Sra. Cristina Niculescu will teach Spanish II and IV at Jesuit High School starting in fall of 2021. Sra. Niculescu taught at Portland State University, Portland Community College and Lewis and Clark College for 12 years before coming to Jesuit this summer. 

“I am very excited about the energy of younger students since I have only taught college students and I feel like the energy is different and I am excited to learn from them,” Niculescu said. 

She also added that you can talk about “history, art or music” when teaching and learning Spanish and can’t wait to teach Jesuit students and expand her curiosity at Jesuit High School this fall.

“I am curious about everything so when I am teaching or talking to people or whatever it is, any person, any class, any topic, it can be interesting if you go deep enough and that’s what makes Spanish so interesting.”

Full Interview Transcript (edited lightly for length and content)

How long have you been teaching?

12 years

Where have you taught prior to Jesuit?

I taught at PSU, PCC and Lewis and Clark college. All neighboring colleges. All in Portland.

What classes will you teach this year?

Spanish II and Spanish IV

What excites you about teaching at Jesuit?

I am very excited about the energy of younger students since I have only taught college students and I feel like the energy is different and I am excited to learn from them.

What should the Jesuit community know about you?

I am curious about everything so when I am teaching or talking to people or whatever it is, any person, any class, any topic, it can be interesting if you go deep enough and that’s what makes Spanish so interesting. In Spanish you can talk about history, art or music and that is very interesting to me.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

It was actually a friend of mine that told me something that she has learned: that all attempts at communication are really really hard and everyone is trying their best to communicate and I feel like it really helps me teach.