Helen Watson - Spanish
I graduated from UC, Davis with a B.A. in English Literature in 2002, and then transferred to Sacramento State and received a M.A. in English Literature as well. During college, I worked part time as a gymnastics coach for children and adolescents for eight years and absolutely loved the experience. After earning my Masters of Arts degree in English, I decided to move to Madrid, Spain, to study Spanish and experience living in another culture. I taught Spanish children and business people conversational English. I loved my job…it was great to really get to know so many people from another country and culture. At first I planned to stay in Spain for only six months, but after the first six months, I decided that I could not leave! I felt that I had so much more to learn and experience and I loved my life. I lived with a very nice Spanish woman, and we spoke Spanish together at home. We became very good friends, and she helped me feel part of her family while I was so far from home. I also studied Spanish formally in a Spanish language academy, and met a lot of other nice foreigners along the way.
Two years later I was very confident speaking and writing in Spanish, and I was ready to come back home to California. I immediately started looking for a job as a teacher, but this time I wanted to teach Spanish instead of English. I started teaching Spanish at The Phoenix Schools, Folsom Elementary in September 2006, just two months after arriving home from Spain. I feel very lucky to be part of The Phoenix Schools team and to be doing something that I really enjoy. I am very excited to be the Spanish teacher for Kindergarten through 6th grade, and to have the opportunity to pass along some of my passion for learning about the Spanish language and culture to children.
