When the students of Étude Middle School are dreaming about their future and need a burst of inspiration, they only have to look at their English teacher, Ehdoh Htoo.

Born in Myanmar, Htoo was 5 when his family fled to a refugee camp in Thailand, and 10 years later they came to America. He learned English at South High School and got his degree from Lakeland University.

He didn’t start out wanting to be a teacher, but then he found himself the classrooms of some excellent teachers who changed his life.

“Most people I look up to are teachers,” he said. “They make a difference in my life, teach me how to be a good person, a good citizen in general. I believe teaching is a very rewarding job. It might be hard but when you see the result, it’s a feeling you cannot describe.”

As an English Language Arts teacher, Htoo has the opportunity to share his story with students when they’re reading relevant books together. And he said he’s always surprised and impressed with the way his students respond.

“When I talk about it – Myanmar, living as refugee — they feel like they want to know more about it,” he said. “I’ve shared my personal situation when it relates to a book.”

For example, his class read “Other Words for Home,” a Newberry Award-winning book about a young girl who comes to the U.S. from Syria. It provided a great springboard to talk about refugees, immigrants and the trials people go through.

“Refugees and immigrants are different,” he said. “Immigrants do research and know something about where they’re going. Refugees we don’t know where we’re going to end up; we don’t know anything about the place we’re going to be living.”

Htoo’s transition from Thailand to Sheboygan was, understandably, rough.

“The only thing I knew was, ‘Hello, how are you, I’m good thank you,’” he said. “None of my family spoke (English) either. It was hard at first. The weather’s also different. We got here in February — it was very cold; in Thailand it was hot still. We came here with no tennis shoes, coats, jackets. We were freezing, we don’t know how to turn on the heat.”

Little by little it got better.

“The first time we saw snow we were really happy,” he said. “We played in the snow for hours just to feel the snow.”

It was difficult for him when he started school in Sheboygan, but in overcoming the challenges he found his purpose.

“When I came to America, came to school and learned English, it was very hard for me,” he said. “My teacher didn’t speak my language; it was hard. I had to figure out how to do the work on my own. It was a struggle, so that’s why I want to be teacher — so I can be their (support). I relate to them because I come from this situation as well.”

Teacher Addie Degenhardt said Htoo’s enthusiasm for teaching and his background make him a unique resource for students.

“We like to choose books that have international global perspective so kids can critically think about the world around them,” she said. “It’s really important, but there’s only so much we can do — we have not experienced that ourselves. Now we have a teacher whose experiences are similar to characters in the book and it lets students experience on a different level.”

 Htoo said he’s especially happy to be teaching middle school.

“I love middle school,” he said. “They’re the age when they’re cool, they know everything, but not. You can still have conversations with them. Kids love to see someone they can also relate to.”