Teachers

Ana Soto-Harrison. Spanish Instructor

Ana Soto-Harrison was born and grew up in México City, México.

She finished her Bachelors degree in Tourism and Hotels Administration from Universidad Intercontiental.

She met her "other half" in Mexico City who is a typical Wyoming Cowboy, good to the bone American man, who was working on a project in the big Mexico City back in 1997.

She has been married for 20 years and she has had quite and adventure with the awesome experience of living in different estates of the USA like Texas, Idaho, Utah, New Jersey and Colorado.

Ana is a mother of two fun and fantastic kids...well by now teenagers in High School level.

She loves traveling and meeting new people. She loves to go for long hikes and other activities she enjoys are reading, going to theater plays, scrap booking...and cooking new yummy recipes.

As a young adult she learned English back in México and she understands the importance and value of developing a second language, to keep us closer versus separated. She has been teaching Spanish to children for the last 10 years, so she is very experienced in the educational field.

Her favorite moment during a Spanish lesson is to see how those pretty eyes of her students turn bigger and sparkling when they realize... they are speaking in a whole new language, the Spanish Language!!.

Betul Baskan. French Instructor

Biography; Betul Baskan was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey.She completed her graduate studies in French Language and Literature at Pamukkale University in 2015, Turkey. Also , she got french education at Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris -III in Paris, France in 2013. Than she got her Pedagogical certificate for child education at Pamukkale University between 2014 and 2015. She has started her master program about French language at Pmaukkale University in 2015. She has worked as a french teacher since 2014. Before 2014 , she had worked as a chess and archery teacher for 3 years. Betul enjoys hiking, riding a horse, archery, play chess and visiting new places in U.S. and Europe. She has been in 10 different Europien countries.It is one of her dreams to teach good somethings that she knows to people and learn more than now.

Jocelyn Barcilon. French Instructor

Bonjour! My name is Jocelyn Barcilon and I grew up in a French speaking household, traveling regularly to visit family in France. The summer of 2018, I lead French Camp at Dawson School, using movement and play to introduce kids to the French language. I believe that kids learn best when they can engage their visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses! Prior to teaching French, I was a USAG certified gymnastics coach who lead birthday parties at a gymnastics school. I am energetic and enthusiastic about teaching kids all about French language and culture!

Gail. Mandarin Instructor

Hi, my name is Gail. I was born and grew up in northeast China. I graduated with a bachelor's degree from Northeast Normal University, Changchun‌ in 2017. It is a teacher's college. When I was little, I was really interested in the English language. I started learning English when I was 6 yeas old. I really appreciate my foreign language teacher; he changed my life. Because of him, I was able to pass my exchange student test and move to America. Becoming a language teacher has been my life's dream. Children are special to me, I hope I can help them dream their own dreams and have a great childhood. I love all the colorful culture and diversity in this country, and I want to share my culture with Americans. I am young and energetic.
I am excited to teach and work with young children. My husband and I enjoy skiing, hiking, walking our dog and anything that allows us to enjoy this beautiful state.

Xiomara Uzcategui. Spanish Instructor

Hola! My name is Xiomara Uzcategui. I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela. I studied Industrial and Computer Engineering. However, I love teaching, so I gave some classes at a University back home and I also worked at a language center for kids.

I deeply recognize the importance of knowing a second language and, above all, to learn it at an early age. I feel very passionate to teach my native language because I think it's very rich. Also, I appreciate much having the opportunity to teach it to children.

My favorite hobbies are walking, riding bicycle, dancing, reading and playing dominoes.

Selismarie Martinez. Spanish instructor

Selysmarie was born and raised in Puerto Rico. She completed her graduate studies in Clinical Psychology at Ponce Health Sciences University, Puerto Rico. Selysmarie will be getting licensed as a psychologist and will like at the same time to teach her native language to others. She is been teaching for several years and she strongly believes that teaching others one of the most spoken languages in their country will help increase their self-confidence and will increase the sense of inclusiveness in the community. During her leisure time, Selysmarie enjoys hiking and visiting new places in USA. It is one of her dreams to be able to work for a period of time outside of United States and Puerto Rico to serve other communities.

