Streator Spanish teacher makes best of cancelled trip to Spain

Streator High School Spanish teacher Kristina McCormick was supposed to finish up graduate school in Spain over the summer but COVID-19 changed her plans in the same way it did for her students.

McCormick intended to take off for Alcalá de Henares in June, after the spring semester ended, but now she’s preparing to complete her summer semester abroad online.

“Traveling for the program is a good resource,” McCormick said. “It gives me the opportunity to have experiences I can relay to the kids; I can explain the culture through photos I took myself and through first-hand experiences. It’s not just from a textbook. It’s from someone who has been there.”

This would have been McCormick’s second trip to Spain and she said she was looking forward to re-immersing herself in their culture.

Life in Spain, McCormick said, is a bit slower paced than life in America.

“I learned a lot about their traditions in school, like siestas in the middle of the day, but going there and seeing full businesses close and workers going home to their families in the middle of the day is so different than reading about it in a book,” McCormick said. “I hope my students get to experience that some day, it’s really important to see.”

McCormick said the University of Alcalá in Spain is similar to Illinois State University; it’s a well-known institution for those who desire to become teachers.

McCormick said her traveling to Spain for school was made possible by the Richard J. Berry Returning Graduate award, which is given to students who graduate from Streator High School and return to Streator for work.

“Being able to bring the experiences I have in Spain to Streator is almost as good as traveling,” McCormick said. “That’s why I’m doing this master’s program. It helps better my classes and maybe the kids I help now can bring it back to this community later.”