SLA's foreign-language instructors are professional teachers with
extensive classroom experience who bring both linguistic and cultural
expertise to the classroom. Currently, 95% are native speakers, and
all hold graduate degrees in the language and literature they teach
or have completed post-graduate coursework and/or specialized training
relevant to the teaching of foreign languages.
Ancient Greek |
|
Christopher Read
A doctoral student in Classics at the University of Washington, Christopher
Read has been teaching Latin and Ancient Greek since 1994; he holds a B.A.
in Classical Languages from Hamilton College (magna cum laude) and an M.A.
in Classics from the University of Washington. In addition to teaching undergraduates
at the University of Washington's Rome Center, he has served as an adjunct
faculty member at the University of Puget Sound and has taught third-year
honors Latin at Garfield High School in Seattle. |
Arabic |
 |
Khalid Ahmed
Born in Ta'iz, Yemen, Khalid Ahmed holds a degree from Sana'a University
in Foreign Language Instruction. His teaching experience includes the Yemen
public school system, the Yemen Language Center and the Islamic School of
Seattle; he has taught children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens both
as individuals and in groups. |
 |
Amina Moujtahid
Amina Moujtahid was born and raised in Rabat, Morocco, learning Arabic and
French simultaneously. The study of the Qur'an in classical Arabic was an
important part of her education. She graduated from University Mohamed V
in Rabat, Morocco, where she completed Master's degrees in biology and in
comparative French-Arabic literature. Since completing her education, she
has specialized in foreign language (Arabic and French) curriculum design
and instruction, working with both children and adults. Amina has been teaching
at SLA since 1999. |
Chinese |
 |
Wei Zhi Gao (Mandarin)
A native of Beijing, China, Wei Zhi Gao holds an MFA in English Creative
Writing, and a Ph.D. in English (University of Washington). In 2003, two
of her students won the UW 100-Level English Composition Contest. Before
coming to the States, Wei taught English at the college level for six years
in Beijing. In addition to language teaching, Wei has published poems, stories,
and newspaper articles in Chinese; one of her translations has appeared
in the James Joyce Quarterly. |
 |
Yufeng “Frank” Yang (Mandarin)
A native of Hengfeng, China, Yufeng (‘Frank’) Yang has been
teaching Mandarin since 1995. He holds a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature
from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology as well as an M.A.
in Modern Chinese from Beijing Normal University. Frank is certified by
the Department of Education of the People's Republic of China as an instructor
of Chinese as a Foreign Language. |
French |
 |
Sabine Friedman
A native of Arpajon, France, Sabine Friedman has been teaching since 1996.
In addition to an M.A. in English Literature, she holds an M.A. in teaching
French to foreigners (FLE) and a teacher's certificate in English. Sabine
has extensive experience in teaching both adults and children. |
 |
Nicole Hoffman
A native of Paris, Nicole Hoffman earned a degree in library science at
the Conservatoire National des Art et Metiers (University of Paris). Since
1979 she has taught French at all levels to adults as well as children,
including middle-school and high-school students. |
|
Yasmina Mobarek
Yasmina Mobarek was born in Morocco and raised in France.
She holds a B.A. in Phonetics and Phonology from the Sorbonne, a Masters in English Literature from Paris X and a Ph.D
in French Literature from Yale University. She has been teaching at the University level since 1985. She recently
moved to Seattle where she joined the teaching faculty at SLA. During her free time, she enjoys dancing with a
special interest in tango. |
 |
Laura Nelson
Laura Nelson has over 20 years experience teaching French, Italian and English as a Second Language. She holds B.A. in French and English and an M.A. in Italian from Middlebury College. She has also studied in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, the Università di Firenze in Florence, Italy, the Sorbonne in Paris, France and in 2007 at Seoul National University, Korea. Laura has held various teaching positions in Europe, most recently in Toulouse and Marseille, France and is currently pursuing the study of the Korean language at SLA and in Korea, both in Seoul and Busan. |
German |
|
Annette Sindel
Born and raised in the south of Germany, Annette Sindel studied Art Education
and the German language at the Hochschule der Künste (University of
Fine Arts) in Berlin. She has over 15 years' teaching experience with adults
and children. She taught German as a foreign language in San Sebastian,
Spain, for five years, and has trained teachers and organized and guided
language tours to Berlin. |
Hindi, Sanskrit |
 |
Patricia Hammerle - Hindi, Sanskrit
Patricia Hammerle has done graduate work in both Hindi and Sanskrit at the
University of Washington. In addition to her work at Seattle Language Academy,
she teaches at Physical Culture in Seattle. She has traveled extensively
throughout northern India. |
Italian |
 |
Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen lived and studied in Rome for 12 years. She earned her B.A. in Italian Studies and Film Studies from Vassar College. Jenny then moved to Rome to study film production and documentary film editing at Italy's premiere national film school, the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. In Rome she also taught English for six years at John Cabot University. She returned to her native city, Seattle and received an M.A. in Italian Literature at the University of Washington in June of 2009.
|
 |
Federica Basagni
Federica Basagni was born in Arezzo, Italy. After earning her degree in law at the University of Siena, she earned a Master Degree in Art and Culture Management at the Trento School of Management. She started tutoring students since 2005 and teaching for SLA since 2007.
|
 |
Francesca Giambartolomei
Francesca Giambartolomei has been teaching Italian since 1998 to children,
teenagers and adults. Born in Cremona, Italy, she holds degrees from both
the University of Padua and Eastern Michigan University. She has been teaching
for Seattle Language Academy since the summer of 2004. |
 |
Marc Mariani
Marc Mariani has lived and studied in Rome, where he taught English to Italians
and Italian to Americans. He holds Master's degrees in Classical languages
(Greek) and in Romance languages (Italian) from the University of Washington.
