A beloved world language teacher, thought to be retired, has returned to Huron. As Spanish teacher Señora Wroblewski takes her maternity leave for the rest of the school year to take care of her newborn son, friend and former language teacher Belinda Ballí has taken her place.

“I’m teaching Spanish twos, threes and the DPs,” said Ballí. “I’m very happy to be here, and I’m enjoying spending time with my colleagues again.”

Ballí is here upon the request of Wroblewski, who needed a replacement she could trust with ensuring the year ended strong for all her classes. Ballí’s return was swift, with her retirement only lasting around 9 months. She began working at school again in mid April, and started filling in for Senora Wroblewski a few weeks later.   

“I retired on my last day of school, which was last June 10,” Ballí said, “And I had to be separated from the school district for nine months before I was allowed to come back as a sub. If you come back before nine months, then they take money from your pension payments each month, so it’s really not worth it.” 

Ballí is glad to be reunited with her friends at Huron once again.

“I’m happy to have a little bit more of a routine instead of getting up every day and trying to figure out what am I going to do, because none of my friends retired,” Ballí said. 

She did, however, have her reasons for her retirement. 

“My father has Parkinson’s and my mother is his only caretaker, and it gets difficult for her some days,” Ballí said, “And that was one of the reasons I retired. I wanted to be helping my mom with my dad, and I spent a lot of time with them. But it wasn’t the same as spending time with my friends daily here at school.” 

Ballí is aware of how valued she is as a language teacher. 

“There are not very many teachers,” Ballí said, “But teachers that know a language are even more difficult to find. Right now, I don’t know of a Spanish teacher that wants a job that doesn’t already have one.” 

Teaching another teacher’s lessons has a few challenges, however. 

“Now that I’m a Spanish sub, for profé Wroblewski it’s been good, but it’s a little difficult, because she has a lot of plans already written,” Ballí said. “When teaching somebody else’s plans, I feel like I have to study at night, because when I click the slide, I gotta know what’s coming next. I can’t just walk in.” 

Using Wroblewski’s lesson plans has taken extra effort, but Ballí is not discouraged. 

With her responsibilities before her, Ballí’s Spanish classes move closer to the end of the year. She hopes to provide her students with an amazing language learning experience to remember and use forever.