世界上最棒的老師是她 —斗黑幫、教體育, 為了勉勵貧困家庭多種族背景的學生, 這位藝術老師甚至學了35門語言 Briton Andria Zafirakou, who works in a school in one of the United Kingdom’s poorest areas, on Sunday won the US$1 million Global Teacher Prize for 2018 at a star-studded ceremony in Dubai. The arts and textiles teacher from the Alperton Community College of Brent, an inner-city school which has around 1,400 students in London, was among 10 finalists from around the globe for the annual award. Thirty thousand candidates were in the running. Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and British Prime Minister Theresa May were among the first to congratulate her. Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton raced to the venue to deliver the trophy while South African comedian Trevor Noah hosted the event, which included a performance by Oscar-winning actress and Grammy award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson. Brent, where Zafirakou teaches, is considered an ethnically diverse and disadvantaged area and many of her students come from impoverished homes. The area is also rife with gang violence and Zafirakou faced “a daunting task when she joined the school,” the organizers said in a statement. “But throughout the school and on the streets she is driving change,” working “closely with the police to identify potential issues and (gang) recruiters.” She redesigned the school’s curriculum “to resonate with an ethnically diverse student body” and learned the basics of some of the 35 languages spoken at the school — including Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil — to communicate with parents and students. Zafirakou also “reworked the school’s timetable to allow girls-only sports, important in a conservative community. The result? A cup-winning girls’ cricket team,” the statement said. Her hard work paid off and placed Alperton Community College “in the top 5 percent in England and Wales for improving pupils’ achievement.” This is the fourth time the Dubai-based Varkey Foundation has organized the award. The winner will walk away with US$1 million, which will be paid in equal instalments over 10 years on one condition: she continues teaching for at least five years. (SD-Agencies) | 