Jardín de Niños Staff
Tate Douglas
Beginning in the 2011-12 school year, Tate Douglas is our 1st-4th grade English teacher. The dedicated staff, smiling children and the enriching environment drew Ms. Douglas to the Jardin. Growing up in Austin, Texas and living in her home state until college, Ms. Douglas later graduated from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washingon with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish. Immediately following graduation, Douglas was given the opportunity to teach in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala teaching third grade and middle school students. Extensive traveling and the chance to explore other cultures was a great experience for Ms. Douglas. His vision for teaching and learning is centered on helping all students become life-long learners and members of a global society. The learning philosophy that Ms. Douglas follows is one that goes beyond the walls of the classroom and prepares students to think critically about what they believe and the information they learn. We welcome Ms. Douglas to our family and look forward to having her on our staff.
Shelley Chen
Our Chinese instructor, Miss Shelley Jauh-Shiang Chen is a native of Taiwan. In addition, Chen teaches Chinese at the Austin Chinese School and is also a chorus director, vocalist and pianist.
Chen holds degrees from Texas State University-San Marcos (Master’s in Music Performance), Huston-Tillotson University (B.M), The University of Texas at Austin(B.M), Royal Academy of Music, U. of London (Certificate, Music-Theory) and Musashino Academia Musicae (Voice-Performance).
Chen has been teaching Chinese for 15 years and has received several awards including:
2007 Overseas, recognizes and appreciates Chinese Teacher awards.
2008 Recognition and appreciation awards in Chinese Education.
2009 Recognition and appreciation award from Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Houston.
She was previously a teacher at the Huston-Tilltson University and is a co-founder of the Austin Chanson Choir. In 2007 as an award winning vocalist, Multicultural Artist Partnership Festivals invited her performed several solo concerts. In 2006, she performed as soloist before the Governor of Texas and Mayor of Austin. In 2005, she performed her concert, “La grandeur,” at Huston-Tillotson University. And in 2004, Miss Chen performed on invitation by the Taiwanese Government the La grandeur concert in the famed National Concert hall in Taipei.
Rodrigo Solis
Computer and Arts teacher Rodrigo Solis is a native of Mexico City. He has a degree in education from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico. Prior, he received a diploma in Art History and Computer Science from the Instituto Thomas Jefferson in Mexico City. Rodrigo joined the Jardin in September 2009 at the South location. What he loves most about his job is the curiosity of the children and the many different ways children express themselves whether while taking art or while learning computer skills. The mission in Rodrigo’s art class is to gain as much knowledge about each presented artist, each artistic movement and to be able to recognize its style. In computer class, Rodrigo focuses on teaching the various parts of the computer, how to type with both hands and search for information on the internet.
Rocio Serna
Rocio Serna is our Pre-Toddler (one year olds) Teacher. Serna was born in Cusco- Peru. She is certified in teaching Psychology and Philosophy with 10 years of experience in teaching in her country. In 2000, she earned a Master Degree in Planning and Administration of Education. In 2007, Serna concluded a Graduate Research Student Program at the Miyagi University of Education in Sendai-Japan, and worked 3 years as Part-time Teaching Assistant in an Elementary School in Japan.
Her objective is to apply her knowledge and experience to children and help them to develop their skills. Serna desires to continue her education and to keep preparing herself professionally in order to carry out her duties as an educator and offer great support to the children of “Jardín de Niños Interlingua” and their families as well.
Raquel Gonzalez
Raquel Gonzalez is our Pre-Toddler Teacher. Ms. Gonzalez is from Monterrey, México. She has been married for 31 years and is a mother to seven children. In 2004, Ms. Gonzalez moved with her family to Austin, TX.
Preschool Teacher
Biography Coming Soon.
Nelly Mendez
Zulema Mendez is our Infant Teacher. She is from Ciro de Acosta, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
Mendez is certified as a development specialist in orientation and planning with infants. She has worked in Early Stimulation programs for ten years.