Ben Knappe. Mandarin instructor

Hi my name is Ben, I have been learning Chinese for over 10 years, teaching since 2012, and lived in China for 3 years operating Chinese language and English schools. My interest in China and the Chinese language started in high school and continued to progress, first testing HSK level 5, and then receiving
my Bachelors in Chinese language. I am still learning and sharing through teaching every moment I can.

I enjoy photography, philosophy and pondering into to sky.

Inci Ellis. Spanish Instructor

My name is Inci Ellis. I´m originally from Mexico City. My studies centered on designing and training with LNP processes. I previously worked as a bilingual community connector and now work as a trauma counselor at The Center for Trauma and Resilience. My experience working with the Hispanic community here in the United States has reinforced in me the importance of speaking, writing, and practicing proper Spanish.

Laura Bernabé. Spanish Instructor

¡Hola! I´m native Spanish, born and raised in Barcelona. I m fluent in Spanish and Catalan , as I learn both of them growing up. I fully believe in the power and value of adopting new languages early in life. I started learning English in middle school and I advanced in it taking lessons in an English School Academy after my regular school hours since I can remember (¡Yo era pequeña!). Thanks to that I can say that I´m fluent in 3 languages. I´m Software Engineer with a passion for teaching.

I had tutored students since I was a student in high school myself and I passed the Spanish teaching license when I was 22. I taught high school and community college classes in Spanish public schools for 4.5 years before I moved to USA. In my day to day life I also train and teach and guide coworkers on my technical area of expertise.

When not at work I love being outdoors, the mountains are my happy place and I miss the Mediterranean sea. I´m adventurer, sensation seeker and a big giver. A good book and an empty diary give me tons of motivation and space to dream.

Laura Esther Baldwin. Spanish Instructor

I am Laura Baldwin and I was worn in Venezuela. I moved to Chile after I finished my Master in Business and lived there for a year. Now I live in United States and I love it!

I love my language and recognize the importance of learning other languages for one´s future. I currently enjoy sharing my knowledge in the public library with other people who want to learn Spanish and my culture. I have experiences teaching math and other subjects to young students.

I love exercising, hiking in the mountains and reading. I consider keeping one´s mind and body active important for it helps you to learn new things, including languages.

Yini Chen. Mandarin Instructor

My name is Yini Chen. I’m from Shnaghai, China. My undergraduate major in Shanghai, China was art education. I got my master's degree in teaching English as second language at the end of 2019. During my four-year undergraduate study in Shanghai, I have one year's teaching experience in Chinese and one year's teaching experience in English. In addition, I obtained the elementary school Chinese teacher certification in China. I like cooking, traveling, and playing volleyball in my free time. I look forward to providing each of my students with a pleasant Chinese learning experience.

Ángela María Echeverry. Spanish Instructor

My name is Angela Maria Echeverry, I was born and raised in Colombia. I am a dentist by profession with a postgraduate degree in health administration, though I am not currently pursuing my career. I have lived in different countries for my husband´s work.

I have two children, one is finishing college and the other is in eleventh grade. My current job is as a full-time mom: it's the most rewarding job I've ever done. However, soon my daughter will be leaving for college and I would like to find another job in which to dedicate my time.

Having had the experience of living in different countries has taught me that it is very important to learn other languages, especially at an early age.

I have lived in Argentina and Ecuador and although they are Latin American countries, each one has its differences, both cultural and language. I have also had the opportunity to live in Miami and New York. Each place has been unique and very especial. The most enriching has been the people I've met and the biggest challenge of having lived in different countries has been communication, that for me is the most important part of adapting to a new place.

My favorite hobbies are spending time with family, going to the movies, going out to dinner, reading world / social news and doing Pilates.

