Carbondale Middle School’s Grace De La Sala was named the 2019 English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher of the Year by the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education (CABE).
De La Sala has been with the middle school for 14 years and is a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education teacher.
The award recognizes teachers who play active roles in their communities and schools and inspire bilingual students to excel.
“Grace is an amazing teacher and well-deserving of this honor,” Roaring Fork School District superintendent Rob Stein said.
De La Sala attributes her career path to her experience as a second-language learner and to her parents, who moved to the U.S. from Colombia.
“As a second-language learner, I struggled with reading comprehension and writing in school, but didn’t get the support I needed,” De La Sala said. “This led me towards becoming an [ESL] teacher and really focusing on the whole child.”
De La Sala will be honored, along with others, at the 2019 CABE Awards Gala in Thornton on October 11.