Co-founder of Seattle Language Academy, Marc has been teaching languages
since 1986; he is a lifelong student of Greek and Italian literature. |
 |
Cecilia Strettoi
Cecilia Strettoi was born in Pisa, Italy; she earned her degree (M.A. equivalent)
in Italian literature at the University of Pisa. She also completed post-graduate
work and specialized training at the University of Pisa and at the Machiavelli
Italian Language and Cultural Center, in Florence, Italy. She has worked
as a teacher of Italian since 1996, and has extensive experience teaching
both groups and individual students at all levels. |
 |
Roberta Tauriello Torgerson
Roberta Tauriello Torgerson was born in Turin, Italy. After completing studies
in linguistics at the Istituto Santa Teresa d'Avila in Turin, Roberta served
as director of language courses at the Italian Cultural Center in Houston
and as a teacher at the Italian Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Roberta
has been teaching Italian since 1989 and has been a part of Seattle Language
Academy's staff since 2000. |
 |
Vicki Wilson
Vicki Wilson became fascinated with Italian language and culture while studying in the small town of Mondovì, Italy as a high school exchange student. Since then she completed a Masters degree in Italian Studies at the University of Washington in 2007. She has been teaching Italian language in Seattle for five years in various settings: university level, elementary school programs, private tutoring and private schools. She enjoys introducing students to the joy of language learning and shares her experiences as an American speaker of Italian in her travels throughout Italy. |
Japanese |
 |
Yuka Kobane
A native of Osaka, Japan, Yuka Kobane holds an M.A. in Education from Seattle
University, with a specialization in Curriculum and Instruction. She is
a member of the Washington Association of Teachers of Japanese (WATJ) and
she has been teaching Japanese since 1997. |
 |
Toshiko Smith
Raised in Takefu City (Fukui Prefecture) in Japan, Toshiko Smith holds a
B.A. in English Literature and an M.A. in Education. An instructor of Japanese
since 1979, Toshiko has taught students of all ages and in a variety of
settings. Most recently, she has taught at the Seattle Japanese Language
School and Cascadia Community College. |
Korean |
 |
Inseon Chung
A native of Seoul, Korea, Inseon Chung holds an MA in Teaching English to
Speakers of Other Languages from Seattle University and a BA in education from Ewha Woman's
University in Korea. She trained English teachers for seven years in the Seoul school district,
implementing a teaching method she personally developed. She also taught English writing at Bellevue
Community College for over 3 years. Inseon has constantly challenged herself academically and earned
degrees in interior design and Montessori education.
|
Latin |
|
Christopher Read
A doctoral student in Classics at the University of Washington, Christopher
Read has been teaching Latin and Ancient Greek since 1994; he holds a B.A.
in Classical Languages from Hamilton College (magna cum laude) and an M.A.
in Classics from the University of Washington. In addition to teaching undergraduates
at the University of Washington's Rome Center, he has served as an adjunct
faculty member at the University of Puget Sound and has taught third-year
honors Latin at Garfield High School in Seattle. |
Portuguese |
 |
Veleda Furtado
Veleda Furtado was born and raised in southern Brazil, where she completed
a Bachelor's degree in languages and literature. Before moving to Seattle,
she lived in Germany and France. She holds a Master's degree in linguistics
from the University of Washington and has been teaching, translating, and
interpreting for more than 20 years. Veleda has been with Seattle Language
Academy since its inception in 1996. |
Russian |
 |
Seva Rzhondkovsky
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Seva Rzhondkovsky has been teaching individuals and
groups since 1995. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley,
and is currently working on an M.A. at the University of Washington. A long
time resident of Mexico, he is a certified interpreter of both Russian and
Spanish. |
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Sofiya Yuzefpolskaya
Coming Soon... |
Spanish |
 |
Zach Bohnenkamp
Zach was born and raised in Iowa City, IA where he began learning Spanish at age 10. He holds a
Master’s degree from the University of Washington in Romance Linguistics. He has lived,
studied, worked and traveled in Spain on and off for the last 22 years. Most recently he lived
in Cádiz, Spain where he carried out a sociolinguistic field study of the local dialect for
his dissertation. Zach has been teaching Spanish in Seattle since 2000. |
 |
Eva Gomez Garcia
Born in Spain, Eva holds a B.A. in Translation and a M.A. in Hispanic Literary and Cultural Studies from University of Washington. She has been teaching Spanish in Seattle since 2005 at university and college level, and also has experience as private tutor. |
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Norma Ortega
A native of Mexico City, Norma Ortega holds an M.A. in Hispanic Language
and Literature. A published poet and critic, Norma has been teaching Spanish
at all levels since 1991. |
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Inma Raneda-Cuartero
Inma Raneda-Cuartero was born in Zaragoza, Spain. She holds a B.A. in Political
Science as well as an M.A. in Foreign Language and Literature. She is a
member of the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)
and the Modern Language Association. Inma has been teaching since 1992 at
the college and university level and now currently at SLA. |
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Jennifer Allen
Coming Soon... |
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Jennifer Burkle
Coming Soon... |
