After twenty-one years of teaching Spanish in schools spread all throughout the country, Dr. Avraham Sosa-Velasco brings his experience and expertise to Hackley in the Modern Languages department.
Dr. Sosa, born and raised in Venezuela, moved to Spain at the age of 16. Since Spanish was his native language, Dr. Sosa chose to attend college in Spain. He then moved to the United States where he attended the University of Florida for graduate school to complete his master’s degree. Dr. Sosa continued his Spanish studies at Cornell University where he received his Ph.D. in literature and language. Dr. Sosa, with a variety of degrees and education under his belt, was ready to embark on his career as a college professor.
Dr. Sosa traveled all over the country, gathering experience as a professor at first the University of Cincinnati, then UNC, and finally Southern Connecticut University. After teaching in different academic environments, Dr. Sosa wanted to know his students not only inside of the classroom but outside of the classroom.
When teaching at a college level, he said, he was only able to “get to know [his] students in classes and office hours.”
He later decided to shift his profession to teaching in independent grade schools. He wanted to be a part of a heavily involved community, seeing his students grow not just as learners but also as people, and grade school was where that could happen. He specifically focused on the tri-state area, where he taught at Saint Luke’s in Connecticut and then at the Leman School in Manhattan, an international grade school.
Dr. Sosa was then given the opportunity to teach at Hackley. Attracted by its reputation, strong communal presence, 120 years of history, and a lot more, he was thrilled to join the faculty. After twenty-one years of teaching all across the country, he joined Hackley’s Spanish department this year. He is currently teaching middle school Spanish, as well as Spanish V and AP Spanish.
Dr. Sosa loves Hackley because he finds his students to be uniquely polite and engaged in their academic studies. He remarked that his students say “thank you,” even after quizzes, and he is just so happy to be in that kind of environment.
Dr. Sosa’s students have a reciprocal attitude towards their teacher. “He has an unparalleled ability to make the class engaging and productive in excelling our understanding of the language,” said sophomore Shiraz Awan. Shiraz has been taking Spanish in middle school and loves his current class, AP Spanish, with Dr. Sosa.