Who am I?

¡Hola! I'm Maestra Montes, your kindergarten through third grade Spanish teacher. Like a lot of my students, I was not a fluent native speaker. I grew up in a bilingual family, but spoke English at home. I fell in love with the language in high school and devoted my university studies to developing fluency, phonological awareness, analyzing literature and learning cultural history.

Prior to becoming a teacher at Westlake, I taught music (ukulele and piano) to pre-K through 8th grade students at Westlake and neighboring schools. Music is a huge passion of mine, so if your student comes home humming a song, it may be one we learned in class!

When I am not listening to music or playing, you can find me dancing (I love Zumba!), perfecting a new recipe, grabbing coffee or watching a Sacramento Kings game. I am also active on social media, so if you want to keep up with our class on the go, follow me at @maestra.montes on Instagram or TikTok!