To illustrate the nature of her daily work, Chesterfield teacher Vivian Rivera-Maysonet offers the drinking straw as an example. She explains that you can say “straw” multiple ways in Spanish, quickly listing a few: sorbeto, pajita, popote. She makes sure her dual-language immersion students at Chesterfield County Public Schools’ Elizabeth Scott Elementary in Chester, who come from countries around the world, recognize the beauty of that. “It’s enriching,” she says. “You have your word, and I have my word, so let’s learn and compare.”
Photo courtesy Vivian Rivera-Maysonet
Rivera-Maysonet teaches her fourth-grade students in both English and Spanish, the melding of the cultures providing a learning experience for her and her students. Her dedication to her job was rewarded earlier this year when the National Association for Bilingual Education named Rivera-Maysonet its Bilingual Teacher of the Year, presenting the award at the organization’s international conference in New Orleans in March.
After seeing how her mother’s teaching career affected others while she was growing up, Rivera-Maysonet says teaching was always the path for her. Not only did she admire the way her mother’s career had an impact on her students, but teaching also bettered the family’s life. “[For] my whole life, she gave to students. … It was a savior to us,” she says.
Rivera-Maysonet began her career 23 years ago as an English teacher in Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017, she and her family decided to relocate to the continental U.S., where she ultimately joined the faculty of Elizabeth Scott Elementary. She credits Principal Julie Buntich with serving as her mentor as she learned a new approach to education and began incorporating more fun in her teaching.
The school’s main appeal for Rivera-Maysonet, however, was its Spanish dual-language immersion program — the only one in a Chesterfield County elementary school — which she says makes her teaching experience “magical.” Students in the program learn in English half the time and in Spanish for the other half.
Describing the benefits of immersive language education, Rivera-Maysonet notes that 70% of her fourth graders test at an eighth-grade literacy level. She says learning partly in the United States’ second most spoken language not only provides a richer academic experience but provides a deeper cultural experience as well. “It’s powerful. It’s more windows and doors for them in the future,” she says.
Rivera-Maysonet says her students’ “zest for education” is heightened by the immersive dual-language experience. “They know there’s a bigger world out there, and they are hungry to learn.”
In addition to the recent award, Rivera-Maysonet was named the 2022-23 Teacher of the Year and Elementary School Teacher of the Year for Chesterfield County Public Schools. Despite that recognition, she describes receiving the national award as “surprising.” Although she is known among her peers for her passionate approach — Chesterfield curriculum specialist Bettina Staudt says her colleague “touches hearts, makes learning fun and contributes on a daily basis to brighten everyone’s day” — Rivera-Maysonet insists the moment was bigger than herself. “It wasn’t just a recognition for me, it was a recognition of our whole school,” she says.
The key to creating a healthy learning environment, Rivera-Maysonet adds, is forming good relationships with both the students and their parents and understanding that the role of a teacher extends far beyond what they convey to their students throughout the day. “Teachers teach for life,” she says.
