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| Place of Birth: Vietnam Achievement: MA in Education Work: Long Beach Unified School District Long Beach California USA: Program Specialist (Kindergarten to 12th Grade), United States Dept. of Education (OBEMLA) |
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UNITED STATES' TEACHER OF THE YEAR IN 1994
L ong Beach Polytechnic High School English Language development teacher Huong Tran Nguyen was named America's Outstanding Teacher of 1994. In the fifth annual Walt Disney Company Presents the American Teacher Awards, Nguyen was selected from 36 finalists as the overall winner. Nguyen was initially selected from over five thousand (5,000) teachers
nationwide to be one of the thirty-six (36) finalists to be invited to
Washington, D.C. Ultimately, she was nominated by her peers for two
awards, "Outstanding Teacher in Foreign Language/ESL" and "Outstanding
Teacher of 1994."
She arrived to the United States in 1971 from Vietnam on a student visa. "I entered San Diego State University, a campus characterized by a strong anti-war sentiment, at the peak of the Vietnam war," she says. "I was subjected to ridicule and discrimination simply because of my ethnicity and for what I may have represented politically."
In spite of the obstacles, Nguyen persevered.
One of her college instructors said, "It's not too late for you to
change to another career. You may never be a teacher of the same caliber as
your native-English-speaking classmates. You must accept that as a fact."
Although her instructor's disparaging remarks were a detriment to her
self-esteem, she turned them into a source of inspiration for herself. It
were precisely those words which had led her to believe and to teach her
students that there was not a goal they could not attain if they set their
mind to the task. She wanted her students to believe that they, too, can
experience success in the 'real' world. She encourages her students to
complete high school and pursue a college or career path. With students at
risk she told them, "I'm glad that you are here today but I want to see you
back tomorrow." For some students, it's a constant struggle to keep them in
school and from dropping out.
Nguyen is resourceful in finding ways to motivate her students by
making learning relevant, interesting, and challenging through communicative
and hands-on activities, comprehensible input, lesson demonstrations,
visuals, realia, charts, and graphs to ensure comprehension. She employs a
variety of strategies, techniques, and approaches to convey abstract
concepts to her linguistically and ethnically diverse students so that they
may have access to the core curriculum.
She uses a lot of humor and make her students laugh because she
believes that learning should be fun. She always tries to provide
opportunities for them to contribute by using their prior knowledge and
asking numerous questions. She helps them to be active learners and risk
takers through problem-solving and decision-making activities.
"I serve as a role model for all students, particularly for
language-minority students, who may have been socialized to think and to
accept that the only work they could obtain are minimum-salaried jobs. I
see them as potential leaders of tomorrow. I feel pride and joy to help
shape the future of America."
(Long Beach Unified School District Bulletin)
INTERESTING LINK
Special thanks to your supports
An On-LineEnglish Grammar
(by Anthony Hughes)
Long Beach Polytechnic High School
America-Pacific Techno. NetworkAmPacT.net
This Page Accessed: 
Since Nov. 05 23:30:00 1996
Page created by: Webmaster@Ampact.net
Changes last made on: Wed. 02 April, 1997 10:55 PST
Best viewed with
UNITED STATES' TEACHER OF THE YEAR IN 1994
L ong Beach Polytechnic High School English Language development teacher Huong Tran Nguyen was named America's Outstanding Teacher of 1994. In the fifth annual Walt Disney Company Presents the American Teacher Awards, Nguyen was selected from 36 finalists as the overall winner. Nguyen was initially selected from over five thousand (5,000) teachers nationwide to be one of the thirty-six (36) finalists to be invited to Washington, D.C. Ultimately, she was nominated by her peers for two awards, "Outstanding Teacher in Foreign Language/ESL" and "Outstanding Teacher of 1994."
She arrived to the United States in 1971 from Vietnam on a student visa. "I entered San Diego State University, a campus characterized by a strong anti-war sentiment, at the peak of the Vietnam war," she says. "I was subjected to ridicule and discrimination simply because of my ethnicity and for what I may have represented politically."
In spite of the obstacles, Nguyen persevered.
One of her college instructors said, "It's not too late for you to change to another career. You may never be a teacher of the same caliber as your native-English-speaking classmates. You must accept that as a fact." Although her instructor's disparaging remarks were a detriment to her self-esteem, she turned them into a source of inspiration for herself. It were precisely those words which had led her to believe and to teach her students that there was not a goal they could not attain if they set their mind to the task. She wanted her students to believe that they, too, can experience success in the 'real' world. She encourages her students to complete high school and pursue a college or career path. With students at risk she told them, "I'm glad that you are here today but I want to see you back tomorrow." For some students, it's a constant struggle to keep them in school and from dropping out.
Nguyen is resourceful in finding ways to motivate her students by making learning relevant, interesting, and challenging through communicative and hands-on activities, comprehensible input, lesson demonstrations, visuals, realia, charts, and graphs to ensure comprehension. She employs a variety of strategies, techniques, and approaches to convey abstract concepts to her linguistically and ethnically diverse students so that they may have access to the core curriculum.
She uses a lot of humor and make her students laugh because she believes that learning should be fun. She always tries to provide opportunities for them to contribute by using their prior knowledge and asking numerous questions. She helps them to be active learners and risk takers through problem-solving and decision-making activities.
"I serve as a role model for all students, particularly for language-minority students, who may have been socialized to think and to accept that the only work they could obtain are minimum-salaried jobs. I see them as potential leaders of tomorrow. I feel pride and joy to help shape the future of America."
(Long Beach Unified School District Bulletin)
INTERESTING LINK Special thanks to your supports An On-LineEnglish Grammar
(by Anthony Hughes)
Long Beach Polytechnic High SchoolAmerica-Pacific Techno. NetworkAmPacT.net
This Page Accessed:
Page created by: Webmaster@Ampact.net
Changes last made on: Wed. 02 April, 1997 10:55 PST