By Joshua Galvan Colunga
Herbert Julian Velez is the new Spanish teacher in room 130.
Velez got into teaching when he was seventeen. He said it’s part of his heritage and his passion.
“All my family, my grandparents, parents, uncles, are teachers,” Velez said.
Originally from Cali, Colombia, he is excited to teach others how to speak his native language.
“I want to share all my experience with the students,” he said.
One of Velez’s goals for his first school year at Riverside is for all his students to understand at least thirty to fifty percent of Spanish.
One challenge he’s encountered is teaching students how to learn a second language because his degree and previous teaching experience is in math.
Outside of school, Mr. Velez coaches soccer and swimming. He himself also swims, but he had to stop because of an arm injury.
One piece of advice he has for students is to keep working hard to get through difficult times.
“This life is only one,” he said. “People have bad days and good days. It’s only 24 hours.”
