Main Profile for Lory Cortez

Lory Cortez was born and raised in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico; a little city located on the border with the USA and received her citizenship through naturalization. She received a bachelor’s degree from University of Texas Pan-American (UTPA) in Rehabilitation Services with a concentration in Deafness and additionally minored in Spanish language. Additionally, she earned a master’s degree in Spanish Literature from the University of Salamanca in Spain and received her teaching certification in McAllen, Texas. Mrs. Cortez currently works as an English as a Second Language Teacher (ESL), teaching English to Emergent Bilingual students from 3rd to 7th grade at Vanguard Van Gogh Elementary and Secondary School. Although this is her first year teaching Second Language Acquisition, she has been teaching for more than 10 years, having taught students of all ages from Kindergarten to 7th grade. Outside of the classroom, she is the UIL (University Interscholastic League) elementary coordinator for her campus. She got into teaching because she wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives, and loves getting to know students and helping them achieve their academic goals. Not only does she get the opportunity to teach students, but she also gets to learn from them! Having taught for about 12 years, she could not be more certain that being a teacher is the most fulfilling job. For the 2023-2024 academic year, Mrs. Cortez was the mentor teacher to Chi Jiu-Ching from Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.