I love being a Spanish teacher in the Jackson Catholic elementary schools. It is a pleasure to be in such a beautiful community of believers.

The elementary schools offer many specials classes, one of them being the Spanish language. We meet once per week. Students will have fun playing games, interacting and learning vocabulary and usage from a variety of topics that they would most likely need for communication. Language development happens so incrementally that students can be tempted to say they "know nothing", but I absolutely LOVE the moment when a student realizes that they "suddenly" have some sweet Spanish skills. 

My teaching experience includes Spanish K-12 and French 8-12, Hispanic Culture for middle school students, and International Travel (an enrichment class for high school students that I developed).

I graduated from Olivet Nazarene University with a BA in Romance Language Education, majoring in Spanish, with minors in French, Music and Education. I later completed my Elementary Teaching endorsement at Spring Arbor University.  Facebook has been an easy place to connect with other language teachers nationally, and I am a member of several groups. I am currently learning German, Italian and Portuguese, which helps guide the learning activities I use for students who are also "beginners".

My current hobbies include mountain biking with my husband, guitar lessons, playing the cello with a beginning strings group at JSO, crocheting, and developing language skills. I still play saxophone and piano, and enjoy playing in the pit band for the Concord Area Players. We just finished The Sound of Music! It was challenging and fun to transpose music for the soprano saxophone. I love math and science, and have often volunteered at Spring Arbor University's (summer) Science Camp. During the summer months, you can find me working and/or dropping off grandchildren at summer church camps, mountain biking, and hanging out with my family.

Loving and knowing God changes EVERYTHING about who I am and how I conduct my life. I hope to convey the love and grace of God in all I do, in and out of the classroom, and to help students learn scripture and songs that can come to mind when they need it. We learn these in both English and in Spanish. I still remember scripture from my own kindergarten and early years. Knowing God's word is totally awesome. :) 

Life is good. Love is sweet, and time feels like it will last forever.  But, every now and then, remember, ".... in me (God) you may have peace. In this world you may have trouble, but take heart!  I have overcome the world." John 16:33