“Giving love constitutes in itself, giving education” words that the former first lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt said at the time. Today, this message resonates in the classroom of second grade teacher Xiomara González.
“Children’s minds are incredible, how they can be in one place and make a breakthrough in such a short time, it’s something very exciting and it’s the reason why I come to work every day,” he says. voice of america the teacher Xiomara González.
Originally from El Salvador, the young teacher works at the ‘Bel Pre Elementary School’ in Montgomery County in Maryland, a county whose Hispanic student population exceeds any other.
The educator indicates that more than 80% of her students are learning English as a second language and being bilingual has allowed her to have a better connection with her students and with their parents.
“Being able to have that connection with the parents is very good, because they understand what I am asking the children in English and I tell them, this is what it means in Spanish and that way they can learn more and make those connections.” Gonzalez says.
The minds of children are incredible, how they can be in one place and make a breakthrough in such a short time, it is something very exciting and it is the reason why I come to work every day”.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on children’s educational development. According to Xiomara, the work with minors must be constant. “It is very worrying as a teacher because there are children who, at this point in the school year… there are children who are still reading at the kindergarten level and go to third grade, and in third grade it is already a requirement that they know how to read well and can read to learn”.
“It is very worrying as a teacher because there are children who at this point in the school year are reading at the kindergarten level and are going to third grade, and in third grade it is already a requirement that they know how to read well and can read to learn.” However, the educator considers that through the work with the students and the educational strategies, many will be able to catch up.
Through pencil, paper, colors, shapes, addition and subtraction, Xiomara González or Miss González, as her young students call her, hopes to instill in her children a love of learning, a curiosity for what is new and the importance of knowledge.
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