PS 51 The Elias Howe School

My name is Julye Szymanski and I am the ESL teacher. I have been teaching at P.S. 51 for the past five years. I taught third grade for the first four years and then transitioned into the ESL position. I was even a student teacher at P.S. 51 in Shelley Grant’s kindergarten classroom.

I graduated from Saint Francis College with a B.A. in English and a minor in Education. I then attended Fordham University and completed the Masters Program in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). I am currently enrolled in the Bilingual/ESL Teacher Leader Academy (BETLA) at Bank Street College.

I am very passionate about teaching at P.S. 51 because I enjoy giving back to the community that I grew up in. My family immigrated from Chile and we settled in NYC. I was born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen and continue to reside in the neighborhood.

I recently got married to my husband Stan and have a son named Pablo and a new baby boy named Peter. In my spare time I enjoy reading, writing poetry, bike riding and jogging.