The sweet smell of pan de muerto fills the classroom as a melodic voice is heard educating students about Día de los Muertos, a Latin American holiday celebrated around the world.
Similarly, a glowing smile greets students as they present to the class, easing the worry of making a mistake.
These are just a few of the aspects of CHS9 Spanish teacher Miriam Muller’s class.
Muller has been teaching Spanish I and II for four years. Prior, she started teaching English as a second language and Spanish as a second language at Baden-Powell Institute of Language in Mexico in 1995.
“I started with English as a second language in my country,” Muller said. “Then I taught Spanish as a second language, and I thought it was a lot of fun to hear people trying to acquire a language and trying to use the language, which is not easy. That was the beginning.”
At Baden-Powell, she met her husband, Steve Muller, and they moved to the United States. For Muller, it was a brand new start to her life.
Her teaching certification in Mexico was not valid in the United States. While studying full time for a bachelor’s in bilingual education, she earned her VISA as a resident.
Coming from abroad herself, she understands students struggling to learn languages.
“She understands everyone is different,” junior Raksheetha Varshini said. “Everyone has different struggles. Everyone has a different background. She knows what it feels like to have to overcome those and become better.”
This comes with her resilience as a teacher.
“You want kids to be successful and they’re not always successful on the first try,” CHS9 Principal Dr. Greg Axelson said. “She will not give up on a student, even if she has to try time and time again to help them. She demonstrates that kind of patience and grit, and that is why she is a really effective teacher.”
Her contributions to the Spanish team are far from unnoticed. Every day, she greets and talks with students outside the classroom.
“I have to assume that sometimes she is tired, but you can never tell because she always chooses to be positive and have a smile on her face,” Axelson said. “It is a very outgoing group. When I am down in their part of the building, they are always out in the hallway interacting with students.”
Muller’s mission is not solely to help them learn and speak Spanish, but to prepare them for their future by giving them an understanding of and immersing them in the foreign world.
“Learning languages really expands the way you think of and the way you see other cultures,” Muller said. “More than anything I want them to get some respect for people from other cultures, maybe some curiosity for their traditions, and maybe even a love for learning a language, even if it’s not Spanish.”
This is aided by her experience during grade school in Mexico.
“The principal would invite somebody who would not speak our language or English at all, and teach us the word ‘to be’ in Chinese, German, Russian and more,” Muller said. “He said ‘Now you have a taste of what it’s like to not be a native speaker.’ He would do that every three or four months.”
Muller has connected with various students throughout her time as a teacher. These bonds helped some, including Varshini, push further in the language.
“The first time we did a project in that class, I remember I had so many questions,” Varshini said. “She taught me that because Spanish is a different language, you have to be able to understand it on a spiritual level. Not only did I do really well, I felt inspired to go ahead and go all the way up to IB Spanish.”
To Muller, the hardest part is not the language aspect, but rather the learning process. Instead, this process is something to gain from and explore.
“Learning a language is trying to make experiments with it, even if it sounds silly sometimes and you feel like it does not work,” Muller said. “The part of things not working is part of the beauty of learning.”
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