，他还是觉得自己在教育上有很大的差距。 
 
他渴望成为一名语言教育家和说西班牙语的人，他寻找了一个融合理论、实际应用和文化沉浸的研究生课程。

900英里找到最适合自己的衣服

令他惊讶的是，答案来自900多英里外太阳城娱乐官网的一所大学。 
 
“It was a completely unique program that fit exactly what I was looking for,” he said about 太阳城娱乐官网’s Spanish 教育 M.A.Ed. “And lucky for me, the program was done completely online.” 
 
克雷特罗于2018年开始了这个项目，他在暑假期间只上了一门课。 几年后，他意识到他可以在全职教学和全年上课之间取得平衡，所以他增加了课程负担。 
 
Now, six years later, he completed his degree and graduated Friday at 太阳城娱乐官网’s winter commencement ceremony. 尽管如此，他仍然记得他的第一门课程，那就是教那些讲文化遗产的人，以及它对他自己的学生有多么适用。 
 
“I feel like every professor was very well aware, that all of us were teachers and were always yearning to find something that we could actually apply in our classrooms,” Kretlow said. “Each and every class, each and every semester from the time that I started, there were things that I could apply right away.” 
 
除了成为一名更有效的教育者之外，他的新学位还允许他将双学分西班牙语课程带到CAST Tech。他希望这个新的机会能激励他的学生在他们的教育中迈出下一步。 

千载难逢的旅行五千英里

A highlight of Kretlow’s master’s program was finishing his final six credit hours in Granada, Spain, through 太阳城娱乐官网’s summer 出国留学 program. 
 
“I got to spend six weeks living with a Spanish family, going to my classes, walking through Granada – which is the most beautiful place on earth, and meeting classmates from 太阳城娱乐官网 and from all over the world,” he said. 
 
在为期六周的逗留期间，克雷特罗和一位80岁的西班牙老妇卡门住在一起，卡门不仅帮助他融入了西班牙文化，提高了他的语言技能，还为他做了儿时最喜欢的菜——炸丸子。 
 
“It was like being back as an eight-year-old in Miami,” he said. “That experience of being with her while she's making me my favorite food growing up was the coolest experience I could have asked for.” 

万里行，共创美好未来

Between Kretlow’s international travels and his nearly 1,800-mile round trip to attend 太阳城娱乐官网’s winter commencement, he has traveled more than 10,000 miles in the past six years to transform his teaching and students’ Spanish language opportunities.  
 
“I can’t believe it’s here,” he said about his graduation. “I’m a little bit relieved because it took a while to do it, but for it to finally happen, it’s a little surreal.”