"What's Cool in Your School?!" -- Expanding Horizons to Twitter at Aurora High

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AURORA, Neb.-- We here at NBC Nebraska are taking time to focus on the *positive things* going on in our area schools. In this week's "What's Cool in Your School?!" we head to Aurora High School.

Two years ago, the Spanish teachers at Aurora High wanted to take their own personal experiences and leave an impact on their students.

"Going into the store, if somebody had trouble talking to a store clerk, I was able to use what Spanish I had, and was able to help them with their transaction. I fell in love with that, and I wondered how could I get other students to do that," says Spanish teacher Kara McNeese.

In today's world, what better way to do that than social media?

"Most kids have these accounts and they're used to it, and they get to interact with it and get interested," says 10th grader Caleb Badura.

In this case, it's all about "#spanstuchat".

"People from all over the world come on and use the #spanstuchat and ask questions, and then we answer them in Spanish," says 12th grader Ashley Caudill.

"We get the kids online. We get them using them their proficiency skills and talking with people outside of the United States, outside of their state, we get them out of the comfort zone," says McNeese.

"Sometimes native speakers are on there from Honduras, Mexico, we've even had somebody from Spain on there. It's neat for them to see it actually does apply to the outside world and incorporates the culture," says Spanish teacher Rebecca Huls.

"They want you to understand the language and be immersed in the culture. Not everybody is just a sit down and listen sort of person. This is one way that they really get to expand their vocabulary and talk with people, not only this school and this country, but other native speakers across the world," says Bryce Sweeney, an 11th grader.

Even though this program is new to Aurora, teachers are finding the program stick, even after class.

"We're finding that they start to look beyond the incentive, and they start to come back," says McNeese.

"It's a way to cater to their lifestyle at the moment, and Twitter was one of the ways we chose to do that," says Huls.

So, "What's Cool in Your School?!" If you have something in your district you'd like to highlight, please let us know! You can contact me by email at Josh.Spreiter@NBCNeb.com with your idea. You may get the chance to have your students, faculty or program featured!