Cultural Educator of the Year
Leticia Rodriguez - Va. Outstanding Cultural Educator
"I love when my kids, parents or colleagues ask me why I do something different. That is how they become aware of the existence of different people and ideas outside of their country. My students are becoming more open minded. Living abroad is one of the most valuable experiences that a person can have."

Leticia Rodriguez Garcia • Spain Spain
Virginia Oustanding Cultural Educator

Spanish teacher
Seldens Landing Elementary ▪ Loudoun County Schools, Virginia

This creative second-term VIF teacher, who taught last year at Pinebrook Elementary, integrates her Spanish culture into everyday teaching. Rodriguez’s activities cart is decorated with colorful posters, with time zone maps, pictures of people labeled in Spanish with their occupations, and currency from Spain. Students are engaged by her passion for her homeland and her willingness to share her culture with them. They enjoy learning how to convert euros to dollars and relish the opportunity to learn about the food, music and other cultural items Rodriguez brings to share her experiences with them.

When Rodriguez realized her students had a lot of questions about Hispanic and other cultures, she turned it into a project. Each week, her students must come up with a culture-related question (For example: Can I use dollars in Spain? Does the king in Spain live in a fairy-tale castle? Why does my teacher have two last names?), and try to find the answers, aided by their parents and other teachers. In class, students share their questions and the answers they’ve found. At the end of the year, she creates a PowerPoint presentation in Spanish to review and reinforce everything the students have discovered.

Luisa Quintero, Foreign Language Teacher and Mentor, Pinebrook Elementary:

“Leticia Rodriguez is passionate about international education and has excelled in her school and community. Her work in Loudoun County has been exemplary, and she has proven to have passion, initiative and intellectual creativity in delivering cultural awareness to her students along with the Spanish lessons.”