Holly Lopez

I taught in the classroom in the United State for over 20 years.  My first few years of teaching were in North Carolina in a bilingual classroom.  I taught First Grade and then Second Grade.  I also taught an adult class in the evenings.  I was nominated for the Sallie Mae Teacher of the Year Award in 1999.    I then moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I taught elementary Spanish to Kindergarten through Fifth grade students in the Fox Chapel Area School District.  I taught in all  4 buildings within the district, and I also taught High School (Spanish 4 and 6 honors) for one semester for a teacher who had become suddenly ill.  I wrote the Elementary Spanish Curriculum for the district in 2000 and revised it for them in 2010.  In 2006 a colleague and I won the PSMLA (Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association) best presentation award for our work on Podcasting with Peru.  I currently substitute teach for Kelly Services in Pennsylvania during the months of September through December.  I also have been tutoring and teaching online Spanish for the past 6 years.   I am a lifeguard and a surf instructor in Costa Rica, where I live 9 months a year.  I feel that my dual citizenship allows me to bring an authentic flavor and cultural experiences into my lessons.