Cultural Educator of the Year
Pamela Arraras - N.C. Outstanding Cultural Educator
“My goal is to let students know there’s a world out there, and that they’re missing out on something big if they don’t learn more about it. I’d like to think I’ve helped teachers realize there is much to gain from cultural exchanges with professionals from other countries, too, so that they continue looking for this type of experience once I return to Argentina.”

Pamela Arrarás • Argentina Argentina
North Carolina Outstanding Cultural Educator

ESL Teacher
Southeast Guilford Middle ▪ Guilford County Schools, North Carolina

Pamela Arrarás, who teaches students learning English as a second language, works closely with her students’ regular classroom teachers. She works hard to meet with each of her students’ classroom teachers to discuss modifications to assist the ESL students in their regular education classrooms. She helped her students start a pen pal program with children in Japan, and she has made herself a part of her school and community.

Arrarás, a second-term VIF teacher from Argentina, also shares her South American culture with the students and staff of Southeast Guilford Middle School. She set up a bulletin board display, created PowerPoint presentations about her homeland and posted common Argentine words and phases throughout the school. She has cooked traditional Argentine dishes such as tortas fritas for her fellow teachers, and she has given her students a taste of mate, a traditional Argentinean beverage that is served in a gourd with a metal straw.

Arrarás made a home movie of her U.S. school to share with her former students in Argentina, and she returned from a summer visit home with a movie of the Argentine students to share with her U.S. students. Arrarás started with small efforts to create a globally-minded school, and now, the school wouldn’t be the same without her.

Principal Karen Burras, Southeast Guilford Middle:

“Mrs. Arrarás is a great example of how to become fully involved in a school and community with so many of her culture-sharing ideas.”