Hugo Zavala is a first-generation college graduate born in Mexico and raised by parents with limited schooling who came to the US in search of the American Dream. With the support of his parents and teachers Hugo is a testament to the power of successful bilingual education. Hugo is a passionate 4th-grade Science and Spanish Language Arts teacher at Lewis & Clark Elementary, Wenatchee School District's only Spanish dual-language school. As an English language learner, he understands his students and knows the benefits of maintaining home languages while developing a second language. Hugo takes teaching to another level by making learning experiential. He plans customized units with engaging lessons and connects with his community to bring resources that enrich students with experiences. Hugo has been recognized for his creativity in curriculum and was named the 2016 Latino Educator of the Year in his previous district. Most recently, the Association of Two-Way and Dual Language Education (ATDLE) selected Hugo as the national 2022 ATDLE Teacher of the Year for his outstanding contributions and commitment to bilingual education and for his work as a classroom teacher, teacher leader, and representative of dual language. Hugo advocates for bilingual education. He leads grade-level teams and mentors novice bilingual teachers; modeling biliteracy strategies that maximize learning two languages and cross-language transfer skills. Hugo is part of a team working to develop bilingual trajectories to holistically understand multilingual learner development. Promoting dual language, Hugo presented his school's journey at the Washington Association for Bilingual Education conference (WABE) 2020 Dual Language Institute. Hugo is a member of the district Equity Review Group partnered with Education Northwest. He volunteers his time informing parents of the importance of involvement and provides ideas and strategies to parents via reading nights, dual language informative nights, and by transmitting via a local radio station.
