Are there other ways Hispanic culture can be honored outside of festivals? Financial Mathematics teacher Aaron Weiner prioritizes his Spanish-speaking students’ needs by making every effort to ensure inclusivity in his classes. 

With a significant number of non-native English speakers in his classroom, Weiner frequently relies on Google Translate to create worksheets needed in his class for his students. However, three weeks ago, one of his students expressed their concerns over mistranslated papers. 

Weiner immediately stepped into action and reached out to Middle Years Program Coordinator Elisha Ruiz who directed him to the Spanish Honor Society. With the help of the Spanish Honor Society, the mistranslated papers are now being reviewed and given a more accurate translation. 

When asked about the motivation behind his initiative, Weiner said, “At some point, everybody hits a wall in education, … but it shouldn’t be because no one’s giving you the information in your own language. That shouldn’t be the reason.” Weiner felt that all of his students deserved an equal opportunity to learn, regardless of the language they speak. 

Praising Weiner’s approach, Vice President of the Spanish Honor Society, Senior Cristopher Alvarado said, “That’s pretty cool, because he’s probably the first teacher that has come to us [and said], ‘I know you guys are doing this [for] a lot of people, so I want you guys to help me.’” 

Moving forward, Weiner aspires to have an entirely translated course that’d be equally accessible to both native Spanish and English speakers with the aim to have it distributed in high schools around the county. He said, “That way, anybody who takes the course, who is an EML Spanish speaker, can also take the course in Spanish.”

It is beyond question that Weiner’s efforts and initiatives to create equal opportunities have valued his Spanish-speaking students. The Current is glad to have a teacher as remarkable as Weiner!