TOLEDO, Ohio — Escuela SMART Academy is the only bilingual school in the Toledo Public Schools system.
TPS is recognizing educators in the district for Teacher Appreciation Day on Wednesday and is highlighting teachers who help students learn both English and Spanish.
Kelvin Santiago, who teaches third through sixth-grade Spanish, has been an educator at Escuela for six years.
He says it warms his heart to share his talents with his students.
"We teach basic lesson Spanish classes but we also teach basic literature. It means that we read in Spanish," he said. "We teach short novels, short stories and we also teach the basics of Spanish.
It means we teach nouns, we teach how to conjugate verbs, how to use adjectives in Spanish."
Santiago says Escuela has an average of 20-25 students in each class.
"I'm a born teacher," he said. "I like to interact with students. I like to explain things. I like to summarize the material for them to learn better. I don't mind to be asked the same every day or to repeat it every single day."
Crystal Mosqueda teaches preschool through third grade at Escuela. Her heart is in TPS not only because she has children of her own in the district, but because she is an alumna.
"It's really important for me because I learned Spanish as a second language," she said. "To be able to share what I spent so many years learning with other students and to be able to use it with the native Spanish speakers is a lot of fun."
Mosqueda said being an educator at Escuela is special because of the bonds she is able to build with students.
"I'm really glad to be here," she said. "A lot of our teachers, we work really hard together. For families that are new to the area that are looking for a nice quality school, this is a great place to come."
Escuela also holds afterschool classes for parents of students who are learning English.