After many years of teaching different subjects ranging from language to psychology, Señora Bernabeu has decided to join Holy Trinity to bring her joyful energy and experience to the classrooms. After previously teaching psychology and Spanish to kids in Spain and New Jersey, Bernabeu is spending her first year at HT teaching Spanish 2 and 4.

Growing up, Bernabeu was always taught to be kind and to help others. She began teaching in Spain, starting with psychology, physiology, and philosophy, she was later given the opportunity to teach Spanish to kids who only knew English.“After I was given that opportunity and I saw how much I could help them, I just had to do it,” Bernabeu said.

While living in Spain, her husband was given a job opportunity in the United Kingdom, and shortly after he would be offered a role in a big American company. Bernabeu and her husband later moved to New Jersey, where they lived for nine years  before moving here two years ago to enjoy the scenic coast of Florida.“We moved down primarily for the weather,” Bernabeu said.

Her love for language came at a very young age. Her parents both spoke a different language, so as she grew up, she learned two languages at once. “My mom would only speak Spanish to me, and my dad only spoke Valenciano to me,” Bernabeu said. When Bernabeu got older, she wanted to learn a third language, English, because she wanted to travel more. 

While at university, her desire to help others and passion for the Spanish language led her to switch from being a psychology teacher to a Spanish teacher. “It gives you a lot of freedom when you speak other languages, especially for traveling,” Bernabeu said.

Bernabeu experienced many changes when she moved to the United States, but one of the biggest changes was body language. “Whenever we are talking together in Spain, we are always touching and very close to each other, but when I got here I assumed that I smelt bad or something was wrong,” Bernabeu said. 

When moving across the country, Bernabeu says there’s one thing she misses most: family. Due to quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic and having her baby last spring, Bernabeu hasn’t been back to Spain in a couple of years.

As Señora Bernabeu navigates through her first year at HT, she is excited to see how much she can help the students and is beyond excited about joining the Holy Trinity Community.