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Saturday 17 auguSt 2019

Aruban wins Connecticut 2018-2019 Language Teacher of the Year

CONNECTICUT — Aruban Richard tion. He thinks about how decisions
de Meij was chosen by the Con- about learning will impact all stu-
necticut Council of Language dents, and how to reach all stu-
Teachers as Language Teacher dents in terms of their unique paths
of the Year for 2018-2019. De Meij to proficiency. He strategizes ways
is a Spanish and French teacher to make all voices heard, especial-
at Hartford Public High School’s ly those that have been tradition-
Academy of Nursing and Health ally left out of the conversation.
Sciences. The Teacher of the Year De Meij’s leadership path is exten-
Committee was impressed by the sive. He has presented and coor-
passion and energy that he brings dinated workshops at CT COLT’s
to the profession. It was clear to conference spanning many years.
them that his high energy ap- He has shared his numerous skills at to languages in the community. Biography
proach is very effective in engag- the Northeast Conference on the He has worked to bring his students Educated at:
ing the students in his classes. In Teaching of Foreign Languages’ into the community to interact with - Colegio Arubano (Aruba)
fact, De Meij is an inspiration to his (NECTFL) conference. He has even Haitian families in Hartford church- - University of Florida
students to positively impact their served in a leadership capacity es. He worked to find speakers of - University of Utrecht (Neth.)
own communities, as he has done for the American Council on the French in the community, and has - Central CT State University
in his own communities. Teaching of Foreign Languages committed to bringing students to
(ACTFL) Special Interest Group work with the families to practice Degrees in:
De Meij is an outstanding advo- dedicated to the Teaching of Afri- their language skills, and in service - Speech/Lang.Pathology
cate for students in his classes, and can American Students. Currently, to the families. It’s hard to think of a - Applied Linguistics
for language and culture educa- he is working to organize the Great- better example of “Communities”
tion in general. He is committed er Hartford Festival of Languages to in terms of ACTFL’s World Readi- Language Fluency in:
to social justice in his classes and take place in the near future. An- ness Standards than the work that - Dutch (native)
school, and he has worked to be- other area of leadership that can’t De Meij is already doing for his stu- - Papiamento (native)
come a specialist in equity educa- be overlooked is his commitment dents. - English (native)
- Spanish (near-native)
De Meij is an exemplary world lan- - Portuguese (near-native)
guage teacher. He speaks eight - French (fluently)
languages with differing levels of - German (fluently)
proficiency. He is also learning two - Italian (fair)
other languages! He teaches both
French and Spanish with an energy Other Languages Studied:
and passion that is contagious to - Japanese & (modern) Greek
his students. He understands and - Bulgarian & Tagalog
implements high leverage teach- - Afrikaans (understood)
ing practices in order to effectively - Polish & Mainer (Mainah)
promote language proficiency .
and reach the World Readiness Currently Studying:
Standards for his students. He is - Arabic (Egyptian MSA) q
a demonstrated leader at the
school, district, regional, and na- Credits: Hartford Public School.
tional levels.