Steven Charlish • United Kingdom 
Virginia Outstanding Cultural Educator
Third-grade teacher
Potowmack Elementary ▪ Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia
When Steven Charlish’s third graders at Potowmack Elementary School don’t understand something their British teacher says, they post it on the “word wall.” Charlish translates it into American English (“faucet” for “tap,” or “potato chips” for “crisps,” for instance).
Charlish encourages his students to learn more about his homeland. A classroom wall fuels their fascination, with pictures of the Queen, famous British people, and symbols of England, such as red buses, Beefeater guards and currency. Charlish and his students research and plan vacations to the United Kingdom, figuring out travel costs, planning what to do once they get there, and writing pretend postcards to their parents from England. Charlish incorporates his British culture into daily lessons, using pounds and pence for math problems, or using a social studies lesson to help students understand how young the U.S. is in comparison with the United Kingdom.
For International Education Week, Charlish helped organize “International Day.” Children, parents and teachers came to school dressed in colorful attire celebrating their countries of origin and set up stands with information about, and artifacts from, their culture. Charlish’s own stand featured activities and, of course, his football and cricket shirts.