The first thing one notices about Coppell High School room C131 is its teacher. 

Hands move enthusiastically to emphasize each point. His feet turn at every shift of syllable. CHS Spanish and French teacher Michael Egan is making an impassioned monologue about the beauty of “Des Chiffres” by Orē, a French song.

The second recognizable facet of the classroom is the features that adorn it. It is a classroom that is a fusion of culture. Upon one wall is a map of Spain and on another a banner with Chinese characters. The door is framed with an assortment of posters printed with the words “You + Russian” and “You + French.” It is a classroom as syncretic as the teacher in it. 

Even at first glance, Egan’s linguistic passions are apparent. Egan can communicate in seven languages: Russian, German, English, Spanish, French, American Sign Language and Chinese. But learning languages was initially not just a love for Egan; it was a necessity.

Growing up in an orphanage of Russia fused with German culture, Egan picked up Russian and German languages. 

After being adopted at age 7, Egan moved to Rogers, Arkansas. The languages he had known for the past seven years were suddenly rendered futile across the sea.

“The change was so sharp,” Egan said. “Overnight if I asked someone [something], they just looked at me. I’ve always remembered how isolating languages can make you feel. I felt lost, confused and tired because I was constantly trying to understand everything around me.”

Despite the sudden change, Egan quickly picked up English to help his mother who was a teacher at the time. 

“When I first came to America, I was home taught,” Egan said. “My mom also has experience teaching. She used to be a special education educator. She would read to me and use flash cards.”

Learning Spanish, initially, was out of a school credit requirement rather than a genuine passion. 

“At the time, I didn’t think anything about it,” Egan said. “I was just a smart student, so I started taking my language credit early. In my mind, it was about getting the grades early.”

Egan did not start off as an exceptional Spanish student. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“My eighth grade teacher was very intense,” Egan said. “One day, I told her that I wanted to be called Jorge because I liked the sound; I would say it over and over. She said ‘You don’t care about this language. You don’t care about this class.’ I wish she could see me today doing what I do and how I do it.”

As Egan continued his journey in language, something clicked in his senior year at Allen High School with his Spanish teacher Shannon Zerby. Zerby now teaches at CHS.

“In my senior year, we learned about the phrase ‘hurry up’ in Spanish, five minutes before the bell rang,” Egan said. “It was before lunch and I told my friend, ‘Come on. Date prisa.’ I said it because I just learned it. My teacher looked up and literally thought there was a native in the room. That praise from a teacher’s reaction was pivotal for me.”

Learning language quickly became something Egan wanted to pursue more. Egan took advantage of the language opportunities offered at his school by taking French his junior year and German his senior year. As such, in going to college at the University of North Texas, Egan knew he wanted to pursue a bachelor of arts degree in Spanish and French.

“I was really attracted to the sound of words,” Egan said. “People sometimes get so bogged down by the mechanics of language: the grammar and the syntax. Sometimes we forget to take a minute to appreciate how a language sounds and looks.”

Within college, Egan served as a Russian teacher assistant. For Egan, however, language is not a lesson taught exclusively in classrooms. It is the ability to see language connect with others that brings Egan his passion. 

Shortly after graduating, Egan became the program director for SPI Study Abroad immersion programs which offers high school language immersion, volunteer service and cultural leadership opportunities in Spain and France. Even before becoming a teacher, Egan continued to create opportunities for others to access the global world.

“Language is instant knowledge,” Egan said. “I may not know a word before, but now that I know it, I’ll never forget it. It was always waiting for me to discover and learn it. A lot of people are too hard on themselves. You should want to be corrected and not take it personally.”

Egan’s journey as a lifelong learner shows in all his conversations: he seeks to welcome languages by speaking in the native language of other teachers; he will order in Spanish in Chipotle and McDonald’s; he continues to sponge new words and phrases as frequently as he can. Egan’s curiosity is not a conscious decision; it is a natural facet of him. Most recently, in learning Chinese, Egan has continued to channel his intellectual vigor. 

In conversation with CHS Chinese teacher Andrea Voelker, Egan asked Voelker what the meaning of teacher is in Chinese. 

“I told him 老师 (lǎoshī) means teacher in Chinese,” Voelker said. “He thought it was so cool, and he just started calling me that. Soon enough, my other coworkers stopped calling me Andrea and started calling me lǎoshī.”

Egan’s natural desire to make his fellow teachers feel comfortable through fostering connections in communication, eventually manifested itself to learning Chinese from Voelker. The two would initially alternate teaching the other a language. For three hours every Sunday, Egan has been learning Chinese under Voelker.

“He is the student that all teachers want because he asks so many questions,” Voelker said. “Since he knows so many languages, he’s able to navigate the grammar rules.”

Despite the apparent difference between Chinese and the other languages he knows, he automatically connected with it. 

“I did the 23andMe DNA test, and it turns out I’m 11% Northern Chinese,” Egan said. “Even though Chinese is radically different from all the other languages, it’s coming to me. When I learn a word, I’m like ‘What, this means this to you guys?’ We think it’s so complex, but when I write it out I realize I can do that.”

By playing sides as both a teacher and student, Egan has realized the importance of courage in speaking languages. But more importantly, Egan seeks to inspire his own students to not only learn but apply their skills. In his eighth period class, Egan teaches both IB French I and II.

“Something that really attests to his skills as a teacher is how he manages both sets of students at the same time,” senior Leon Jackson said. “He separates the time, so both classes learn, even though half of the class is on a different level than that other. He also inspired me to delve into my passions. I started learning Korean during junior year because of him.”

Follow Anushree De (@anushree_night) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.