MIDDLEBURY, VT. -- Michele Forman, a history teacher at Middlebury Union High School and a three-summer participant in the Arabic School at Middlebury College, was named 2001 National Teacher of the Year by President George W. Bush in April.

The first Vermont educator to receive the honor in 51 years, Ms. Forman will spend a year as a national and international spokesperson for education.

The National Teacher of the Year Award Program is sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers and Scholastic, Inc., the global children's publishing and media company.

Ms. Forman, who has been in the social studies department at the local high school for 15 years, looks forward to a year of broadening students' world views, encouraging young people to take on new challenges, and helping them learn from each other.

The Middlebury College Language Schools and the Arabic School in particular are proud to have had a role in Ms. Forman's success. A strength that helped distinguish her from the other excellent candidates for the Teacher of the Year Award was her enthusiasm for sharing her knowledge about the Arab World and Arabic language with her high school students. She has long been fascinated by the role played by Arabs in world history, and she cultivated that interest at the Arabic School.

She recalls: "As I studied the history of the Arab World more and more, I had friends in the field who said: 'If you really want to understand their history, you have to understand a little of their language.'"

After a brief exposure to Arabic language and culture at Ohio State University, Ms. Forman was determined to enroll at the summer Arabic program right in her backyard: the Arabic School at Middlebury College. While the cost (over $5,000) and the commitment (nine weeks of immersion) seemed daunting, Ms. Forman was more determined than ever. "I fell in love with the language and after coming back [from Ohio State], and I wanted to learn more." So she applied for, and received, a Vermont Teachers Scholarship to attend the Middlebury College Language Schools.

The following summer, 1996, she took the Language Pledge and lived with the Arabic School for nine weeks. The prospect of taking classes four hours a day, doing four to five hours of homework each night, speaking no English, and living away from home may have been too much for some people, but not Michele Forman. The course of study and her affection for things Arabic simply inspired her to share the experience with her students as much as she could.

Ms. Forman has studied two additional summers with the Arabic School and is now at the advanced level of the Arabic language.

While at first she infused her history classes with enthusiasm for the Arab World, she still longed to do more. Next she began teaching a little Arabic to her students in class. But the interest was so great that in 1997 she began offering non-credit Arabic classes before school begins. On the first morning of class, 24 students piled into her classroom -- many more than expected. Those numbers have remained fairly constant for four years, and several of her students have gone on to study Arabic in college.

Her 7 a.m. Arabic classes have done more than open her students' eyes to the Arab World, they have instilled in students a passion for language and culture. It is this ability to inspire students that makes Ms. Forman such a strong candidate for national recognition.

In addition to her teaching load, Ms. Forman has found time to serve on the Statewide Social Studies Framework Committee and the Vermont Task Force on High School Reform. Nationally, she chairs the College Board History and Social Studies Academic Advisory Committee and previously worked with the World History Achievement Test Development Team.

Photo by Trent Campbell