By Angel Guo ’22 and Jessica Wu ’22
Mrs. Beth Peters was introduced to Choate by Mr. Charlie Long, a Spanish teacher at Choate, whom she met while working on her master’s degree one summer at Middlebury College, in Vermont. A year later, while she was living in Spain, Mr. Long asked her to substitute for another Spanish teacher taking a one-year leave of absence. Rather than temporarily filling in a job for a year, Mrs. Peters eventually ended up staying at Choate for 32 years. Mr. Long described her as “a talented speaker of Spanish with a tremendous insight into the language and culture of Spain.”
During her time at Choate, Mrs. Peters was the head of the Spanish Section for three years. In this position, she reviewed new texts for lower-level classes and organized a day trip to visit the Goya exhibition in Boston. In addition, she created the SP450 sequence — a fourth-year honors literature course — for students to learn more about Spanish literature before proceeding to the AP-level Spanish course previously offered at Choate. She also created the SP 511/512/513 cinema course, which exposed students to a variety of Spanish films from the 1950s and 1960s.
When asked what she liked most about teaching at Choate, Mrs. Peters said, “I love seeing students’ faces when they realize that they can communicate in another language. I also love seeing students inspired or moved by literature and cinema in Spanish.”
Her dedication to her teaching and love for her students was obvious; after breaking her arm this fall, she held class in her living room at home. Allyson Alavez ’22 said, “Every class, without fail, she would have a snack waiting for the class on her coffee table. Once we went back to our regular classroom, she still continued to do this.”
Esi Dunyoh ’20, who took Mrs. Peters’s Latin American Literature course, added, “Mrs. Peters showed me how to read more efficiently in Spanish but to also be all right with taking risks. She encouraged me to speak even when I wasn’t sure of the terminology or sentence structure. I really appreciated my time with her.”
In addition to helping to make great advancements in the language department, Mrs. Peters was also heavily involved with the Choate community. She served as a house adviser in the Health Center for three years when it served as a dormitory, Lewis House for nine years, and Nichols for three years. She also coached archery, even though she’d practice archery only during her time at summer camp. She made up for her inexperience by taking various workshops and adult lessons before the archery season began each year. Mrs. Peters also volunteered as a judge for the Choate Debate Team, tutored inmates at the Cheshire Correctional Institution along with other Choate students, and drove Choate students to Master’s Manna and the Wallingford Boys and Girls Club.
After leaving Choate, Mrs. Peters — who is a certified Spanish/English federal court interpreter — hopes to continue her previous career in translation and interpretation, working closely with organizations that promote better lives for people with disabilities.
Reflecting on her time at Choate, Mrs. Peters said, “It has been a joyful experience. I’ve enjoyed having the freedom to teach what I think is important and the liberty to create new courses with the support of the School.”
