Hello, my name is...
Reed Aubin
Contact:
[email protected] (best way)
360.379.0808 (voicemail)
About me and my classes:
I enjoy working with young people and getting to know them. I love Spanish language and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, with a special affinity for tacos, music, and dancing. Learning Spanish and other languages has set me off on mind-blowing adventures throughout the world, and made my life way more fun. I enjoy sharing this enthusiasm with my students and the community.
I am a PTHS grad (class of 1998); I studied 3 years of Spanish at PT and traveled to Argentina as an exchange student for my junior year. I majored in Anthropological Linguistics at Brown University, where I also studied French and Mandarin Chinese, and completed a minor in Playwriting. Throughout my 20s, I lived and worked in Latin America (Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala...).
I got my start in teaching at a bilingual high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2009, where I worked closely with parents and community members, many of whom were from Latin America. I ran the school kitchen and learned to cook Mexican food from parents who would help cook for community feasts.
Moving back to WA state in 2013, I managed the education programs for local nonprofit North Olympic Salmon Coalition, and spearheaded the Real Learning Real Work program, which continues at Blue Heron Middle School. I taught for 4 years at Chimacum High School, and in 2019, made the switch back to my alma mater. At Chimacum I developed the TACO program (Teaching Academics through Culinary Opportunities), a food-focused curriculum that continues at PTHS. Students plant, tend, harvest, prepare, and eat traditional foods of the Spanish-speaking world, as they study the lives and language of those carry the legacy of these amazing dishes.
Through my career, I have also taught French, English Language Arts, English as a Second Language, History, Science, Art, Cooking, and Gardening. I play various musical instruments and enjoy a wide variety of music. In my classes, I try to connect students with both broad and deep experiences of Latin American cultures. I teach with a communicative approach, rather than focus on grammar and memorization: we interact constantly in class, using the language to communicate, rather than striving to analyze the grammar. This approach is informed by recent research in Second Language Acquisition and its effectiveness is well documented.
I live in Port Townsend with my wife Sarah, and our daughter Ruby who was born in July 2020.
Please contact me, or take a look at my Classroom Wish List, for ways to help! Gracias!