\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wfaa.com\/assets\/shared-images\/icons\/arrow-circle-down.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\nSix Spanish-born teachers will join the district this year, bringing the world to Arlington.<\/p>\n
ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 At schools like Thornton Elementary in Arlington, teaching kids Spanish would be easy if only you could take them directly to Spain.<\/p>\n
However, since that\u2019s physically and fiscally impossible, the district brought Spain to its students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the next best thing,\u201d Arlington ISD World Languages Director Jackeline Orsini said. \u201cHaving someone that comes from another nation opens their doors, their minds, their lens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n This story continues below.
<\/p>\n
Orsini said a lot of Arlington ISD students are part of a dual language program, meaning curriculum is taught to them in two languages. That\u2019s why the district just welcomed six new teachers straight from Spain.<\/p>\n
As part of a partnership between the United States and Spain, native Spaniards have been coming to America to teach for nearly four decades. Arlington ISD joined the program just a few years ago and said it\u2019s been profoundly life-changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re opening up the world,\u201d said Ruth Martin, a lead specialist in Arlington ISD\u2019s world languages program.<\/p>\n
Martin brought the program to Arlington three years ago and says she knows it\u2019s changed lives because it changed hers.<\/p>\n
This new group of teachers hopes it\u2019s a chance for them to grow, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to continue learning,\u201d fourth grade teacher Fernando Nieto Olmedo said.<\/p>\n
Administrators said it\u2019s a dream to welcome them. They said these teachers are among the best anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery opportunity is a dream because you have the opportunity to change your life,\u201d fourth grade teacher Andrea Villalba said.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll teach several things: math, science, reading, writing, but more importantly, they want to share their culture, its history and traditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a very good way to learn through learning about culture,\u201d teacher Marina Moya said. “It’s a dream come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we can enrich each other,\u201d Villalba said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like you have to capture kids’ hearts before you capture their minds,\u201d Orsini said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why, Orsini said, although they\u2019re here to teach, they\u2019re also here to discover: the kids, their culture, and their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is to listen,\u201d Olmedo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my biggest challenge,\u201d said Villalba.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou open your mind, you see different things,\u201d Moya said. \u201cI think that enriches you and lets you grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter where they come from, educators can change the world, not because they know how to teach, but because they understand we\u2019re at our best when we learn from each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six Spanish-born teachers will join the district this year, bringing the world to Arlington. ARLINGTON, Texas \u2014 At…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-398944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}