She has a CDA (Child Development Certification with Infants) from the State of Texas.
She believes that “Teaching children is most important to me, because they are the future.”
Nelley Tapia
Nelley Tapia is our Pre-Kindergarten teacher at Jardin de Ninos’ South location. After a year as an assistant bilingual teacher at Head Start, she later worked at a substitute teacher in San Marcos for three years. Becoming an educator was a great decision for Tapia, because now she can transfer her love for learning to others. Her philosophy for teaching involves the belief that education is the response to many of the world’s social problems. Education provides the knowledge to make informed choices, create ideas, critically evaluate problems and see the world in a different light. Tapia grew up in Hillsboro, TX and attended Texas State University in San Marcos. She is currently finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Bilingual education while living in San Marcos. “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Thirty-fifth President of the USA
Monica Barragan
Monica Barragan is working in our South location Pre-K class. She was born and raised in Mexico and earned an education degree as a Spanish teacher from Instituto Edimburgo in Estado de Mexico. Her degree has allowed her to work as a teacher for more than 20 years, teaching children and foreign executives. She enjoys working with children not only to teach, but for the real reward in what she learns from each student. Barragan hopes to leave an impression on the children that will increase their self esteem and respect.
Mayte Flores
Ms. Mayte was born, raised and educated in Mexico City; Mayte got married and moved to Austin TX where she formed her family. She received her Bachelor in Early Childhood Education from Universidad Normal Santa Teresa de Jesus in Mexico City with an early stimulation specialization.
Ms. Mayte worked for Mexican public education and different privates schools throughout Mexico and Austin.
Mayte feels a strong affinity to Jardín de niños Interlingua School’s focus on a multicultural, multilingual IB program.
She promotes her students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers by creating a nurturing environment in the classroom where students are encouraged to ask questions and explore.
One of her goals is encourage children to be tolerant and respectful people who, with their knowledge, will be equipped to take action.
Marjorie Navarro
Majorie Navarro, our Kindergarten teacher, was born in beautiful Costa Rica. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Bilingual Teaching Certification from the State of Texas. She has a strong passion for teaching along with high expectations for her students. Navarro believes that all of her students can succeed if she provides them with the tools that they need. Navarro lives in Austin with her husband and three children. In her spare time she enjoys reading, watching movies and spending time with her family.
Maria Dominguez
Maria Elena Dominguez is from Austin. She attended Texas State University where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, majoring in Bilingual Education. Maria received her EC-4 Bilingual Certification from the state of Texas in December 2007. In 2008, Maria began her career as a Kindergarten teacher at Jardin de Niños South. She has volunteered as a catechist in St. Louis Catholic Church. In addition, Maria worked at Tobias International Elementary School in Kyle, Texas as a third grade TAKS tutor. Currently she is working on a Master’s Degree in Bilingual Education with a Minor in Educational Leadership at Texas State University. Last semester she was inducted as a Kappa Delta Pi member for her standing as a graduate student.
Dominguez believes bilingual education should not be an option but instead it should be required in every educational setting. Research has proven that bilingual children outperform their monolingual peers. The United States has become a multicultural country and we can better prepare our children by providing them with a bilingual education. She enjoys working at Jardin de Niños because it provides our children with the tools to become multicultural minded. But most importantly, Dominguez love the fact that the teachers are caring and that they work with our children’s families to assure their child’s transition into the program.
Jennifer Martinez
Jennifer Martinez was born in Colorado March 21st, 1989 but raised in Spain. Her father is American and her mother is Spaniard, specifically from Valencia. Jennifer graduated Bachillerato (Post-Compulsory Schooling) specialized in Nature and Health Sciences and Engeneering with the highest marks receiving a full general scholarship (Matricula de Honor). She has arrived in Texas July 2008 and now lives in Austin with her parents and sister. She is fluent in both English and Spanish and has experienced, and therefore, believes in the benefits that come from learning more than one language and culture from an early age.
