About Us
The Language Link’s Founder
Barbara Ford graduated in Foreign Languages and Literature from Washington State University and earned an MBA in International Business from Monterey Institute of International Studies, now a graduate school of Middlebury College. She also attended the University of Seville and the University of Madrid as part of her undergraduate and graduate studies.
Barbara spent over 15 years in international business. She first worked as Marketing Manager for Hasegawa International Ltd, a Japanese trading company, and later joined Expeditors International, Inc. In her last position with Expeditors as Route Development Director for the Middle/Near East and Indian Subcontinent, she was based in Cairo, Egypt and travelled in the region for sales and new business development.
In 1997, Barbara left the corporate world to stay home with her children. When her son entered kindergarten, Barbara was asked to start an extra-curricular Spanish program at his school. She did, and built a culturally rich program based on her belief in the importance of second language learning at an early age for all children. Nine years later, that program has expanded to become The Language Link, LLC, which this year will provide hundreds of Seattle area school children the unique opportunity to learn language through immersion in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and French.
Barbara is a life-long language learner and speaks fluent Spanish along with some French, Japanese and Arabic.
Jennifer Geist, Director Global Workshops
Jennifer Geist has been working and traveling internationally since the age of 17 when she went to work on charter sailboats in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean seas. She and her husband raised their children (now teenagers) in Spain and Seattle. She has been working in the field of International Education for over 15 years, leading group programs abroad (including the Language Link’s 2010 Peruvian Adventure), teaching language, developing curriculum and most recently teaching photography and digital storytelling as a means for cross cultural communication. Jennifer has worked with the Language Link since its inception and looks forward to many more years of learning with the students.
Monica Alperovich
Teacher - La Casita Feliz, Summer Camps and Advanced Spanish school programs
Monica was born and raised in Bógota, Colombia and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Art from Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes University. She is a translator of children’s books and an accomplished graphic designer. Monica uses art to engage children with Spanish through creative expression. Monica taught Spanish at New Discovery school for 3 years while her children were in pre-school there, and continues to be very involved as a parent teaching Spanish at the John Stanford International school (K-5th grade). Monica has solid skills in immersion style language instruction. She is the lead teacher in our summer camp programs and teaches the advanced levels in our before school programs. Monica also teaches Spanish at John Hay.
Sebastián Grynberg
Teacher - La Casita Feliz, school programs beginning - advanced Spanish
Sebastián is a native of Argentina and grew up in both Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata. He studied psychology and Yiddish theater before moving to Seattle in 2002. Since arriving in Seattle, he has been teaching Spanish to both adults and children while also being a stay-at-home dad to four young boys (ages 9 months, 4, 7 and 9). He and his wife, Ruby, are rasing their children bilingually. In his spare time, Sebastián works several hours a week as a volunteer in his children’s classrooms. He also teaches Spanish at two local preschools. Sebastián enjoys dancing (tango and salsa), cooking for friends and family, going to live theater productions and playing the trumpet. Sebastián has participated in the early childhood training at La Casita Feliz and is CPR certified for childcare. He will be teaching at La Casita Feliz in the mornings Monday through Friday and continue teaching in the Language Link's before school Spanish program at Adams Elementary this year.
Maiensy Sanchez
Teacher - La Casita Feliz and Global Workshops
Cuban born and raised, Maiensy moved to Seattle in 1999. She began her teaching career in 1996, while working at the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores (TEC)de Monterrey, Mexico. She created and developed a curriculum for the International Programs department’s exchange students involving cultural studies and focused on Latin-American popular music and dance. In 1999, she pioneered the Cuban style of dance instruction in the Seattle area, accompanied by local performances including the Benaroya Hall. In 2007, Maiensy joined The Language Link, LLC. She was part of its first youth travel program in Spring 2010, leading her advanced level Spanish students and their parents in Peru. Her teaching style aims to foster creativity, aesthetic sensibility,
critical thinking, curiosity and sense of wonderment. Maiensy holds a bachelor’s degree in Socio-cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington. She has 13 years of professional music training from Cuba, with specialization in piano and musical composition. Her love for filmmaking and storytelling took her to The FilmSchool, where she earned certification as a screenwriter. Maiensy is also a certified medical interpreter and early childhood educator. She is currently Lead Teacher for the Language Link and at La Casita Feliz.
Our Teachers
The Language Link teachers are either native speakers or have native fluency because they spent some years living in another country. Our teachers are dynamic, compassionate, creative, and well-spoken. Coming from Argentina, China, Colombia, Cuba, France, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Taiwan, Venezuela as well as the U.S., each teacher brings a different view of the world. Our teachers have degrees from their native countries, some with degrees from the US. They are gifted and natural teachers and all have either taught in The Language Link’s elementary school programs already or have other solid teaching experience with young children. All are fully trained in the curricula we use and love sharing their native languages and cultures with children.