Laughter flows out from the doors of Room 407, where new Spanish teacher Jarjour Hernandez’s students are competing in a heated game of word translation tic-tac-toe. Tiny bean bags fly across the room as classmates shout out the English translations of Spanish words while trying to land a three in a row.
Hernandez, who is teaching both Spanish 2 and 3 classes in his first year at the school, grew up in Mexico and lived there until he was 15. Hernandez was immersed in his vibrant native culture and native language. After moving to the U.S., Hernandez’s family settled in San Diego, where he eventually attended UC San Diego as a Biology major.
“It wasn’t my dream to teach,” Hernandez said. “I noticed there was a need for tutoring. I started enjoying helping students speak Spanish and explaining the basics.”
Through a tutoring program at college, Hernandez soon discovered his love for teaching and helping others, especially with Spanish, leading him to change his major to Spanish Literature. He decided to further his studies by getting a Master’s in Education from the University of San Diego.
After finishing his degree, Hernandez began his student teaching career at Chula Vista High and Lewis Middle, both located near San Diego. He then transferred to University Preparatory Academy, a charter school located in San Jose, where he taught Spanish 1, Spanish 2 and AP Spanish Literature.
Now, four years into his teaching career, Hernandez is continuing to educate students about Spanish language at SHS, particularly about the culture of Spanish-speaking countries.
“I feel like there’s so much to know about the different countries that speak the language,” Hernandez said. “It’s not just about learning verbs or vocab. It’s also learning about the cultures of different countries.”
Some of the countries his class explores include Guatemala and Peru. Hernandez, who had visited both countries, wanted to share his experiences with his class by incorporating lessons about Mayan and Andean traditions.
“I’ve been to Guatemala and Peru myself, and they are both beautiful. If I ever had the opportunity to take my students there, I would definitely do it,” Hernandez said. “By highlighting countries like these, I hope that my students will be able to see the cultural richness and diversity of the Spanish-speaking world.”
In his class, Hernandez also focuses on the importance of balancing activities with classwork. He loves incorporating games into his lessons to make the class more interactive and engaging.
Some games that he introduced to his classes at his old school included verb conjugation Jenga, where students must correctly conjugate a verb before removing a Jenga block. He also uses online trivia games like Kahoot!, Gimkit and Blooket to make learning more interactive.
Outside of the classroom, Hernandez enjoys spending time with his two dogs, Cocoapuff and Lily, and going on daily 30 minute walks with them at Central Park.
In the future, Hernandez plans to incorporate additional learning platforms into his learning, including Señor Wooly, an interactive Spanish-learning website, in the coming years. Hernandez also hopes to inspire his students to be confident while learning a new language.
Ultimately, one of Hernandez’s biggest goals is to inspire students to travel to Spanish-speaking countries and be able to speak the language while they are there by spending hours on creating specified lesson plans and grading papers.
“Hopefully, in the future, they get to visit those amazing places and use the language that we learn in class,” Hernandez said. “I think that’s one of the rewards as a teacher.”
