KWLA Recognizes Three Fayette Teachers

The Kentucky World Language Association recently saluted three teachers in Fayette County Public Schools during its annual conference:

• Outstanding Rising Star Teacher -- Hailey Hockensmith of Lafayette High School
• Chinese Teacher of the Year -- Yanhong Zheng of Tates Creek Middle School
• French Teacher of the Year -- Tracy Lambert of Lafayette

The statewide honor that Hockensmith received goes to a teacher with no more than five years of experience who already has made a significant impact on their students by exhibiting best practices to an uncommonly high degree.

“I love teaching cultural aspects within units, for example, holidays and artwork. When we learn about families, it falls around the holiday Day of the Dead, so we have a mini fiesta and look at a ‘real’ ofrenda in the classroom. In the spring, we learn about Holy Week in Guatemala and create our own carpets that display colors and designs and reflect different stories within,” Hockensmith said. “My favorite is when students have a lightbulb moment or realization that languages are connected with each other. Whether it be cognates, the origin of words from Latin, and/or cultural similarities, I feel honored to be a part of bridging their knowledge with experiences and understandings. Simply, I love when I greet students in the hallways, and they greet me back in Spanish. This is probably one of my daily wins.”

Hockensmith earned a bachelor’s in Spanish Language and Literature and later a master’s degree in Teaching World Languages from the University of Kentucky. After a year working in Boone County, she shifted in 2023 to Lafayette, where she teaches Spanish 1 and 2.

Before joining TCMS, Zheng taught at Veterans Park Elementary, Winburn Middle, Bryan Station High, and Southern Middle schools. “Through world language learning, my students can open their minds to be willing to search for more chances for their future life and have the thoughts of tolerance and acceptance of diversity,” she said. “My students can take away long-life learning Chinese skills and become a global citizen to build up their own family and serve their communities.”

Lambert is in her 25^th year at Lafayette, where she has taught her entire career. “I love to find new, creative techniques to engage the students, and I enjoy making new manipulative to reinforce their skills,” she said. “My hope for my students is that in 10 years, when someone tells them, ‘I took French in high school and I don’t remember anything,’ that they will say, ‘I took French in high school, travelled to France, studied abroad, and I can still speak it fluently.’”