Hello My Name Is...
Mrs. Anna "Dawn" Custalow
Teaching students from other countries the English language for life in the United States
Contact me at: [email protected]
I have always enjoyed being with people from different cultural groups other than my own. I grew up in Native American culture in Virginia and lived between the White/Native American culture. I have always been aware of other cultures so, it’s no coincidence that I grew up interested in other people groups and languages. I spent my junior year of undergrad school living and studying in Barcelona, Spain. After returning to the US, I worked as a Spanish teacher as well as coordinator of a program for adult students to learn English. It was in this program that I met people from all over the world - Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Central and South American, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. My experience with other cultures continued to expand when I married my husband who is from the Czech Republic. I lived with him in his home country where we raised our two boys in the capital city of Prague for 12 years before moving back to the US. Since returning to VA, I have been a high school ELL teacher. In William Fleming we have students from all around the world studying English. I have often thought that being an English Language Learner teacher is like being on a National Geographic assignment. It’s just that I don’t travel - my students have traveled to me! I love my job and my new experiences everyday with my wonderful ELL students.