Iris Moreno
Iris Moreno is native from Saltillo Coahuila, Mexico,
Grace Avila
Grace Avila is our Pre-K Teacher. She is from a little town near Barranquilla, Colombia called Sabanalarga.
Avila holds a BA in Education from Universidad Del Atlántico located in Barranquilla. She worked as a Spanish and English teacher there for 7 years.
Avila moved to the United Stated in 2006. Since 2006, she has been teaching primarily Elementary, but specially Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First grades. She believes in the potential kids have and knows that the teachers have the tools and resources necessary to help develop that knowledge, and help this world to be a better place.
Avila is motivated to have the chance to work as a Spanish teacher at Jardin deNinos.
France Dubin
Ms. France is our French teacher at our both North and South locations. Ms. France moved to Texas from Paris, France in 2002. She has taught French to hundreds of children in the Austin area. She loves teaching through storytelling, games and traditional French songs. She truly believes that learning a new language should be fun.
Visit her web site at www.BonjourAustin.com.
Fernando Valerio
Mr. Fernando Valerio holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Sciences from Instituto Politécnico Nacional. He later received his Master's Degree at in Education from National Pedagogical University. Fernando worked several years in public education in Mexico city, where he had the opportunity to work directly for the ex-president of Mexico Vicente Fox Quesada and the ministry of education Reyes Tamez Guerra improving the quality of the bilingual education and different educational programs, he represented Mexico in Chile, Ecuador and Costa Rica for the Educational Planning System for the Americas and windows on science.
Fernando moved to Berkeley, California where he continued his studies in different languages at the University of California and cooperates with the AmeriCorps program teaching different educational contents in Oakland California, he speaks English, Spanish, Italian and German. Fernando believes that a combination of our Spanish immersion combined IB program is not only an academic framework but is also a real and well structured experience that forms sensitive human beings that are able to successfully face their future.
Fabiola Ramirez
Fabiola Ramirez was born in Laredo, Texas and grew up in Monterrey Mexico. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Early
Childhood Education at the University of Monterrey Mexico. She has a Certification in Neurolinguistics and Montessori Programs from Universidad Regiomontana in Monterrey Mexico.
She has taught in English Language Immersion Schools in Monterrey Mexico and worked as a lead teacher of Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade at Stanford Bilingual Institute. While working in Elementary Schools in Mexico, she worked with the PYP (Primary Years Program) and implemented Windows on Science Routines (Project of the Mexican educational system).
“I strongly believe that the first steps in a child’s education are the most important steps in their lives. I want to create an atmosphere of values, communication, and trust, for your children and you. I want your children to learn Spanish as a mother tongue (natural process) and in order to do this I will need your support at home. Reading at home and having a good communication with your children”"I’m very excited to join the Jardin de Ninos community as Kindergarten Teacher and committed with JDNI in setting a strong foundation for future growth and success.”
Erika Sanchez
Erika Sanchez is a native from Pachuca, Hidalgo Mexico and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. Ms. Sanchez studied at Texas A&M University in College Station and received a bachelor degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. Ms. Sanchez first started working as an Abuse and Neglect Investigator II for Child Protective Services for almost two years. Ms. Sanchez continued to work for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services in Houston for Child Care Licensing as an Inspector III for two years. Ms. Sanchez later transferred to Austin, Texas where she continued to work as an Inspector for the Austin area.
Ms. Sanchez knows the state of Texas regulations and keeps all inspections updated in our school. Ms. Sanchez also helps our North Location to maintain compliance with TDFPS. Ms. Sanchez works directly with the Head of School, Adriana Rodriguez, to prepare the school curriculum and also meets frequently with parents who are interested in enrolling. One of Ms. Sanchez rolls is also to maintain the accreditation of NAEYC for our South Location and is currently helping with the accreditation for NAEYC in the North Location.
