Staff Spotlight: Lifelong Love of Language and Learning

Language has shaped Hannah Paredes’ identity, guided her career choices and ultimately led her back to the school district where her journey began. 

“This job feels like a full-circle moment,” said Paredes, Dual Language and world languages teaching and learning consultant. “I started out as a Dual Language student, and this was my dream job since I was about 16.” 

Paredes’ mother was one of our district’s early Dual Language teachers, laying a foundation that sparked her daughter’s curiosity about how language connects people and cultures. 

“Dual Language has really been my whole life,” said Paredes. “It just always made sense to me.” 

That curiosity expanded beyond Spanish. While attending South High, Paredes studied Chinese, earning a U.S. State Department scholarship that sent her to China as a high school student for intensive language immersion. The experience transformed how she viewed learning. 

“I didn’t know a single word when I arrived in China,” she said. “I started by drawing pictures in a notebook.” 

Paredes returned to China after college to teach. She spent three years there, including the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, gaining firsthand experience navigating education in a new language and culture. 

“Living and teaching abroad gave me so much empathy,” she said. “I know what it feels like to not have the words yet.” 

At Omaha Public Schools, she supports teachers and students across multiple languages, including Spanish, Chinese, French and German. She supports our district’s Dual Language programs K-12. 

“Language builds relationships,” she said. “That’s what’s shaped my life, and that’s what I hope it does for our students.”