Dr. Murutamanga Louis Kabahita teaching French at Potomac’s Intermediate School. Photo contributed
Dr. Murutamanga Louis Kabahita, a seventh- and eighth-grade French teacher at The Potomac School, has won a prestigious award from the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) for his exceptional teaching. Dr. Kabahita, who has been at Potomac since 1999, was awarded the Friedel and Otto Eberspacher Award for Excellence in the Teaching of a Modern Western European Language for his ability to inspire his students to understand the French language, people, and culture. He was one of 88 teachers nominated for the award this year.
Teachers are nominated by students from their home school in grades 7-12, who participate in CTY’s summer programs in the humanities and writing. Nominated teachers then submit an essay discussing pivotal moments in their language education and teaching careers. Potomac School eighth-grader Anna Lerner, who participated in a CTY program this past summer, nominated Dr. Kabahita.
A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Kabahita recounted in his essay how he learned French from a teacher who used songs and pictures to pair words with meanings. Later, he sharpened his language skills by listening to the radio, watching French movies, and reading borrowed “Adventures of Tintin” comics. In 1975, he completed his undergraduate degree at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique in Bukavu, Eastern Congo, majoring in French and minoring in linguistics. Years later, he earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in French and linguistics.