Ms. Sanchez is enthusiastic about working with children and obtains additional training to support her staff in all areas of child development. Ms. Sanchez years of experience in Child Abuse and Child Care Licensing is an asset to our schools since she is able to train our staff to be efficient and well prepared. Ms. Sanchez prides herself in keeping a safe campus and promotes great communication among staff and parents.
Elia Loredo
Elia Martinez Loredo, leader of the Cebras (Toddler) class, hails from San Luis Potosi in Central Mexico. She received an accounting degree from Instituto Juventud Privado. The first part of her career was spent in management for a restaurant company in Mexico where she spent ten years and climbed to a senior management position. She relocated to Austin in 2000 with her husband and three children. At this time, Elia discovered her passion for working with children and began a new career in childcare at Little Folks Bilingual Daycare in 2001. Within a few years, she was promoted to management and worked with the organization until 2010. She was the first woman in Austin to receive a CDA, child care license with infant specialty, completely in Spanish. Soon after, she also earned both the Training and Director’s certification for child care in the state of Texas. Elia joined the South location staff at Jardin in 2011 where she oversees the Cebras group.
Elementary Spanish Teacher
Biography Coming Soon.
Deborah Chetwood
Deborah Chetwood is our Art teacher. Born in San Francisco, California, and raised in the Austin area, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Art History and Studio Art from the University of Texas at Austin. She later attended Texas State University to earn a Master’s in Education, with a concentration in History. Chetwood has worked in a range of fields and interests from network engineer to freelance photographer.
Chetwood’s passions include painting, specifically oil painting, and photography. She believes that creating art can help students discover and nurture their imaginations while developing critical thinking and problem solving skills. Chetwood looks forward to working with the students of Jardin de Ninos to help them discover their own passions.
Her life outside of teaching is spent with her husband of 10+ years and their beautiful daughter who attends Jardin de Ninos.
“Creativity takes courage.” Henri Matisse
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Pablo Picasso
Cynthia Ramirez
Cynthia Ramirez is our Pre-Toddler (one year olds) Assistant Teacher at JDNI. She was born and raised in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico where she received a BA in International Trade. In 2009, she talk Spanish in Seoul, South Korea. While living in Asia, we was lucky enough to be able to travel throughout the region, highlights including China, Cambodia, Thailand, and India. Being able to immerse herself into diverse cultures has given Ramirez the opportunity to be aware of students’ varied needs and heritages.
Passionate about early childhood education, Ramirez is currently working on receiving her Child Development Associate Certificate (CDA) in order to gain more skills for her profession. Ramirez believes Bilingual education is a cutting edge field and will be crucial for the future of an increasingly multi-cultural America. She is excited to see a generation of bilingual, problem solvers, and critical thinkers students bringing their skills and knowledge into the world.
COMING SOON
Coming soon...
Claudia Aguilar
Claudia Aguilar is a native from Coahuila, Mexico and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. Ms. Sanchez studied at Sabinas Coahuila University in College Station and received a bachelor degree in systems engineering with a minor in industrial Sociology. She has worked in Early Childhood Education field for over 17 years
Her teaching methods support the teacher as a guide in children’s learning. My goal is to enrich a child’s abilities and support their development towards independence and positive socialization.
Bradley Whyte
Mister Bradley (Bradley Dean Whyte) is new to Austin. He recently moved here from Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he taught for 4 years, offering classes at ArtSpace Chiang Mai. He also served as the Elementary Music and Performance Teacher at Chiang Mai International School. Prior to this, Mister Bradley worked in New York City from 2002-2007, where he was one of the city’s favourite children’s music entertainers for five years. He has been seen at Reebok Sports Club, L.A. Sports Club, Kidville NYC, Funworks for Kids, Claire’s Creative Adventures, Musical Kids, and The Preschool of America – Manhattan’s largest preschool system. He is also a trained professional actor with a particular love for Shakespeare and Improvisational Comedy and has worked at regional theatres and Shakespeare Festivals across the United States. Mister Bradley is available for parties, lessons, and private events. www.MisterBradley.com Mister Bradley has joined the JDNI Staff, teaching Music to Toddlers all the way to our Elementary students.
