In order to graduate, students have to take two consecutive years of a language choosing between Spanish, French, or Chinese. At Jesuit, the students are taught the culture and the basics of speaking the language and may find it difficult to toggle between English and their chosen language.
But imagine having to learn a foreign language in a class where everyone is speaking another foreign language?
That was the case for Spanish teacher, Señora Niculescu, who had to learn Spanish while also learning English when she moved from Romania.
Niculescu has been with the Jesuit community for 3 years, working as a Spanish teacher. While students stress of their tongues being tied between Spanish and English, Niculescu moved to Dallas Texas from Romania when she was 10 years old with her younger sister. She was put into an ESL class, where all the students had Spanish as their first language. Niculescu felt as though she had to learn Spanish before she learned English to be able to communicate with her classmates. She was exposed to Mexican and Spanish culture and found the language came easy to her.
In other classes such as Math or English, “I would just start writing in Romanian,” Niculescu said.
Niculescu began to learn English, but returned to her love for the Spanish language when she arrived in high school, continuing to flourish in the culture and the ease of speaking the language.
Niculescu kept her love for speaking Spanish throughout college, being able to double major in physiology and Spanish.
After college, Niculescu found her way into teaching when PSU offered her the opportunity to teach a Spanish class. “It was really hard at first because I had no training and education,” Niculescu recalled.
But her love for the language helped find her love for the job as well starting off on her 15 year profession.
“So I started it not really trying to go into teaching. But now I’m like, this job is amazing,” Niculescu said.
Outside her career, Niculescu enjoys traveling, including trips to Barcelona and Puerto Rico.
Niculescu has found a way to bring people together through her art, specifically performance and installation art out of spaces or activities. She focuses her art on making people feel something mentally or physically.
One example was an open space piece at the art gallery of Pacific Northwest College of Art, where people experience acts of kindness by having their feet washed or having specially prepared fruits given to them. Having these acts of kindness done right in front of the audience positively affects them, reducing anxiety. Niculescu adds her artistic touch to making the scenery of the room, having the audience walk into a dimly lit room with soft curtains and blue lighting.
Niculescu describes the audience’s reaction to the service as they were given food specially prepared or had their feet cleaned.
“But people were like, Oh my gosh, I have never had somebody do that for me.”
Niculescu has had an adventure of a life so far, moving from Romania to the US, finding her love for the Spanish culture and language, pursuing her career being a teacher, while all being able to commit to her artistic hobbies and interest of traveling.
Her advice?
“Let yourself be weird,” Niculescu said. “The more you can find other people that connect with you, the happier you’ll be.”
