The Fort Bend Independent School District has announced its FBISD Bilingual Teacher of the Year and its English as a Second Language Teacher of the Year. John De La Cruz, a fourth-grade bilingual education teacher at Seguin Elementary School, was named the FBISD Bilingual Teacher of the Year; and Julia Beltran, who teaches ESL classes at Schiff Elementary School, was named the FBISD ESL Teacher of the Year.
De La Cruz has seven years of teaching experience and has taught bilingual education for four years in FBISD. He obtained his Bachelors of Science Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Houston, and is married with one daughter.
Beltran is a 20-year teaching veteran and has been with FBISD for two years teaching ESL classes. She has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Elementary Education and is certified in ESL, elementary self-contained, health, and physical education.
Both were honored by the Houston Area Association for Bilingual Education at its recent awards banquet, during which Beltran was named the Houston ESL Teacher of the Year. Beltran will go on to compete in the Texas Association for Bilingual Education’s Teacher of the Year competition.
What an honor for these teachers! Hopefully the day will come when the parents of these kids who “immigrate” to our country will have the decency to learn our language so these kids won’t need to take an ESL class.
A heart felt congratulations John & Julia!