Our People
We are educators and administrators who have always collaborated to promote immersion education.
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Stacey Vanden Bosch studied in Spain and Latin America during college, experiencing the benefits of immersion first-hand. She went to graduate school to research language acquisition and teach Spanish to college students.
After several years of working with older students, she changed her focus to young children and implemented a successful Spanish immersion program in a conservative private school. Thanks to collaboration with another administrator of an established Spanish immersion school in West Michigan, their small group of sixty students grew to three hundred over the next several years. Leading the implementation of a strong Spanish immersion strand within an existing school, gave Stacey the insight and experience to help other schools.
Stacey Vanden Bosch
add.a.lingua co-founder
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Lilah Ambrosi studied bilingual education, became fluent in Spanish, and began as a Spanish immersion Kindergarten teacher in a pioneer program within the Forest Hill’s School district (West Michigan). As the Spanish immersion program (Ada Vista) drew attention due to the immersion students’ high achievement in standardized tests and their fluency in the Spanish language, her role shifted from achiever of excellence within the classroom to that of leader committed to excellence for the entire program.
After completing her masters in educational leadership, Lilah became the principal of Ada Vista and grew the program to well over six hundred students. Lilah's role as administrator led her to collaborate with newer Spanish immersion programs, offering advice and support.
Lilah Ambrosi
add.a.lingua co-founder
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Sarah Stinson is a fourth grade Spanish Immersion and Spanish Reading Support teacher at the add.a.lingua home-base school. She received her B.A. in Spanish K-12 Education from Hope College and has studied and traveled in Mexico and Guatemala.
Following her student teaching experience in a Spanish Immersion classroom, Sarah became involved in the development of the add.a.lingua 3rd-5th grade curriculum frameworks. She is passionate about guiding children to realize the gift of speaking a second language, both through experiencing other world cultures and serving people of other languages.
Sarah Stinson
Curriculum Specialist
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Beth Roels is the office manager at add.a.lingua. She graduated from Calvin College with a B.A. in Education and majors in English and Religion, and she is currently working towards a Masters’ in Education from Dordt College. Beth enjoys traveling with her husband Dan to Peru, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Prior to working for add.a.lingua, Beth worked for two years as the office administrator of a new classical school in Princeton, New Jersey. When she is not working for add.a.lingua, Beth is enjoying her new job as a mom.
Beth Roels
Office Manager
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Sara Holwerda holds a B.A. in education from Calvin College, is a mother of three Spanish immersion students, and is the Small Talk for Kids program coordinator for the add.a.lingua home-base school.
Although no longer officially a teacher, Sara continues to look for ways to support education by volunteering in immersion classrooms and by helping families to involve even their youngest children with language and culture learning through Small Talk for Kids.
Sara Holwerda
Small Talk Coordinator
Immersion Teaching Staff - Zeeland Christian School, Michigan
Although not technically in add.a.lingua's employ, the Spanish and Mandarin immersion and FLES teaching staff continue to apply best practices in their classrooms while integrating the add.a.lingua literacy frameworks. Without their support, suggestions, enthusiasm, wisdom, and vision for immersion education, add.a.lingua would not exist.