Our Team

Meet our amazing team! 

 

Marian Zapata – Owner, CEO

Marian is a native from Granada, Spain. Marian and her husband moved to Maryland in the year 2000 and have two wonderful bilingual boys. After living in Bethesda for 6 years, and searching for language education, she realized there was a lack of effective language programs in the area.

May Seo – School Administrator

May was born in Korea. She first studied in Korea, but moved to London where she extended her studies. From London, her love for traveling brought her to Sydney, where she worked for the Australian university helping Korean students.

Asami  – Japanese Instructor

I love teaching as it is amazing to see the students improve their Japanese languages abilities and be able to communicate in Japanese. I am looking forward to seeing you at the school!

Maria Elisa – Spanish Instructor

Maria Elisa is a native Spanish speaker from Mexico. She lived in Mexico City most of her life and moved to the United States a few years ago. She enjoys teaching Spanish because she loves the language and the culture associated with it.

Johannes  – French and English Instructor

Whether teaching English or my native French, nothing gives me more pleasure professionally than to help my students not only build language skills, but actually begin to use the language to express themselves and make improvements with growing confidence.

Lorena  – Spanish Instructor

Lorena is a native from Venezuela.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources. When she moved here in 2016, she became a certified teacher and has been teaching since then.  One of her passions is to teach Spanish to children. She loves seeing how quickly they improve!

Victoria – Spanish Instructor

Victoria is a native of Lima, Peru. She went to college in Lima and studied Psychology. She received a Masters in Psychology of Education. When she moved to the United States, she decided to continue her studies and obtained a Bachelor’s in Psychology.

Saada – Arabic Instructor 

Saada was born in Lebanon, where she grew up speaking Arabic, French and English. After graduating from college with a degree in Journalism, Saada became a successful broadcast journalist covering all aspects of her home country.

 

Rossy – Spanish Instructor

Hola! I’m Rossy, a Spanish instructor with over 19 years of passion-driven teaching experience.

Originally from Peru, I embarked on my educational journey in Law, eventually becoming a Law professor at the University of San Martin of Porres for a rewarding six-year tenure. Upon my relocation to Maryland, USA, my professional path took an exciting turn towards teaching Spanish.

Amy – French and English Instructor

For 20 years, in the Chicagoland area, Amy worked with students of all ages, sharing a love of both French language and ESL development TOEFL, speaking skills and cross-cultural training.  Now residing in Bethesda, Maryland, Amy retains her commitment to linguistic proficiency with students in both French and American English.

Rosangela  – Portuguese Instructor

My name is Rosangela Corte, but most people call me Rose. I am from Brazil and have lived in Maryland for the past 11 years. I have more than 25 years of experience teaching Portuguese to children and adults, initially in my hometown of Porto Alegre, located in the south of Brazil, and since 2008, here in the US.

Helene – French Instructor

Helene was born in Le Mans, France. She studied International relations and negotiations for English and Spanish speaking countries (Bachelor and Master) and Finance (Master). She taught business in France for 3 years, as well as Risk Management and Business Ethics in Monaco and in the United States for 9 years.

Natalya – Russian Instructor 

Natalya was born in Novorossiysk, Russia. She studied Russian Philology at the Kuban State University in Krasnodar, Russia, as well as her MBA. She has been teaching Russian for 25 years and really loves to learn about her students and assisting them with their goals of developing their language skills and cultural awareness.

Evelina – French Instructor

I have over 19 years professional experience in education while living in 6 different countries –  Bulgaria, France, England, Spain, The Netherlands, and the USA. Teaching and learning is my passion. I have a Bachelor in French language and literature, with a focus on Medieval Romance Literature and French Renaissance, and I love to teach literature and make connections between authors and books.

Greg – German Instructor

Greg was not yet a teenager when he discovered his enjoyment of tutoring others to linguistic success. A bilingual native-level German and English speaker with intermediate Russian, he will be your guide to master the German language and explore the German language world in whatever detail is of interest to you.

