Brooke Ent, German

With an opening for a German teacher in LHS coming up at the end of the last school year, new teacher Brooke Ent was eager to fill the position. Although she never attended Londonderry herself, LHS’ reputation precedes its community making an impression on neighboring towns, such as Ms. Ent’s hometown.

“I grew up in Derry but I worked [in Londonderry] all throughout highschool and college at a diner called the Bacon Barn,” Ent said. “So I had that connection and I’ve always wanted to teach highschool, that’s always been the goal. I like teenagers, I think they are the best age group to work with.”

Although Ent has taught in college in schools like UNH, this is her first position as a highschool teacher and is excited to see what this year brings, as well as teaching something that she is so passionate about.

“I love German, I love it,” Ent said. “German classrooms have always been my home and a safe place, it’s been 15 years in the making I’ve been learning this language. So being able to give that same experience to others and guide them through it is really exciting.”

Since this is Ent’s first year teaching her own class, she has set simple goals for herself and students to make class as successful and stress free as possible.

“My goal is to get through it,” Ent said. “I feel like after last year that’s the best we can ask for. I also have an advantage being the only German teacher, so when I get my kids I get them for as many years as they want to learn German for. So getting to know my students really well is going to be very important for me.”

Being the only German teacher in the school can be hard, but because the language is a passion for Ent, she sees this challenge as an incentive to make this year great for her class.

“I want to try to make things fun and meaningful for my students,” Ent said. “I just want to connect that way, I want to be able to get to know my students on an individual level.”

Ent is determined to make her students fall in love with the language like she did, so she wants to use her, and her student’s hobbies, and incorporate different activities into her daily class.

“German is an extra fun one,” Ent said. “You get to compare everything to what we do in America. So we can kind of constantly get to make those comparisons and contrast them, so I’m sure there’s a way to bring mine and other people’s interests into the class.”

Finding Ent’s passion for German came easy to her after having her 6th grade German teach Mr. Phillion. He has inspired her greatly and they still stay in touch today. Ent hopes to be this figure in one of her student’s lives and hopes to have the message spread about her German class.

“I’m hoping that everyone spreads the word about how awesome German is and how awesome I am,” Ent said. “I’m also hoping that soon I’ll have a large schedule overflowing with German students.”

While entering a new year and coming out of the remote and hybrid models, Ent knows how difficult it is to adjust. So one lesson she really wants all of her students to take away is to be okay with messing up and not always succeeding.

“Make mistakes,” Ent said. “All of them, make as many as you possibly can. I make mistakes everyday in my class, you can make mistakes, it’s okay too.”