Des Moines, IA—The Iowa World Language Association (IWLA) is pleased to announce that the 2017 Michael Oates Teacher of Promise Award has been given to Elizabeth Schupp, a German language teacher at Timberline School in Waukee, IA. This award is conferred annually on students in teacher training programs or in early stages of their careers who have shown exceptional promise and potential to become outstanding world language educators. The award presentation was held during the luncheon of the 2017 Iowa World Language Association Annual Conference at the Des Moines Downtown Marriott in Des Moines, IA on Friday, October 13th. 

Ms. Schupp has studied music in Austria, taught English in Spain, and traveled extensively in Germany.   It is clear that in all of her travels, she has been an ambassador for crosscultural understanding and helping young people to see the utility of learning languages.  As her nominator said in the nomination letter, “She is a proud advocate for the German language, and she has thought through many ways to help students and community members to see how relevant it is.”  One of her colleagues said that her influence at the school has made students start to use “Frau” to refer to many of their non-German teachers.  As a German teacher, she looks forward to, as she said in her statement, “a long career growing strong language programs and impacting students’ lives.”  We are lucky to have her in our community of language teachers in Iowa.  

About IWLA
The Iowa World Language Association (IWLA) represents the more than 1200 world language educators in the state from all levels of instruction and representing all languages. The Iowa World Language Association (IWLA) is devoted to advancing the worldwide mission of education and world languages, literature and culture by promoting the study of world languages and cultures, promoting language curricula, from primary to post-secondary levels, to enable students to become proficient in the target language, and opening the doors for multilingual interaction with other cultures. More information can be found at www.iwla.net.

Pictured: Elizabeth Schupp