Liliane – French Instructor

Liliane has been involved in promoting the language and culture of France, her native french language, in the Washington area for nearly 25 years. Before working with ISL, she served as a volunteer teacher for a nonProfit and taught french to young professionals in the corporate and non profit world.

Pamela – Chinese Instructor

Pamela was born in Beijing, China. She studied in Beining International Chinese University to obtain a degree as a teacher of Chinese as a second language to foreign students. She has been teaching in Chinese for over 30 years and in the United States since 2017.

Araceli – Spanish Instructor 

Araceli was born in Peru. She studied Communications Science at the University of Lima. In the US, she found her passion in teaching Spanish and has been doing that since 2014 at public schools, in group and individual settings.

Young Ok – Korean Instructor

I was born in Korea, where I majored in German language and literature. I have more than 10 years of teaching experience with both children and adults. I love teaching because I love to meet people who have a passion for learning.

Scarlet  – Spanish Instructor

Hi! I am Scarlet.
I am graduate in Foreign Languages Applied to International Business with focus in the Spanish language. Currently I am DELE official examiner. I’ve been teaching Spanish since 2016 for children and adults. I am an enthusiastic teacher that loves to engage students with culture, art and latin songs.

Susanna – German Instructor

Susanna, a German native, grew up in the South-West of Germany at the board of Switzerland and France. After finishing her education residing in several German cities in the South she moved to New York and finally to Maryland working in the biomedical field before becoming a German language professional and teacher.

María – Spanish Instructor

Hello! I am María, I have been a Spanish teacher for many, many years, at least 12. I am Spanish and I am based in Madrid, the city where I was born. I have a Master’s degree in teaching my native language and I have a degree in Journalism too but teaching is what I love the most. I can say I have the great fortune of being able to make my vocation my way of life.

Tom – American Sign Language Instructor

Tom was born in Syracuse, New York. He earned a Masters in Deaf Education and American Sign Language at Rochester Institute of Technology. He has been teaching ASL since 2009 and really enjoys helping his students excel and being able to communicate in ASL.

Victoria  – Italian Instructor

I was born in Argentina, but grew up in a small seaside town in northern Italy. I majored in English teaching in Buenos Aires and have worked in bilingual schools for 7 years. In addition, I have taught Italian and Spanish for 4 years to students from all over the world.

Beatriz – Spanish and French Instructor

I was born in Venezuela. I left my country at a very young age and lived in Europe for over 20 years. I am native Spanish and French speaker. I can speak Italian and have some knowledge of Portuguese. I studied modern languages at the University of Provence, France.

Sarah – French and Spanish Instructor

Sarah is from Pau, France, and pursued her studies in English Philology at UPPA University. Her journey in language education began in 2015, and she has extensive experience in teaching adult learners across various contexts.

Camille – French Instructor

Camille is a native French speaker from France. She was raised in Paris, where she studied History at the Sorbonne. She came to the United States to pursue a graduate degree at Columbia University in NYC.

Jeremayah – French Instructor

Jeremayah was born in California but spent her formative years in France. She pursued her undergraduate education in the United States, successfully earning her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations. Since 2022, she has been passionately sharing her knowledge as a French instructor.

Carmen – Spanish and Italian Instructor

My name is Carmen Giménez and I was born in Cartagena, a city in the south of Spain.
I studied English at John Moores University in Liverpool, Salford University in Manchester and “Universidad de Murcia” and became an English teacher at High school in 1996.

Michel – French Instructor

Born in Rennes in France, I grew up speaking and studying French both throughout my studies and among family. As a professor, I have taught in several French universities for 25 years, giving me teaching experience that allows me to use a wide variety of teaching methods. In addition, I have 8 years of experience in teaching French in the United States.

Songlan – Japanese Instructor 

Songlan was born and grew up in China, Japan. She moved to the U.S. in 2002 and has been teaching Japanese at all levels to non-Japanese speakers since 2006. She also works as  interpreter and translator.

Organizations we work with