By Michelle Cai and Esteban Quinonez

Book enthusiast teaches students real world English applications

By Esteban Quinonez

Adela Arriaga, English teacher

“My interest in teaching English is not so much because I want to teach literature,” English teacher Adela Arriaga said. “My passion is in making sure that students are great communicators with written language and are able to express ideas clearly in their writing.”

Arriaga grew up in a small town in Texas, where she was the oldest of six cousins. Being Mexican American, she tried breaking racial barriers by joining in clubs and fundraising events in high school. Her favorite subjects were English and history. She was later inspired to teach English because “it doesn’t matter what field you go in, you need English.”

Throughout her career, she held administrative positions at UC San Francisco and the Reuters news agency. She later left these jobs in order to pursue an occupation in teaching. Before accepting her current one year position at Lowell, she tutored at St. John’s tutor center, volunteered at Everett Middle School and taught at International Studies Academy before it closed.

What were some challenges/rewards in your career as a whole?

I have been teaching for 25 years, and the best thing is that my students have grown up and I’ve kept in touch with some of them. I have a few former students who are now teachers, so it’s really exciting to have them as colleagues. I’ve been teaching in San Francisco for most of my career, and it’s really great that I run into them every now and then.

I would say that the challenges are to make great education accessible to everyone. I think that within San Francisco, there are inequities that I think the district has been trying to address for quite a while. Typically, I have always chosen to work in underperforming schools because it has always been my passion to work with kids that don’t have access to good education or a good curriculum.

“My passion is in making sure that students are great communicators with written language and are able to express ideas clearly in their writing.”

What is your impression on Lowell compared to other schools that you’ve taught at?

I’m really having fun and enjoying the students here. It’s hard for me to see 160 students every day, because I’m used to a much smaller student population where I know the students a little bit better. It was driving me crazy that by the end of week three, I still didn’t know everybody’s name.

What are some of your favorite hobbies?

I really enjoy yoga, and I’m an avid reader. I’m always reading more than one book at a time. I also like hiking a lot. If we didn’t have school today, I would go to Mt. Tamalpais and hike.

What inspires you?

Students inspire me when they are excited about learning, or when they understand something and make a connection.

I would say I was really inspired by the group of students that I met in China this summer. They were really excited to have a teacher from the United States who teaches ninth grade students, which was what they are. They really wanted to know what education is like in the United States, and they wanted the whole cultural exchange. It spurred my imagination, and I asked what could I do to make this more enriching for them and respond more to their requests.

What is your funniest teaching moment?

I had a funny moment on the third day of school [at Lowell]. I had seen everyone the day before and gave them assigned seats. I can tell who was missing, and in walks a student — Sonya Lee. I’ve known her parents since before she was born, so that was really funny. It’s great having her in class because she’s seeing me in a different light, and I’m seeing her in a different light.

World traveler and volunteer brings her experiences to the classroom

By Esteban Quinonez

Natalie Somerville, English teacher

Growing up, English teacher Natalie Somerville remembers watching her mother “coming home late each evening exhausted and quite drained [from teaching]… but she was also happy through the bags under her eyes, and through her lack of energy she still had this gleam of happiness.”

In high school, Somerville played viola in a quartet at the creative performing arts school she attended. Her favorite subjects were gym and English. Later in life, Somerville held jobs as a lifeguard and as a brand ambassador for companies like Cheetos, Coca-Cola, and Warner Brothers. She spent time volunteering in Indonesia, Nepal, India, Cambodia and Morocco. After witnessing a lack of literacy skills during her time volunteering, she became motivated to start teaching English.

Today, Somerville is leaving her position at Lowell to volunteer in Nepal for a month with an organization called All Hands Volunteers. She plans to teach English to Buddhist monks and poetry and art to students in Nepal schools.

“Afterwards, I would love to come back to Lowell, but I’m not sure how things will unwind,” Somerville said. “I’ll just see where the wind takes me.”

What are some challenges or rewards in your career as a whole?

The challenge is whenever I see someone who has everything that they need in front of them and doesn’t do anything with it. For example, a challenge is coming back after a lovely weekend, and I ask the students how was their weekend and they’re tired and cranky. It kills me inside. We have so much, but it’s not enough. That’s a challenge, that we always want more and more and it’s never enough.

A reward is when I get an essay from a kid and it talks about how they went on a hike and sat for thirty minutes, breathing, and how those thirty minutes taught them more than in years of school. That’s a reward, when someone goes out and experiences knowledge on their own and recognizes the things around them.

