World’s best teacher is a Briton – who greets pupils in 35 languages!

A TEACHER who learned to greet her pupils in the 35 languages spoken at her deprived school has been named the best in the world – winning a $1million prize.

Andria Zafirakou, 39, was selected from 30,000 applicants from 173 countries for her work with migrant children at Alperton Community School in Brent, north-west London.

She received the £715,000 award at a ceremony in Dubai yesterday and was praised for her ‘dedication and creativity’ in a video message from Theresa May.

Judges were impressed with her work with families in her diverse community – including welcoming pupils in Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Portuguese, Somali, Arabic, Romanian, Polish, Urdu, Italian and many others languages.

She has visited pupils in their homes – finding that some are so overcrowded the youngsters do their homework in the bathroom so they can concentrate – set up a Somali school choir and brought in girls- only sports for those from conservative religious communities.

Accepting her award Miss Zafirakou, an art and textiles teacher born and bred in the UK, said: ‘The community where I teach in Brent is beautifully diverse, one of the most multicultural communities in the world.’ She commended her ‘ phenomenal’ pupils, saying: ‘If our school could open at 6am, there would be a queue of children waiting outside at 5am.’

She is the first UK teacher to win the Varkey Foundation Global Above: Miss Zafirakou yesterday. Left: With some of her pupils Teacher Prize, devised by Dubai private schools founder Sunny Varkey to recognise an outstanding contribution by an individual.

Her school is in one of the poorest parts of the UK and many pupils come from migrant backgrounds, with some of the parents still getting to grips with English. A number of her pupils have also been exposed to gang violence.

Miss Zafirakou will be required to remain as a classroom teacher for at least five years and will be paid the money in instalments.

Asked what she would do with it, she said: ‘It would be fantastic if I could think about how the arts could be celebrated even further within our school community.’