2025 ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year Named

Kei header
Share:

ACTFL is thrilled to introduce Kei Tsukamaki as the 2025 National Language Teacher of the Year. The award presentation was held during the Opening General Session of the 2024 ACTFL Convention & World Languages Expo on Friday, November 22 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. The Language Teacher of the Year is a program managed by the Language Connects Foundation (LCF), the charitable and public education affiliate of ACTFL.

Kei Tsukamaki is in her 14th year teaching Japanese in Washington State. She has served as President of the Washington Association of Teachers of Japanese and currently serves as Department Chair in her building and is a member of her district’s Japanese Curriculum Writing Team. Tsukamaki is the 2024 Pacific Northwest Council for Languages (PNCFL) Teacher of the Year and the 2023 Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT) Teacher of the Year.

The award for the ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year elevates the status of the language teaching profession at the state, regional, and national levels by creating opportunities for recognizing the most accomplished members of the profession. The Teacher of the Year becomes a national spokesperson for the language profession to further demonstrate the critical importance of learning languages and cultures to the general public.

“We congratulate Kei on being named 2025 ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year,” said Lawrence Paska, ACTFL Executive Director. “Her professional accomplishments are a testament to hard work, passion, and dedication to the field of language education. I look forward to our continued collaboration during Kei’s year of service and advocacy to the profession as ACTFL’s National Language Teacher of the Year.

Learn more about the ACTFL Teacher of the Year Program.

The other four finalists for the annual ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year Award representing the other geographic regions of the U.S. were:

  • Amanda Beck: William Henry Harrison High School, West Lafayette, IN — Central States Languages for All
  • Bertha Delgadillo: Woodville Tompkins Technical & Career High School, Savannah, GA — Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT)
  • Sara Lee: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ — Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT)
  • Carlos Salinas: William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, PA — Northeastern Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL)