Teacher spotlight: Angela Mejicanos

Engaging students in a foreign language is Angela Mejicanos’ specialty at the Out-of-Door Academy lower campus. As the Spanish teacher for grades pre-K through fifth grade and the director for community service, Mejicanos comes up with creative solutions to keep students engaged. 

She keeps a jar of beans on her desk. Mejicanos incorporated the beans into her lessons through a book “Pedro and his Loco Beans.”

“It’s about a little boy who visits his grandfather’s ranch in Mexico with jumping beans,” Mejicanos said. “It’s one of my tricks that I pull out of my hat, and that’s got to be my favorite one.” 

In an attempt to encourage students to speak more Spanish, Mejicanos sent each student home with a bag of Mexican jumping beans. But first she explained to students that the beans only understand Spanish. 

Students were responsible for caring for the beans. Some parents told her that their child put their beans in a box next to their bed and they could overhear them speaking Spanish to the beans.

 “At this age they know several of the songs that I’ve taught them and some basic readings, and that’s pretty much the extent of their Spanish,” she said.

“At this age they know several of the songs that I’ve taught them and some basic readings, and that’s pretty much the extent of their Spanish.”

– Angela Mejicanos