HAMILTON - When Clara Beacon became the first Spanish teacher in the Waikato she taught only 10 students and created her own curriculum.
Two years later, in 1995, the Hillcrest High School teacher helped the Ministry of Education develop its Spanish curriculum. She also had to move into abigger classroom to cater for growing class numbers.
This year, Spanish is the school's most popular language and Mrs Beacon teaches 180 students.
In the past seven years no one in her class has failed, while sixth-former Sheela Upriti came first in New Zealand for School Certificate Spanish, with a mark of 98 per cent. Sheela is a New Zealand-born Indian who speaks Hindi at home.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Education's international language adviser Jeanne Gilbert and Spanish language adviser Elena Garcia presented Sheela with a New Zealand Association of Language Teachers special award.
Sheela says Spanish is "cool and romantic" and her teacher, who was born in Argentina, is "like a walking dictionary."
Ms Gilbert said that because New Zealand was one of the few countries without an international language policy, it was up to teachers like Mrs Beacon to entice students to take a language as an option.
Mrs Beacon has not only enticed students to learn Spanish, she has taken language courses for teachers and now six other Waikato schools teach Spanish.
She also organised the first Spanish camp in New Zealand and the first exchange programme, taking Waikato students to St Patrick School in Argentina for four weeks every year.
"It's been hard work but Spanish is my life. I like to see others become enthusiastic about the language."
She says Spanish is spoken by more than 400 million people in 22 different countries.
