Belén de Vedia
Founder & Director of Education
“Let’s build a bridge, let’s learn a language, let’s connect!”
Belén is originally from Argentina, the oldest of five very artistic siblings and the daughter of two passionate teachers! She has a degree in Industrial Design and has been working as a teacher for several years. In addition to teaching language, she is also a drama teacher and enjoys drawing on that experience and passion while teaching Spanish. Belén believes that when we are in a full immersion environment, we not only learn a language, but we learn about the soul of another culture and that changes the way we relate with everyone around us. She's an art-lover! Music, dance, theater and photography have always been part of her life. She loves traveling and being outdoors. Rock climbing is also one of her passions!
Mariadelina Mateo
Instructor
Mariadelina is a native Venezuelan with a passion for teaching, especially languages! She has a degree in Law and a Masters in Management. She has been trained in a variety of language teaching techniques and has experience teaching Spanish to both children and adults. She has traveled all around the World! She has visited England, Ireland, Finland, Egypt, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Croatia, Morocco, Greece, Sweden, Estonia, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, among others. She also used to live in Ottawa, Canada. She thinks the best way to really get to know people is to get immersed in their culture, and that is the key to language learning. She also loves music and dancing!
Marco Alcaraz
Instructor
Marco was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Mexico City, of an American mother and a Mexican father. Possibly experiencing both cultures growing up with frequent trips back and forth made him curious and interested in exploring what other worlds could lie out there. He works in environmental and sustainable development issues at the World Bank which he enjoys, but exploration and learning are his real passions. Through work or just for pleasure (much preferable) he has been fortunate to be able to travel to over 50 countries, but feels one lifetime will not be enough to experience all he would want to. While living in Odessa, Ukraine, he taught English (and some Spanish) and decided he really enjoyed teaching a language, although generally he has always enjoyed communication and exchanging ideas and knowledge. He also enjoys hiking, tennis and cinema.
Rosa Meza
Cooking, Art and Theater in Spanish
Rosa is a native of Venezuela where she studied Food Technology, Early Education and Administration. She worked for ten years with children in the initial educational stage, carrying out different learning projects focused especially on the care of the environment, productive projects (agriculture), food processing, food health programs and child nutrition. She also developed cultural workshops (art, typical dances, typical crafts and national folklore). Rosa enjoys being in contact with children and adolescents and considers them to be the best teachers. She loves cooking, especially Venezuelan cuisine, which uses products that provide good nutrients in a basic diet.
Johana Rodríguez
Science, Art, Theater and Latin Rhythms in Spanish
Johana is from Venezuela, where she studied and worked as a preschool teacher, planning, coordinating and evaluating the teaching and learning process, in order to contribute to the development of knowledge, skills and abilities of the children through evolutionary activities carried out in the classroom. As a mother of an early child, it is easy for her to work with children because she believes that she is the one who learns from them. As part of her teaching activity, she had the opportunity to work with the Child and Adolescent Protection System, which enabled her to gain a close understanding of the family situations that can affect minors, as well as how to resolve these conflicts, understanding the power of education to succeed in life. As part of his teaching activities, she has developed learning projects through theatre, music and dance.
David Camero
Art, Theater, Yoga and Latin Rhythms in Spanish
David is a mixed media painter and performance artist, originally from Venezuela. He is passionate about masks. He studied Art and Literature and gained experience as an actor, set designer and artistic director. He continued his studies in theater, mime and movement in France. He has worked as an instructor with children & adults since 1984. This type of work is highly rewarding because it allows him to share his artistic abilities while encouraging others to grow in their own artistic talents. David is also a Yoga instructor and teaches modern dance and creative movement classes.
