Shaohua (Shelley) Chen (Pine Grove, Pine Lane and Acres Green)

My name is Shaohua (Shelley) Chen.  I am from Beijing, China.
I have a BA degree in International Business from University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. I had worked as a sales executive in the field of international business for 5 years, and had been a diplomatic attaché in Commercial Office of Chinese Embassy in Indonesia for 3 years.

I moved to Colorado at the end of 1998, and had been teaching Chinese language in Great Wall Chinese Academy for 3 years.  In the meantime, I am also a Chinese language teacher in after-school program of Red Stone Elementary, Willow Creek Elementary and Greenwood Elementary.

I have a passion and interest in teaching with basic language education techniques that I’ve built up in the past several years.  I believe Chinese language is one of the important languages in the world as it is spoken by ¼ population of the world.  By teaching the language to young children, that would help them thinking globally.  This World language program would benefit the young children during their early learning.

Michelle Condie (Castle Rock)

¡Hola!  I’m Michelle Condie.  I am a native of the golden state of California, born and raised in Torrance (Los Angeles).  I’ll be moving to Colorado for the first time in my life and trading in our sunny beaches for the beautiful mountains.  I love the outdoors—hiking, biking, camping, etc—so I can’t wait to live in Colorado!

However, I have actually been away from California for several years now.  I attended Brigham Young University in Utah where I studied Elementary Education.  My favorite part of the program was my student teaching in a 4th grade classroom in the inner-city of Washington, DC—I just loved teaching those children!  After graduation I took over a 6th grade class in Utah to finish off their school year. 

Diana Dluzak (Frontier Valley)

I was born and raised in Queretaro, Mexico where Spanish was my primary language. I earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Queretaro University and worked for the Kellogg’s Corporation throughout South and Central America. In addition I taught for five years at the Panamerican Institute in Mexico. In 1995 I attended Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois where I studied and became fluent in English.

In November of 2000 I married my husband, John, who was serving in the U.S. Army at the time and I moved to the United States. Shortly after we moved to Colorado from New York. We have two children, Katherine (7) and George (5), who attend Douglas County schools.

My latest adventure has been teaching Spanish for children 2 to 6 years of age at Crème de la Crème in Lone Tree, Colorado. I am passionate about teaching Spanish and look forward to introducing its rich culture and history to the students of Douglas County.

Rose Dominguez-Haak (Redstone)

Hola. Soy Rose. I am so excited to be a part of the World Language program at DCSD. Let me tell you a little about myself and my background with the Spanish language. My father is Spanish and my mother Dominican. As a child my family and I moved back and forth from the U.S. and Spain where I lived both in Sán Sebastián and Irún, right on the French border. We finally settled in N.J. where I received my B.A. in Spanish. After graduation I decided to move out to California where I eventually received my Master’s degree in Multicultural Education as well as a Bilingual Crosscultural Specialist Credential. I taught Spanish in California for 12 years until my husband got relocated to Colorado. I have three boys, Trevor 15, a student at HRHS, Logan 11, and Kristian 9, both students at Eagle Ridge Elementary where I have served as a classroom volunteer for the past few years.
I very much enjoy arts and crafts and have even participated in several crafts shows. Also, I enjoy bike rides and hikes with my family.
I can’t wait to get started teaching español to the students at Redstone Elementary!

Kathy Duran (Cougar Run)

I grew on the east coast and went to college on the west coast.  I studied literature and wanted to become a high school English teacher, but my plan was put on hold when I had an incredible opportunity to teach in Bogotá, Colombia.  My teaching assignment was for kindergarten through second grade students.  I taught English immersion to Colombian children (although I am pretty sure that they taught me much more than I taught them)!  I learned to actually speak Spanish while living in Colombia.  My high school teachers must have been great, because everything that I had learned in the classroom came back to me.  ¡Qué suerte!

I stayed in Colombia for a total of three years.  I met my husband, Jairo, during my second year in Bogotá and then we got married and moved to the States to pursue Masters' degrees.   I studied Bilingual Elementary Education at the University of New Mexico.  Our first son, Santiago, was born in Albuquerque.  ¡Qué lindo!

Later we moved to Virginia and I had the good fortune to become a Spanish immersion teacher in second and third grades in the Fairfax County Public Schools.  I had many opportunities to work with teachers from all over Latin America and to teach elementary children in Spanish through content areas.  Our second son, Juan Pablo, was born in Fairfax.  ¡Qué delicia!

My family and I moved to Colorado last summer and we are discovering all that this beautiful place has to offer.  I am so excited to be joining all of you on a language-learning journey.  ¡Qué aventura!

Bryan Ford (Rock Ridge)

My name is Bryan Ford. I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, home of the Michigan State Spartans. Working with children through Boy Scouts and the mentor program I established in high school, I decided to become a teacher. Living so close to a college town and being an only child, I decided to move away from home to go to college. I chose Western Michigan University because it was close enough to get back home and the teaching college had a great reputation. Through college I was able to go to Mexico several times which pushed me toward teaching the Spanish language and culture. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Santander, Spain for a summer semester and that really confirmed my desire.

