By SUSAN TAM Special to the Daily Press
A long road has led Anabella Large, who was recently named as a Teacher of the Year by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, right back to where she started. Large, who has been teaching for almost two decades, now PROFILES, from page 1 stands in front of the very class in which she herself was a student — the English as a Second Language course taught at Malibu High School.
Large, a kindergarten teacher at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School in Malibu, was one of five teachers honored in a ceremony last week for their contributions to education.
Large has an easy way with her students, who sat rapt with attention on Friday when she showed them her trophy: a dense apple-shaped sculpture with a plaque bearing her title. For Large, the award was a great honor, and she sat down with the Daily Press on Friday to share the story of how far she has come.
You did not start out in California. Tell me a little bit about your background and what your journey was like.
“I was born in Guatemala City, and I have been in the United States for 24 years. I’m 43. I had my teaching credential from Guatemala, and it’s always been my dream (to teach). When I came to the United States, I thought I was going to be able to just take a few classes and continue teaching, but to my dismay, my teaching credential was the equivalent of a high school diploma here, so I had to start all over again. At that time it was a lot more difficult because I had a family and two small kids. But nevertheless, I persevered and finally accumulated enough units to transfer to Pepperdine, and graduated from there and got my teaching credential as well.
“My ex-husband was in the Navy, so wherever we went I just went to school. I just wanted to continue taking classes and taking English lessons because English is not my native language. But I had enough units to transfer when it was time for me to go full-time to Pepperdine. So it’s almost like a complete circle that my life has made, because I started taking English as a Second Language from everywhere, (wherever we moved, every three or four years), and we finally decided to stay in California, and I started to find some ground. It’s exciting because about eight years ago I started teaching the adult ESL class that I took. Also I’ve also been an adjunct professor at Pepperdine, so it’s been really exciting that wherever I go, I’ve been able to go back and give something back to the community. I have been at Cabrillo for eight years. It’s quite an honor because there’s so many wonderful teachers here, to be chosen among your peers, it means a lot to me.”
Did you teach elementary school before teaching at Cabrillo?
“My whole career. I’ve been teaching for 18 years, my whole career has been from pre-school to elementary and eight years ago, adults, and last semester, at Pepperdine.”
No high school students? “No [laughs]. There’s one area I don’t go. I don’t go there.”
You prefer the younger ones? “Yes, yes. Mainly kindergarten. I just feel like I can make a connection a lot better with them, and these are my skills, they are geared more toward the younger kids.”
How many students do you teach? “This year, there are 18... my class is so diverse that it’s wonderful, and I try as much as possible to incorporate Spanish into the program. I would say 12 out of 18 are native speakers. It’s such a part of our routine, we have students who go home that just rattle on in Spanish, and their families are so excited, and I try — they are really excited by another language. It’s my contribution to them because I have it. I would feel like I would not have given them all I can give them if I didn’t include that component because it’s such a big part of my culture as well.”
What would you consider the greatest obstacle you’ve faced along the way?
“I think the biggest challenge was to have to start from scratch, my whole educational career. Like I said, it was not that I didn’t want to do it, just that it wasn’t expected to have to do everything again.”
You left Guatemala, and you already had a teaching credential. You came from a different system where you begin to specialize earlier than students do here.
“By the time you get onto your career track, you’re already in a profession. By the time you’re in high school, you’re taking your high school courses along with your career path. At that time, they (officials in California) only had one foreign evaluation office, and it was not even an office, it was a P.O. box. There wasn’t a person when I had to get my transcripts evaluated, and it was so expensive because we had to pay for translators... I could have done it, but they wouldn’t have accepted them, so that was the biggest challenge. And because I already had children and a husband, it made it that much more difficult. Also, a few years later, getting divorced, having to complete it as a single mother too, was pretty difficult. But it’s always been my passion. I can’t see myself doing anything else that I’d be so fulfilled with. I’m also very lucky to be doing what I love to do.”
Do you have any memorable experiences or keep in touch with past students?
“I think the most memorable has been the student that just invited me to her wedding. [Laughs]. That’s when you start realizing, ‘I’ve been in this for way too long!’
“I started teaching her when she was three years old, and just out of chance our families became close friends. I didn’t see her for a few years, and then going back, I just noticed that the same qualities that she had at three years old have been retained to the time she was an adult — the creativity, the artistic nature that she had — and it was pretty amazing to see that a lot of the foundation from the beginning you carry on throughout your life. So it was very amazing to be part of her wedding. And those connections, the connections that you make throughout your career, are wonderful.”
What do you enjoy about living in the area?
“I live in Woodland Hills (now), but the reason I was attracted to this area — we used to live down the street — is that, especially the school, feels like a family. And when you connect with the family, it’s more than just a job. It’s such a small community that you really get to know people in a much more intimate way, then the city. We have such an open-door policy and so many parent volunteers that really get to know who we are as people, not just teachers.”
Can you tell me about the award you just received?
“Every school selects a teacher every year that’s by a secret ballot. You have a choice of three or four people that you nominate, and within those nominees, then they select the one that gets the most.”
Why do you think you were chosen this year after being here for a while?
“Actually, eight years is not very long… I feel very privileged…but it’s [pause] but I don’t know why they chose me. It’s something we don’t do very well is brag about ourselves.”
How is teaching adults different from what you normally do?
“It’s so wonderful being able to relate so well, and I totally understand their struggles and also a lot of families are families from my school.”
So you’ve seen and taught whole families? Parents in one classroom and kids in the other?
“Yes. Yes, and I try to really make it a community feel, not that they’re there just to learn English, but they’re there to support each other. And I feel pretty good that I’ve created that atmosphere, that they feel very comfortable with each other.”
What do you do in your free time? “Now that my children are older — my daughter will be 21 (this) week and my son 18 — they are very independent, so it gives me a lot more free time, and right after I finished all my school and also obtained my master’s a year and a half ago, I was able to just take some time to relax, and I enjoy dancing a lot. I like any kind of dance, but the one that I’ve been introduced to lately that I’ve found very interesting is contra dancing. It’s so much fun, it’s such a great exercise and such a community atmosphere. And we’ve done salsa dancing also lately, [and I] have been interested in learning West Coast swing. And I love bike riding and hiking and anything — if I had more time I’d love to do more gardening.”
Do you have any future plans? “I’m hoping to be able to save some money and travel. My focus has been my family and my career, and it’s time for myself now.”
Where in particular would you like to go?
“I would like to travel around Europe.”
Have you been there before? “No, I’ve been to a couple places in Mexico and a few states, but I haven’t traveled that much. I think there’s just so many wonderful places to go. I would love to go to Africa sometime and just learn about other cultures.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 13, 2004. Read the original PDF.