After many years of dedicated service to our school and her students, beloved Teacher Mary Peros is retiring.
Mary taught ESL at San Mateo Adult School for almost eighteen years. She organized and participated in many SMAS activities and events, including International Days, holiday events, and a Talent Show held at the Performing Arts Center. You can watch videos of the Talent Show here in these clips. Be sure to watch the last part of the second video!
She never missed a chance to have fun, put on a costume and cut a rug.
Halloween 2013
International Day 2011
Dunking for Apples on Halloween
Mary and students, Halloween
Belting Out a Song with Patricia and Lisa
Video of teachers dancing at International Day (below)
When the cuts and closures hit Adult Schools in 2009, Mary responded, attending meetings, discussing strategies, and helping to organize a school wide response to a statewide problem.
Mary Peros Burlingame School Board Member
Before Mary taught at our school, she was an Elementary School teacher. She had also been on the Burlingame School Board. She understood a lot about Public Education and our local community. She understood how important it was for us to organize, speak up, and connect with both the larger community and with elected officials.
Mary as Mistress of Ceremonies of the 2012 Press Conference
She helped to organize our 2012 Press Conference and was the MC - the Mistress of Ceremonies.
She encouraged and helped her students to speak up and write letters to elected officials and the press.
CCAE Bay Section Conference 2013
She was active in the Teachers Union, CCAE, and the PLC, the Professional Learning Community system that SMAS teachers use to improve their teaching skills.
Most recently, Mary taught Advanced ESL in the morning and the Writing Intensive in the afternoon. She was so proud of her students' progress and achievements.
Mary and her students
Mary and students from Japan
Mary and students on a field trip
Mary and students at Coyote Point on Earth Day
Mary and students
International Day
Adult Ed Week 2015 Essay Contest Winners and their Teachers
Students treasured Mary's well-planned lessons, skillful teaching, and kind manner. She supported them in learning, growing, and expressing themselves as students and community members. Student Ayako Ueda shares this comment, "Before taking teacher Mary's writing class, I was scared of writing in English. Mary was a wonderful teacher. She helped students to become good writers by intimately interacting with each student. I learned a lot in her class. Thank you so much, Mary, for giving me confidence in writing."
Friday, March 4th from 9:30 am to 12 noon in Room 22, students will honor and thank her at a retirement party
All students, current and former, are invited to attend. Food is welcome.
Join us in thanking Mary for her service and wishing her many rich and joyful years of retirement!
Evening Student Council President Carlos Diaz shared his story and this fabulous speech at the 2018-19 Evening Candidate Forum. The next day, he was elected Student Council President of the Evening Student Council. Here, with his permission, is his wonderful speech. Evening Student Council President Carlos Diaz Alt Text: Smiling man with short brown hair in jean jacket Hello everyone! My name is Carlos Diaz and I am running for student council President. I'm from Mexico, more specifically a small town by the name of La Barca, located at the Southeast side of the state of Jalisco. I came to The USA 3 years ago, in August 2015. I remember how difficult the beginning was, a different country, different people, new neighbors, new neighborhoods, the diversity of cultures and traditions, and the most remarkable thing: English as a new language. Finding a new job is always a tough part of our lives, and that part increases when we don't know how to speak English, that's...
Students from San Mateo Adult School's ESL and High School Diploma programs, accompanied by SMAS Staff members Patty Villar and Marina Kravtsova, went on a campus tour at College of San Mateo. The tour is part of the College Readiness Workshop series that is offered at SMAS to assist adult school students in making a seamless transition from the adult school to community college.
Lucy Ochoa was a student in Teacher Jessica's evening ESL class. Here is the article she wrote about our school and Adult Education for her class in journalism at UC Berkeley. In her home country of Ecuador, she is a journalist. Adult Education, Why does it matter? By Lucy Ochoa It's 6:30 pm on Thursday, the last day of school before the weekend. About twenty students rush into a room at the main campus of San Mateo Adult School, greeting each other in different languages. After signing the attendance sheet they choose seats behind of one of the long wooden tables that face the whiteboard. Learning English is the challenge that brings these students together whenever their schedule allows it. Despite their different origins, all of them share two characteristics: they are adults and their native language is not English. According to the Public Policy Institute of California and data from the U.S Census Bureau, this state has over 10 million immigrants, the lar...
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