Glen Rock High School welcomed a new English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher this school year.

Lucy Dolin started her teaching career in 2003, as a substitute teacher in Glen Rock, before moving onto ESL for K-12 students in both urban and suburban settings. Most recently, she taught at Manchester Regional High School and taught English in China in summer 2016.

Dolin also worked as a Spanish long-term substitute at Hamilton and Coleman elementary schools.

“I’m thrilled and humbled to be teaching at the second best high school in the state of New Jersey,” she said. “I love the students and the staff.”

Dolin was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and traveled throughout South America and Europe, where she began learning foreign languages at a young age.

“[This] taught me an essential appreciation for different cultures and languages,” she said.

However, the idea to become an ESL teacher came to fruition when she went to her friend’s college class party.

“How it all came together was a matter of saying ‘yes’ to life,” she said.

At the party, she met Dr. Bruce Williams, the director of the ESL/Bilingual program at William Paterson University. Impressed by her background in language, Williams encouraged her to pursue an ESL certification.

While languages and cultures are her first love, her second passion is reading and writing. In fact, her first professional degree was in Journalism.

“The opportunity to teach the phonics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the English language and to apply the strategies of second language acquisition I have learned through my studies is a ‘perfect marriage,’” she said.

Even though Dolin has been living in Glen Rock for almost 26 years, she still felt nervous on her first day.

“Anything new is scary and exhilarating at the same time,” she said.

After returning to the Glen Rock school district, Dolin was quick to note the improvement in the school’s facilities and curriculum.

“The foreign language, arts, and foreign exchange programs were expanded, and you now have a wide variety of classes in every subject,” she said. “I wish I were a student and had the opportunity to learn all the cool things [these students] are learning.”

She promises to ensure academic success for her ELL (English Language Learner) students and hopes to instill a love of learning and an appreciation of all languages in her students.

“There is nothing more rewarding than seeing an ESL student come out of his or her shell after passing through the different phases of second language acquisition.”