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by Stevie Handsaker

What is a foreign exchange teacher? Well, a foreign exchange teacher is a teacher from a different country, such as Spain, that comes over to another country to help teach that language to students. Foreign exchange teachers have the option of teaching for 3 years in a different country, and after that they must go back to their home country.  

Maywood’s foreign exchange teacher is from Southeast Spain, his name is Javier Martinez, and he teaches Spanish to middle school and high school students. Mr. Martinez is highly educated and prepared for the job here in Maywood, he has 4 masters degrees, 2 bachelors degrees, and has attended 3 different universities in Spain, those being; University of Alicante, University of Murcia, and University of La Rioja. Mr. Martinez stated that he has a true passion for traveling, learning new cultures, and meeting new people. When asked why he chose the job at Maywood he simply said it intrigued him because of how small and in the middle of nowhere the school, and town was. 

Would you move across the country to help teach students a new language? Personally, I know I couldn’t. When I asked Mr.Martinez about his family he told me he has a wife named Angeles, and two sons one named Javier, the other named Alvaro, who are still in Spain. I am very excited to see all the fun new things students will learn from Mr .Martinez, and all the new things he will learn from the students as well! Welcome to Maywood, Nebraska Mr. Martinez.