I speak Spanish fluently because this is my first language and also because I have never stopped practicing it. I also know this language at a level where I can teach it to others who want to learn it. In my past I did one year of community service where I worked with high school students after school who have needed help understanding the language. I helped students ranging from difficult things like learning grammar to teaching smaller things such as simply improving pronunciation. Above this, my university degree now in the Russian language. Learning another language has improved me to learn how it feels to be a student of a better language. Learning a third language, it helped me to understand languages better in general and the areas where learning another language are difficult. Apart from this, I have also done community service where I translated from English to Spanish and Spanish to English between teachers and parents during parent, teacher conferences for elementary school students.

I have experience working with elementary children because I have previously done community service for children in elementary. My area was helping young children learn art in a program after school. Having learned this, I learned how to work with young children in a way that you have to talk to them so that they feel comfortable and happy while they learning and look forward to coming to the after school program.

Sofia Lopez. Spanish Instructor

Claudia Largo. Spanish instructor

Claudia Largo was born in Colombia and lived in Madrid, Spain during 16 years. She moved to USA three years ago.

She studied Accounting in Colombia and worked as a Management Assistant for a Colombian Betting company.

When Claudia moved to Madrid worked as a Customer Service Team Leader position monitoring, training and evaluating the quality of telephone service, providing guidelines to a clear and effective Spanish communication.

She is a mom of 5 years old daughter.

Claudia also worked as a Nanny for several very well-known families in Madrid. She cared of children with a range of age from 3 to 14 years old, creating daily schedules and engaging in activities to ensure their healthy mental, physical, and emotional growth.

During her term as a babysitter she demonstrated her clear vocation for early care education. She loves children and has developed an effective communication with them. She is patience and sweet, able to tailor her creative learning games to suit the child’s personality.

In addition, she likes to organize children's activities and educate the youngest in learning of Spanish language at their basic levels, developing casual learning environment.

She is currently studying to get her Early Childhood Education.

Carlos Achucarro. Spanish Instructor

My name is Carlos Achucarro, I am from Burgos, Castile and Leon (Spain), the cradle of Castilian and Spanish. I lived in Madrid during almost 17 years. I moved to United States 3 years ago and I also lived in Tampa, Florida.

I earned my Bachelor's and Master's degree in History and Geography from University of Burgos, Spain, and also received a Master in Exhibition Management from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

My Spain Teaching Certification (Certificate of Pedagogical Aptitude) from Universidad Complutense University of Madrid, qualifies me to teach at the secondary level in Spain.

I am currently studying a Higher Education Teaching Certificate from Harvard University.

In the past, I taught History, Geography and Spanish Literature, tutoring 7th, 8th and 9th, grades students. I also instructed adults, and during five years I worked as a Tennis instructor. I encouraged and promoted tennis through the Public Tennis School program by making lessons fun and motivating students to continue improving their skills from preschool age to college in the fundamentals of tennis.

While I was working as a teacher and instructor I promoted intrinsic student motivation merging classroom activities with student interests such as music, games, sports, or current events. I like to implement activities in order to connect with people of all backgrounds promoting equity and diversity in classroom.

I like to visit museums and art exhibitions and my other hobbies are hiking, cooking, swimming, travel and watching movies

Julia Fournier. Spanish Instructor-Performer

Julia Fournier is our guest instructor-performer from Spain. Julia is an artist of extraordinary ability graduated from the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Madrid with a degree in Acting.

She is also studying her third year of Early Childhood Education Degree in the Valencian
International University.

Besides all her well-known work as a performer in her home country, Julia has also shared her
experience through teaching, combining these two passions, theater and education. This is
what makes her so special and unique. The method that she enjoys the most is LEARNING
BY PLAYING.
Julia makes every class a show where the kids can learn while having fun and experiencing. Her
favorite tools are story-telling, role play, songs and puppets.

Also when she finds free time she volunteers at Action Learning Academy with 1st and 2nd Grade.