access to the most relevant and high demand languages in our global community
World Languages
“With 75% of the world’s population being non-English speakers, the goal of our world languages department is to help our students be engaged, productive citizens of a global community.” - Vanessa Giuliani, Department Chair
Walking through the academic buildings at Christ School is a little like stepping into another part of the world. Beginning through advanced levels of Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese can be heard in several areas of the campus. Students are offered courses of study through AP in Spanish and Level 4 in both Mandarin and Arabic. Students are also afforded the opportunity to elect more than one language of study as an elective course. Christ School is dedicated to providing our students with access to the most relevant and high demand languages in our global community.
Mandarin
Our department’s incorporation of Mandarin Chinese, the most widely spoken native language in the world, assists our students in connecting with the world’s most populous nation, as well as influential Chinese communities in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
“Arabic and Mandarin have been two of the most challenging classes that I have taken at Christ School. Mrs. Chung has taught us very quickly to carry on a basic conversation in Mandarin. I don’t know what career I want to pursue in the future, but I am sure that these two languages will help me.” –Duncan Jones ’16
Arabic
A number of developing nations are located in Northern Africa, many of which are Arabic-speaking. Our students are not only taught how to speak, read, and write Arabic, but they also learn the social nuances, customs, and traditions of those nations.
As a result of taking Jennifer MacDonald’s Arabic class, two students have studied abroad at Kings Academy in Jordan, two have attended the Middlebury Summer program with an earned scholarship, and another attended the State Department funded Morocco Summer Immersion on a full scholarship.
Spanish
Students have the opportunity each summer to develop their global language skills beyond the classroom through a Spanish immersion program at a language institute in Salamanca. Salamanca is home to Spain's oldest and most prestigious university, the University of Salamanca.
In this three-week study abroad experience, the students stay with Spanish families, attend four hours of class daily, and participate in tours, excursions, and workshops. There are afternoon activities and weekend excursions to Madrid, the beach in Portugal, and a bull farm owned by a famous matador.
Students make friends from around the world while also being fully immersed in the Spanish language. This program is also designed to teach diplomacy in international relations.
News from the World Languages Department
Meet the Faculty
Jameel Brenneman is a jack-of-all-trades and has gotten a chance to show that versatility in his time at Christ School. Mr. Brenneman joined the faculty in 2018 as an English and Arabic instructor. He has also coached soccer, tennis, and assisted with the Christ School Broadcast Network (CSBN).
Mr. Brenneman graduated in 2012 from Indiana’s Huntington University with a degree in broadcasting before getting a master's in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan four years later. His interest in the Middle East stems from the fact that his mother’s side of the family is from Palestine.
Mr. Brenneman’s introduction to boarding school came with two years at The Stony Brook School in Long Island. He also wore many hats there, including teacher, coach, and dorm parent.
Mr. Brenneman was excited to move to North Carolina, in large part because he is a big fan of barbecue, so much so that he and his brother took a 10-day culinary road trip across North Carolina and South Carolina during the summer of 2018. His other interests include sports, music, and crossword puzzles. His wife's name is Amy.
Patrick Dansdill earned the “Most Respected” award from his Wheaton College (Ill.) football coaches and teammates in 2013.
They were onto something.
Mr. Dansdill has distinguished himself the past decade with a willingness to explore many different courses in K-12 education. He joined Christ School's faculty in 2022 as a Spanish instructor and assistant football coach.
Mr. Dansdill graduated from Wheaton with a B.A. in Elementary Education.
He has previously worked with students in Art, Business, English, Math, Music, Physical Education, Science, and Social Studies. Mr. Dansdill's last teaching job before Christ School was at Hall Fletcher Elementary School in Asheville.
Steven Kramer specializes in Spanish and was formerly a court interpreter in Spain. But his vast knowledge of World Languages extends to German, Italian, Russian, Dutch, and Galician as well.
Mr. Kramer has been a Spanish instructor and Outdoor Program coach at Christ School since 2019.
He Kramer spent two years aboard as a teaching assistant and was a teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina for the 2018-19 school year. He graduated with a B.S. in Spanish and International Business, with a minor in German from College of Charleston in 2014. Mr. Kramer went on to earn a master's degree in Linguistics from UNC in 2019.
His wife's name is Beth.
Ana Speyer believes an effective World Languages curriculum accomplishes two things: students increase their fluency and gain a deeper appreciation for the heritages and cultures they study.
Ms. Speyer is a new Spanish instructor at Christ School.
She was born and raised in Mexico, graduating from Mexico City’s Instituto Politécnico Nacional with an undergraduate and master’s degree in the field of tourism.
Ms. Speyer eventually found her true calling in the classroom and earned her K-12 teaching certificate from New Jersey’s Georgian Court University/Thomas Edison University in 2013. She moved to North Carolina two years later.
Her teaching experience includes work at two Asheville area high schools - T.C. Roberson and A.C. Reynolds.
One of Ms. Speyer’s favorite quotes comes from late civil rights activist Nelson Mandela: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
Outside of teaching, Ms. Speyer likes meditation, reading, and nature walks. She has two sons, Josh and Aaron.
Residing on campus and the daily ebb and flow of boarding school are part of what drew Wenshun Tang to Christ School.
Mr. Tang teaches in the World Languages Department with his specialty being Mandarin.
Prior to Christ School, he spent time in Wuxi, China, teaching English and before that taught five levels of Mandarin, assisted with admissions, and served as a liaison to international families at Florida Prep Academy.
Mr. Tang received his B.A. in English from Nanjing Normal University in China and his master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Vermont’s SIT Graduate Institute.
Mr. Tang lives on campus with his wife, Ying.
The sky over campus will never be the same after the introduction of the Robert Morgan '36 Aviation Program in October 2022.
For years, World Languages teacher Les Thornbury has regaled the boys with stories from his time as a Navy F/A 18C pilot. He and Stephen Hoffert P'26 now assist Greenies in logging their own hours in the school's plane, "Greenie 1."
The aviation program is named after a noted Christ School alumnus who flew the Memphis Belle in World War II.
Mr. Thornbury has been a member of the faculty since 2016 and graduated from VMI. Following his Navy career, he taught Spanish in Connecticut public schools for eight years, including a year as a Fulbright Exchange teacher in Mexico. In addition to his Spanish classes, Mr. Thornbury is a coach with Christ School's Outdoor Program.
He became a professional standup paddleboarder in 2018.
