Exchange teachers from Spain open new world to their Dallas ISD students

At Chapel Hill Preparatory Academy in Dallas ISD, 2nd-grade teacher Laura Moreno teaches ESL, English as a Second Language.

That doesn’t just apply to her students; Moreno is from Spain.

“Well first of all, they’re where’s Spain,” Moreno said of her students’ curiosity.

Moreno and her husband, 5th grade math teacher Pere Valls, teach at the school through the Visiting International Teachers Program.

“They told us, you’re going to Dallas ISD,” Moreno said. “These big experiences, they take you out of the comfort zone and at the beginning it’s hard, but I think it’s an experience that makes you live life. I mean full life!”

“When you are traveling in another part of the world, you need to open your mind,” Valls said.

The couple is in their second year of a three-year contract with Dallas ISD. Both are from Spain. They have also done teacher exchanges in Reno and Las Vegas. By expanding their world, they are expanding their students’ world.

“They are happy to see someone from a different continent so far away,” Moreno said. “We bring them our culture, our expressions, our folklore, too.”

“I think they’re going to remember me more about soccer, and as a teacher, too, I hope,” Valls, a Barcelona fan, joked. They’re going to remember this for all their lives,” Moreno added.

The couple’s 2 children are going to the same school. Both were both in Reno, so they have dual citizenship. The cultural exchange has been eye-opening.

“The sizes of everything! The size, the car, the roads, the size of everything,” Moreno marveled. “Everything is huge here,” Valls added.

The couple hopes their time here encourages students to see the world as their classroom.