The Image and Sound course has given us the opportunity to get to know one of our teachers better, Juana Mari, and we did not want to miss out on it; since everyone at the School knows Juana Mari as a teacher, but not what her hobbies are, the reason she chose this profession, how she ended up at the Alborán School or how she reconciles being a working mother, for example.

During the interview, which has turned out to be a walk through our center, we dared to ask him questions whose answers we want to share with you. Next, in a close and relaxed atmosphere we sit in the Chemistry laboratory where the questions usually deal with stoichiometry, atomic structure or acid-base reactions...

Aurora and Fernando 1.- What was the main reason why you decided to study a degree such as Chemistry?
Juana Mari: (Smiling) I knew you would be curious, I tell you that since I was little I was very clear that I wanted to be a science teacher, really, so when the time came for me to choose a career at your age, I had no doubts, it had to be Physics, Chemistry or Mathematics. In the end, the family decision to study in the city where I lived with my parents at the time weighed more, so I ended up studying Chemistry, which was the only one of those three options that I loved that could be studied in Jaén. It is a decision that I have never regretted and I am very happy about it.

Aurora and Fernando 2.- Of all the subjects you teach, which is the one you like the most and with which you feel most comfortable?
Juana Mari: (Without hesitation and without taking two seconds, with evident joy) Physics and Chemistry, of course! Although Mathematics I also like a lot. It is what I have studied and for which I am best prepared. Also, it is lucky to have the opportunity to explain some subjects that allow me to open your minds so that you begin to realize how beautiful it is to study how the Universe acts the way it does. It is really exciting, I want to convey to you the enthusiasm that I feel.

Aurora and Fernando 3.- Why do you think laboratory practices are so important?
Juana Mari: For me it doesn't make sense to explain Chemistry or Physics if the students don't experiment, that is, if they don't live what they are studying.
In Chemistry, for example, it is easier for a student to understand what a mole of water is, if they are shown what it is, a student cannot be expected to know what a solution is and how to work with them if they do not know prepare one. One of the last topics that I have seen with you has been precipitation, would it have been just as easy to understand the exercises without having done several practices here with me? I do not think so. I also don't think the physics students would have understood kinetics without having spent a class experimenting with vertical, horizontal, or oblique shot balls, or if they hadn't presented me with home projects that replicate the problems posed by the problems in the book.
I have already said before that I try to teach you to discover how the Universe works and that cannot be done if I limit myself to explaining without you experimenting.

Aurora and Fernando 4.- You talked about having always wanted to be a teacher, that it was lucky to have that opportunity, but... since when were you a teacher? Had she always wanted to dedicate herself to this? Had she been teaching for a long time? Had she worked in other schools before coming to Marbella with us? We threw all these questions at her and she, after reflecting for a moment to, we suppose, decide which question to answer first began:

Juana Mari: I am the daughter and niece of teachers. They say that after a few years she already said that she was going to be a teacher and she played teaching my brothers and my toys. So yes, I have always wanted to dedicate myself to teaching, although perhaps now my motives are very different from those of when I was a child (she tells us laughing).

I have been teaching since I was 18 years old, this is how I paid for my “luxuries or whims” as my parents called them. At home I never lacked for anything, but if you wanted something that was out of the ordinary... well, you had to make a living and I learned to be decisive by doing what I was best at, which was teaching classes. When I finished my degree I started working in schools, at first as an extracurricular teacher, then as a substitute teacher in towns in Jaén or Granada. It was not until… 8 years ago that I was invited to come to this College on the Costa del Sol.