Silvana Ortíz Meza
Art and Theater in Spanish
Silvana was born in Venezuela, where she studied psychology. She is also passionate about the arts and one of her hobbies is visiting museums. She considers art as the best expression of humanity and enjoys admiring the feelings that artists seek to communicate. She believes that art is one of the best ways to learn history because it allows us to have a vision of the past, present and future of humanity, making us travel in time and appreciate the successes and failures in each of the epochs. This is one of the reasons why she loves living in Washington and enjoying its art and history!
Elisa González
Yoga and Cooking in Spanish
Elisa is from Venezuela and is the mother of two incredible children. She is a Yoga instructor and has 12 years of experience teaching personal training, pilates and yoga among other activities. About 7 years ago when she became a mother, she discovered that using the tools of yoga she could obtain better responses in the attitudes of her children and began to study mindfulness and how to involve them in the breathing of movements. That way, she was able to uncover incredible reactions in them, so she decided to share this knowledge in her classes. Elisa is also a cook and enjoys sharing her incredible recipes!
Glendys Calderón
Latin Rhythms in Spanish
Glendys is from Venezuela where she graduated from the University of the Andes of Merida Venezuela. She is a Karate-Do instructor and loves sports, dancing, and activities that require body movements. She enjoys sharing her time with children, teaching them new experiences so that they know other cultures through from her mind.
Yoimel González
Instructor
Yoimel is originally from Cuba. Theater critic, editor, professor, but the most important thing: a knowledge lover. The oldest son of a typical Cuban family. His parents taught him the importance of learning as much as he could and knowing people and honoring their knowledge as well. Table games, theater, reading, traveling and Madonna are things he loves. Yes, Madonna. Why not? Being a teacher during more than 5 years have been one of his most exciting jobs. Doing that he learned how amazing is to share what we know, and who we are.
Diana Pinto
Science in Spanish
Diana is a native Colombian, where she completed a bachelor's degree in biology and a Master´s degree in Biological Sciences. Diana loves nature and animals specially frogs, lizards and dogs. While studying abroad in the jungles of the Amazon poisons frogs, she felt in love with the jungle, The Amazon Jungle is one of her favorite places in the world. She was a biology and chemistry teacher for middle school as well as high school. Additionally, she taught biology to undergraduate students of psychology at a University in Colombia. She enjoys taking pictures of the wildlife as well as traveling and discovering different cultures. She loves to dance Latin music and she expresses her creativity making art projects.
Edwin Canizalez
Art and Theater in Spanish
Edwin Canizalez grew up in New York and has lived in Spain where he travels to see family yearly. He taught Spanish in Long Island in three high schools and in Las Vegas at UNLV. He has also worked with young children ages 3 and up in a variety of learning settings including gymnastics, martial arts, soccer, and second language learning. He holds a B.A. in Spanish Literature, Linguistics and Culture from the University of New York at Stony Brook. He loves teaching and sharing his language and cultural knowledge and subscribes to the thought that you are as many languages as you speak.
Yohanna Arredondo
Dance and Science in Spanish
She has a bachelor degree in English. She has been teaching children, youth and adults for more than 7 years. She considers herself a passionate teacher. She loves when she sees her students succeeding with the language and reaching their dreams. She loves nature, hiking and exploring. She enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies or just talking about what happened during the day.
Yeysi Rodriguez
Dance in Spanish
She is originally from El Salvador. She is currently studying Political Science at George Mason University. She loves talking with kids and youth and helping them discover that they are important as individuals. She finds fascinating visual, auditory and performing art. Art can be an opportunity for the students to experience other styles of learning and it can open their minds to consider alternative careers. She loves Latin music and speaking Spanish. She is excited to share he skills by encouraging the students being creative.
Luciana Floriani
Yoga in Spanish
Luciana is a teacher originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She started working at a bank but luckily, at an early stage, she discovered her true passion- education. She has worked in the field for over 25 years, mainly with children with learning disabilities. She continuously challenges herself by enhancing her studies. She obtained her last degree as a librarian when she was 50! Being a Yoga instructor made her aware of the importance of mindfully doing what you love, which in her case is teaching.