TESOL and National Geographic Learning Announce the 2024 TESOL Teacher of the Year
TESOL International Association (TESOL) is pleased to announce Luis Javier Pentón Herrera as the recipient of the 2024 TESOL Teacher of the Year Award. The award, presented by National Geographic Learning, honors exceptional English language teaching at all levels. Pentón Herrera will be recognized in Tampa, Florida, during the 2024 TESOL International Convention & Expo, Mar. 21-23.
Pentón Herrera is a professor at Akademia Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna w Warszawie, in Poland, and a Fulbright specialist and English language specialist with the U.S. Department of State. He served as the 38th president of Maryland TESOL from 2018 to 2019 and earned the rank of sergeant while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He received a doctorate in educational leadership: reading, language, and literacy from Concordia University Chicago in 2018, and last year received the Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. In addition to his work in Poland, Pentón Herrera has also taught in Romania, the United States, and Pakistan.
“I am deeply honored to receive the TESOL Teacher of the Year award,” Pentón Herrera said. “I dedicate this award to my students, whose strength and kindness inspire me daily, and to my fellow teacher friends and colleagues — teachers are the best human beings I know.”
As recipient of the TESOL Teacher of the Year Award, Pentón Herrera receives a one-year membership in TESOL International Association, a selection of TESOL publications valued at $250, a complimentary registration for the 2024 TESOL International Convention & Expo, and a cash award of $1,000. The Teacher of the Year award recipient is also offered a session as an invited speaker at the TESOL convention; the title of Pentón Herrera’s session is “SEL in ELT: Cultivating the Future of Global Communication.”