New Haven Educator Named Northeast Language Teacher Of The Year

NEW HAVEN, CT — New Haven Spanish teacher Trudy Anderson has been named teacher of the year by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and in November she'll take part in a national competition.

Anderson has been teaching in New Haven Public Schools for 30 years. Currently, she teaches grades six through eight at Nathan Hale School — where she's spent most of her career, the school district said in a news release.

She represented the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers in the Northeast contest, and in November she will represent the Northeast in the National Language Teacher of the Year competition.

Officials from New Haven Public Schools said Anderson is known for creating small group stations that facilitate autonomous learning, and they said she teaches her students to be curious about people and cultures outside of their own.

In a statement, Anderson said her students' lives have become "much more multicultural."

"For example, they play video games with kids from all over the world, and they think that's a normal thing," Anderson said. "One day after we had just learned to give directions in Spanish, a student came in and told me he had been playing Fortnite and a kid somewhere else in the world had been screaming at him in Spanish to 'Go left! Go left!' He told me, 'I knew what he was talking about!'"

"I said, 'At least I taught you something that you used in your real life!'" Anderson said.

Anderson graduated from the University of Connecticut and holds graduate degrees from the University of Bridgeport and Southern Connecticut State University.

Department Supervisor Jessica Haxhi called her "an indispensable member" of the New Haven Public Schools' world languages department.

"Trudy is a model teacher, engaging students in exciting lessons that build their real-world proficiency skills," Haxhi said. "She graciously shares her time and expertise with her colleagues through mentoring, presenting, and creating resources."