What is your impression of Lowell compared to other schools you’ve taught at?

The students here are quite intelligent, but I think everyone competes with everyone else and everything is a competition. I do think that there is a lot of stress here and it’s a toxic environment because of those kinds of competitions. Everyone wants to see what everyone else’s grade is and that’s really degrading and disrespectful and just can’t stand that. It’s a great place, but the attitude and the cynicism towards outside time or slowing down is scoffed upon because of this idea that it’s wasting time.

“That’s a reward, when someone goes out and experiences knowledge on their own and recognizes the things around them.”

What are some of your favorite hobbies?

I love swimming and riding motorcycles. It’s like meditation for me. I also like to play music and write poetry and take pictures. My favorite thing in the world is taking pictures. I love going to a place that don’t know anything about and learning the culture and figuring everything out for myself.

What inspires you?

Poetry inspires me. I have a few favorite spoken word artists named Anis Mojgani and Sarah Kay. They use simple language, but they write about the appreciation in love.

Also, people on the bus inspire me. I see all walks of life and we are all in one area, traveling to and from these different places, and I just love to see the different ways of living and responding. My mom always said, “The way you respond determines what happens next.” I always see these little actions people take and how they respond, and that’s very interesting to me.

What is your funniest teaching moment?

My last name is Somerville and my first name is Natalie, so the email address for SFUSD is Somervillen and so on the first day of school someone said, “Ms. Somervillen can I go to the bathroom?” I said, “What did you call me?” And the student said “Ms. Somervillen.” I just thought that was hysterical and I told my other classes about it, and they all started calling me Ms. Somervillen.

Lowell graduate returns to alma mater to continue teaching career

By Michelle Cai

Henry Nghe, math teacher

“This is my 17th year teaching, but it feels like my 1st year all over again because I’m at a new place with different students and a different environment,” Math teacher and Lowell alumnus Henry Nghe said. “I just never expected that I was going to come back to Lowell, because I feel like Lowell’s put on this pedestal. So I feel pretty lucky to be here.”

In high school, Nghe’s favorite subjects were math and journalism. After graduating, he decided to pursue a career in teaching because he and his family always placed great value on education. In college, he ran summer camps and tutored students.

Prior to teaching at Lowell, Nghe worked at Westmoor High School in Daly City, where he alternated between teaching science and math. Despite his science background, he started teaching introductory math to ninth graders because the school was short on math teachers. Currently, he’s working on becoming a full math teacher.

Challenges/rewards in your career as a whole?

The challenge is always trying to get the kids to realize that if you keep working hard at something, you can always achieve it, but the thing is having a work ethic. You have to always be able to work at it.

The reward is when kids do work hard, and they do get it, and you see that click. That’s the rewarding part. Also to have kids enjoy what they’re doing, because sometimes kids have this fixed mindset. They come in and they’re all very negative. It’s work and they don’t wanna do it, but they don’t see that it’s worth it, and that you’re doing all this for yourself.

“Sometimes, high school is about learning how to learn and knowing what questions to ask.”

What’s your impression of Lowell compared to other schools you’ve taught at?

Kids here are more serious. It’s the attitude and mentality. Here, the question is, “What college are you going to?” It’s not even a question of if you’re going to college, whereas at other schools, they may be thinking “I might go to college, I might not.” A lot of the kids here are really good students, they’re self driven and the motivation is there. So I feel pretty lucky to be here.

This job is a really good job, it’s what you make of it. It is a privilege to be teaching and to not lose sight of the big picture. The bigger picture is like, why are you here, why are you doing this? Always keep it clear that you’re here doing it for the kids, and you want them to do well, you want to share and pass on what you know. Sometimes, high school is about learning how to learn and knowing what questions to ask.

What are some of your favorite hobbies? What inspires you?

I like watching movies and spending a lot of family time, and going on family trips.

When there’s time, I try to be more active. I like to play basketball, but it’s harder when you get older, so you have to set aside time. Back then, in our 20s, our friends would meet up once a week. But when everyone moves into their own personal lives, they kind of retire from sports. I wasn’t on the school basketball team, but back then we had recreational leagues, and we’d go to Chinatown where there’d be public neighborhood recreational leagues.

What’s been your funniest teaching moment (as a teacher)?

The kids were asking me if I was married, so I showed them my ring finger and they thought I was flicking them off. They thought I was sticking out my middle finger at them.

These interviews have been edited and condensed by Emily Teng.