The World Languages Department proudly welcomes Rosa Prada to the Albuquerque Academy team as a new Spanish teacher in the 8/9 division. Rosa has been teaching for about seven years. She has taught preschool, at a Jewish Temple in Santa Fe, Santa Fe public schools, Kindergarten, High School Spanish, Santa Fe Community College, and the University of New Mexico.

Rosa says she was drawn to the Academy by the values of the school, and when she was looking at the website, she saw something about sparking curiosity. “Making students part of the learning process, and making learning as organic as possible… I need that freedom,” says Ms. Prada. “I need that flexibility of creating a curriculum [that has] some structure but also some flexibility.” It was this that made her feel like she could be creative in an Academy classroom. Ms.Prada says that teaching during COVID is like a new adventure, and it is challenging. “Something that I love the most is being in the classroom and interacting with my students in person. So it has been challenging to talk to my students through a screen. I look forward to the day we can all meet in person.”

Ms. Prada was born and raised in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, so I asked her what drew her to Albuquerque. She came to New Mexico a few years ago to get her master’s degree at UNM in 2020. She also lived in Santa Fe for a few years. Ms. Prada spoke Spanish for most of her life, and didn’t learn English until she was an adult.

Ms. Prada has many hobbies that she enjoys, including dancing, hiking, cooking, traveling to other countries, and reading biographies. Though Ms.Prada says she doesn’t watch too many movies, she does enjoy documentaries. A documentary that particularly impacted Ms. Prada is called Waste Land because it made her think about the amount of garbage we produce. Although she loves cats and dogs, she doesn’t own any because she is allergic to them both, but she loves her friends’ cats.

Ms. Prada noted that she feels very welcome here at the Academy and that people have been supportive. She also says that the Academy is like a family and is a good community to be part of, and she is very fortunate to be here.