Our Staff

All of the teachers at Discovering Languages are native speakers with university education.  They have several years of combined teaching experience, and even more years of working with children in a variety of settings.  All of our staff (directors, teachers, and volunteers) have completed criminal backgroud checks.


CURRENT TEACHERS


Natalia Alvarez Benjamin
Co-Director
Spanish and French Teacher

Natalia earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1999, and an M.A. in Language Acquisition and Teaching from BYU in 2007. Natalia was born and raised in Guatemala. She is a native Spanish speaker. She also grew up speaking, reading, and writing French while attending a French school in Guatemala City. Later, she learned English in middle school and high school. She has also taken Greek, Latin, and Russian language courses. Natalia’s diverse exposure to and fluency in different languages has prepared her to better understand a child’s language acquisition process. Natalia was an assistant preschool teacher for two years at Teaching World in Nampa. Recently, she successfully co-created, organized, and taught at the Skit Skat Doodle Dat Summer Camp in Caldwell. With over 5 years of experience teaching children, Natalia believes in the value of early language learning.

Rodolfo Vera (photo coming soon)
Spanish Teacher

Señor Vera earned a BA in Spanish from Portland State University.  He is originally from Chile.  He is a native Spanish-speaker and also speaks fluent Portugese.  He has worked in various school settings and has years of experience teaching Spanish and ESL in both public schools and other Spanish immersion programs.  HeSeñor Vera lives with his wife and three children in Nampa.  More to come...

Isabel Parkins (photo coming soon)
Spanish Teacher Aide

Isabel is originally from Mexico.  She has experience teaching preschool-age children at Head Start.  She is a native Spanish-speaker.  Isabel is a member of the Army National Guard.  More to come...

BUSINESS STAFF


Michael Benjamin
Co-Director

In his spare time, Michael helps co-direct, market, and manage Discovering Languages. He also aides the Spanish teachers on occasion. As his full-time job, Michael works as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. He specializes in working with children who suffer from emotional problems. He has a Masters degree in Social Work from Brigham Young University (2002), where he also took many university level Spanish classes. Michael is fluent in Spanish, with near-native speaking abilities. He lived in Ecuador, South America for two years and has traveled extensively throughout Mexico and Guatemala. Michael's experience in working with children and his ability to speak Spanish make him a great asset to the program.




PAST & SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS


Maria Sifuentes
Spanish Teacher

I am a native Spanish speaker born and raised in the Treasure Valley area. I will create a community of learners in which my students become empowered and confident, as well as teach me a little something of their own charismatic personalities. Most importantly, they will learn that Spanish will open many doors of opportunity in our society. I am towards the end of receiving my Bilingual Elementary Education/ESL Degree from Boise State University. For as long as I can remember, I have worked and volunteered my Spanish-speaking skills (for example, translating for Spanish speakers in grocery stores whiles buying my own groceries).  In other words, my work does not end in a classroom; it is a lifestyle bridging gaps between the worlds of languages. I taught Spanish while I lived in Union City, California, for IES Language Foundation. IES used a Total Physical Response (TPR) Method, which simply is connecting words with motion. It is a natural approach; similar to how infants learn their mother tongue as parents animate what word they are trying to teach. I have also worked as a teacher’s aide in a Head Start program in Boise, Idaho. I created instructional activities (many in Spanish). My classrooms were always filled with non-English speakers from different parts of the world. Therefore, I taught English to those students and Spanish to non-Spanish speakers all through play. It was a fabulous experience.


David Pennington
Spanish Teacher

David Pennington was born and raised in Michoacán, Mexico.  He has been a teacher for more than 25 years, including many years as a teacher of Spanish in a variety of classrooms and informal settings.  He is founder of the Family Learning Center in Nampa, Idaho, specializing in individualized life skill instruction and conversational English and Spanish.  David is the Workplace Spanish Instructor for the Center for Workforce Training for the Larry G. Selland College of Applied Technology at Boise State University. David is married to a bilingual wife.  David and Kay raised their three children in a bilingual home.  David believes that the opportunity to learn another language is a great privilege; that the ability to communicate in Spanish is a great advantage, especially in this part of Idaho. 



Adela Hernandez
Spanish Teacher Aide

Adela is originally from Michoacan, Mexico.  She came to the United States in 2001 with her family.  She has worked in child care.  Adela is married and has two children of her own.  She enjoys exercising, sewing, and crafts.  Adela and her husband also own a landscaping business.








Maribel Fuentes
Spanish Teacher

Maribel was born and raised in Zacapa, Guatemala; located in the southern part of the country. She is a native Spanish speaker. She graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and went on to study Secondary Education from the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. She has worked as a teacher for twelve years and as a principal for two years. She helped in the foundation of "Colegio Privado Horeb," a private school in Los Amates Izabal, Guatemala. She has also developed sociocultural activities for children and youth in her community when she worked as a Christian radio talk show host called "Vision for the youth." In her spare time she enjoys writing poetry, among her most known poems are "¿Qué es ser maestro?" (What is being a teacher?), "El hijo prodigo" (The prodigal son), y "La alegria de servir" (The joy of serving).


Laura Fuhriman
French Teacher

Laura was born and raised in Geneva, Switzwerland, and is a native French speaker. She learned German in middle school and English while in High School. Before moving to the United States whe worked in a day care in Geneva with children of different cultures and language backgrounds. Laura received her B.S. in French Literature in 2001 from Boise State University. She has worked for several years with children as a teacher in her church. In her spare time she also works as a freelance translator.