As far as my life out of school, I love to do just about anything outdoors. I like to ski, both in the snow and on the water. I like to mountain bike, run, ride quads, hike, camp, fish, raft, kayak, and the list goes on ...I am really looking forward to moving out to Colorado for the sunshine and the great recreational opportunities. I play the guitar and sing a lot, more for self gratification than anything. Even though I'm embarrassed to admit it there are a few T.V. shows that I have to watch every week. 24, LOST and House are all great shows.

I hope everyone is as excited about the new World Language program as I am. I can't wait to get started! Estoy emocionado de conoceros.

Sue Liming (Lone Tree Elementary)

Hola! I’m Sue Liming and I am so excited to join the team at Lone Tree as the world language teacher.  Although I’m not a native speaker, I have had a connection with the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures for most of my life. Studying Spanish while at the University of Northern Colorado helped me land my very first teaching job in Denver Public Schools as a bilingual teacher, which is where I truly learned the language working with monolingual and bilingual Spanish speakers for the next six years. 

Since moving to Douglas County Schools in 1991, my other teaching experiences have included teaching first through sixth graders in various capacities, mostly as a full-time classroom teacher, and helping start up the tutoring program at Ranch View Middle School. I am thrilled to expand my horizons through this program. 

When not teaching, you might find me enjoying dinners on my deck in lovely Roxborough with my husband Dean, pit bull Buster, and two cats, Duncan and Toula.  (They have become our children since we became empty nesters.)  Luckily, our daughter, Heather, still lives close enough that we get to see her fairly often.  I lead a pretty active life and enjoy doing Taebo, mountain bike riding, and playing volleyball and golf.  We travel whenever possible, have season tickets to the Mammoth lacrosse games,  and love seeing theatrical productions. 

I look forward to sharing my love of learning and love of languages with the children of Lone Tree.

Kelly Mihalik (Mammoth Heights)

My name is Kelly Mihalik, and I'm so excited to be the Spanish World Language teacher at the wonderful new Mammoth Heights Elementary! I graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Elementary Education with Spanish emphasis. During my time at A&M, I had the opportunity to study in Mexico and live with a family there to become immersed in the Spanish language and culture. 

Jennifer Pedersen (South Street)

Jennifer has been teaching foreign language in elementary school for 14 years.  She teaches Spanish and Japanese.  Jennifer has studied in Japan, Costa Rica and Mexico. She has served as president and vice-president of NCJLT,the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers, as well as worked with ACTFL, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, ATJ, the Association of Teachers of Japanese and NNELL,the National Network for Early Language Learning.  Jennifer is originally from Nebraska.

Jeannette Proctor (Timber Trail)

I am very excited to be the Spanish teacher at Timber Trail Elementary!  As a product of Douglas County schools, it is an honor to return to the district.  I am looking forward to being part of such a strong, technology-based program.

This is my 11th year of teaching.  I have taught 6th grade, physical education K-8, and Spanish K-8.  I have a B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science from Colorado State University and an M.A. in Elementary Curriculum and Instruction from San Diego State University.

I met my husband, Josh, while running track at CSU.  After graduation, we moved to San Diego for four years.  We loved it there, but since most of our family is here we moved back in 2002.  We have three children - Keenan (4), Avelyn (3), and Madilyn (2). 

Margaret Vaughn (Coyote Creek)

My name is Margaret Vaughan, and I am originally from Pennsylvania, but I arrived in Colorado via Wyoming. I have a BS in Spanish and an MS in Special Education. I have studied in Spain and Mexico and have spent some time in Paraguay. I have a wonderful husband Bob, three children, and four grandchildren. I have been teaching for 41 years, and I still love it!

I am so excited to be part of the new World Language Program. We have wanted to bring this opportunity to Douglas County elementary students for many years, and it has finally happened. I will be teaching at Coyote Creek in the fall, and I just can't wait to begin!

Jessica Wainman (Northridge)

I am so excited to be teaching in Spanish once again. This program is so important for all the students.
I grew up in San Diego, CA where I learned so much Spanish in my daily life.  At the University of California, SAn Diego I studied Psychology, Spanish Literature and Teacher Education.  After 
graduation my husband and I traveled through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize for several months then returned for a bilingual teacher education program in San Diego. I taught in a bilingual classroom that focused on truly making bilingual students for four years in San 
Diego. I then took off a year and a half to travel in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia and to teach English as a Foreign Language in South Korea for a year. Traveling the world is a high priority for my husband and me and we want to make sure our children grow up with 
multi-cultural perspecitve. I am so excited to be able to pass this passion on to the students at Northridge Elementary!

I am married and have a son named Atticus.  My husband and I decided to move to Colorado because it is such a family-friendly city with so many outdoors activities all year long. I love rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, biking, reading, art and studying languages. In addition to Spanish, I have studied written Chinese and Korean while I lived in Korea.

I am so excited to begin!

Chiunghuang (Ivory) Wu (Renaissance)

Ivory Wu was born in Taiwan, and earned her B.A. in Early Childhood Education from National Pingtung Teachers College. She has 18 years of professional teaching experiences, and has spent four years teaching in a CCLS (Colorado Chinese Language School).