Alejandra Saldana
Alejandra Saldaña is our Toddler Transition teacher at our South Location. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Educational Science. Saldaña has several years of experience teaching. Back in Mexico, she founded a kindergarden school, "Alexi", in Monterrey Mexico. Later, she worked as a bilingual teacher at Alpes Institute in Saltillo Coahuila Mexico. After that, she moved to Los Angeles CA, where she lived for 10 years and worked as a Spanish teacher at a public school called El Rincon. Elementary. Last year I were the lead teacher of abejas classroom here at this school.
Saldaña is excited to be part of Jardin de Niños Interlingua's community and to have the opportunity to work with the children. Her goal is to teach Spanish as a way to communicate, above all, to express their basic needs, to continue to expand the vocabulary words while acquiring useful learning skills. On the other hand, Saldaña wants to provide a peaceful environment to facilitate learning and development.
Adriana Rodriguez
Adriana Rodriguez founded Jardín de Niños Interlingua, the Austin, Texas Spanish Immersion Dayschool, in 2007 with only 20 preschool students. Since then, the school has undergone rapid growth from enrollment and staffing to the addition of higher grade levels, new amenities and a second Austin location. A third location is scheduled to open in January of 2012.
Rodriguez was born in Mexico City and moved to Austin, Texas in 1999. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Development from Santa Teresa de Jesus College “La Florida" and a Master’s Degree in Educational Development from National Pedagogical University in Mexico City. Her course work was based on the social constructive method and how children learn from one another. Rodriguez has obtained her Administration License and both PYP Administration Category 1 and 2 Certifications. She is currently in the process of obtaining a 2nd Master’s Degree in Education. Rodriguez is married with two amazing children, Leo and Jasmine.
Rodriguez is truly a Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce success story. In 2007, she graduated from Hispanic Technology Institute’s Small Business Incubator Program and soon opened Jardín de Niños Interlingua. In 2009, she opened a second location in North Austin with capacity for 120 students. Jardín de Niños Interlingua now over 200 children enrolled in both schools and will open a third location in west Austin in January, 2012.
Her inspiration has always been her father, who instilled in Rodriguez the belief that ‘Education is a transformation of the world.’ Watching her father, the undersecretary of education in Mexico, for more than 30 years, she dreamed of driving a change of the community; a community that involves children that would become world contributors.
She has taught in Montessori educational systems and directed international schools. Over the past 11 years, Rodriguez has been immersed in global and intercultural businesses, and has had the opportunity to work with trilingual speakers in this progressively global economy.
Children develop their cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills at a very young age. Rodriguez strongly believes and studies prove that this is the best time to provide experiences that prepare children to successfully maneuver in a multilingual and multicultural world.
“Your children will have such an advantage over monolingual speakers as they grow up in a progressively more global economy that will demand conceptual, intercultural, open-minded individuals,” says Rodriguez. “They will be able to make significant and positive changes in the world. Jardín de Niños Interlingua is proud to work toward make this advantage a reality for the young children in its care.”
Adriana Beckers
Adriana Beckers is the infant teacher in our South location and has been with the school since November, 2010. She is originally from Mexico City and has been a resident of the U.S. for the past six years. She is also an arts teacher and holds a CDA (Child Development Associate credential). Adriana has more than 20 years of experience teaching Pre-K children.
Her goal is to stimulate every infant through sound, music, visual contact, psychomotor exercise to develop their abilities individually. Motivating children in their development process, offering them support, acceptance and unconditional love are key elements for being a better teacher.
Since infants develop at his or her own individual pace, Adriana focuses on each baby individually to help each one learn his or her first steps, first syllables and words, the transition from the bottle to the train cup, etc.
With her dedication, experience, discipline and love, Adriana is well qualified to prepare every child progress to a new stage of development and learning.
