Mme. Pebesma is a beloved teacher at North Park Secondary School who has been here for 34 of the 36 years she has officially been teaching. Her two teachables are French and English, however she usually teaches the grade 9 and 12 French courses. Even though both her parents were teachers, she was contemplating between becoming a teacher or lawyer, until she gained some teaching experience by helping her father teach summer school when she was 14. Mme. Pebesma explained that after the experience, she realized how much she loved teaching and interacting with the students, and that love is evident in her class.
Mme. Pebesma likes to incorporate life lessons into her teaching, especially with her grade 9 classes, in order to help guide them with their transition into highschool. Her goal for students is to build a strong foundation of French and gain confidence in themselves, saying, “I try my best to prepare my students to be the best that they can be; to be successful learners and good people. I want them to be well-prepared when they continue their French studies at university. Many of my grade 12 students are recommended to go directly into second year French.” Mme. Pebesma holds great appreciation for the Modern Languages department and her fellow teachers in the department, because of the hard work and dedication they put into creating a positive learning experience for their students.
Outside of school, Mme. Pebesma was usually kept busy taking care of her four children, however now that they are older, she enjoys spending any free time she has relaxing and hanging out with her friends. She also enjoys art, especially sculpting with clay and painting. Overall, Mme. Pebesma is proud to be a teacher and loves being able to come to school and teach everyday.
THE NORTH STAR 