Spanish

Ms Bien

Ms Bien comes from a multi-cultural family who have given her the ability to appreciate the uniqueness of everyone she teaches. Originally from Chicago, she has enjoyed immersing herself in British culture, and you can normally find her sculling on the Ouse. Moreover, she is lucky to have the cutest cat in the world, Wonton, and encourages everyone to admire him on Instagram: @wonton_the.cat

Profe Escudero

Profe Escudero loves sharing her passion about the Spanish language and culture. She enjoys teaching languages as a tool that works towards building bridges between people and cultures. Her diverse range of life experiences give her lessons a unique perspective as she is always ready to share an insightful or funny story. This simultaneously builds connection and illuminates her view on the social nature of languages.

Ms de la Vega

Ms de la Vega is originally from Buenos Aires and feels very lucky to teach at a school where Modern Languages are valued and where so many of her students are multilingual. When she is not obsessing over a verb ending or the difference between “e” and “i”, Ms de la Vega enjoys a bit of pencil drawing and travelling.

Profe Riquel

Ana, aka Profe Riquel, studied English Studies and has two masters’ degrees in teaching languages. She comes from the south of Spain or as she says her Andalucía. She loves languages, especially Asian languages, enjoys doing yoga and crafts. She teaches the Spanish Heritage Club and she has organised several cultural events on behalf of the MFL Department like the European Day of Languages carousel, workshops to celebrate the ‘Day of the Dead’ and a movie screening for Culture Day.

Frau Freeman

Claudia, aka Frau Freeman, has been at Stephen Perse for almost 20 years. Sharing her love for German often through songs, many of which are “Ohrwürmer”. When not quoting Brecht or breaking down a compound noun, she is playing tennis, kayaking with the Paddlesports team and performing with her recorders.

Frau Dr Walton-Jordan

Ulrike, aka Frau Dr Walton-Jordan, joined Stephen Perse in 2016. She loves languages and linguistics, as well as history, celebrating the international nature of language and always discovering new Latin or Celtic roots! Out of the classroom, she enjoys volunteering for the National Trust rewilding grazing team, looking after Scottish Highland cattle and Konik horses.

Madame Neely

Frau Neely aka Madame Neely joined Stephen Perse in 2016 and has enjoyed sharing her love of languages and language learning with both younger and older students. She loves working in this truly international department and it complements her other work of training language teachers internationally. Recent highlights outside of work include cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats and across Switzerland.

Frau Pratt

Frau Pratt has loved languages since her childhood holidays in France let loose in the campsite playground with a phrase book and dictionary. Having been lucky enough to live in Vienna for a year she enjoys bringing Austrian culture into the classroom whenever possible. She is currently learning Modern Greek and hoping to use it this summer. Frau Pratt also loves arts and crafts and enjoys making jewellery.

French

Madame Parente

Madame Parente heads up the French department. A true Lyonnaise, she enjoys good French food (and good French grammar). She regularly returns to her hometown to see her family and to enjoy la gastronomie française.

Madame Goddard

Madame Goddard has taught French and German, her degree subjects, on both sides of the Atlantic, and also in France and Switzerland. In the course of her varied career, she has also added a little Spanish, Latin and ESL to the mix. When she is able to broaden her students’ linguistic repertoire and understanding of different cultures, she is happy. When not in a Languages Classroom, she is delighted to teach mindfulness and ukulele. She also travels abroad whenever possible, knits hats and draws pictures.

Madame Cox

Madame Cox, teaches French and German, but has also dabbled in Spanish and Italian, and taught English as a Foreign Language in Paris and Milan. She is a cinephile, who loves film noir and the French new wave, and also enjoys poetry.

Madame Mamouni

Madame Mamouni joined Stephen Perse in September 2021. She has taught French in the UK and abroad. She is passionate about languages and strives to pass on her enthusiasm to her students. She also comes from Lyon (she enjoys talking about her memories with Madame Parente) and regularly shares cultural insight with her students. She enjoys reading, spending time with her family and baking.

Mme Webster

Mme Webster has been at Stephen Perse for over ten years. She is a passionate Francophile- from Chansons françaises and current affairs to Moules frites on the Med- but also loves to keep her German, Japanese and Spanish going whenever she can. Languages have helped her travel and work all over the world.

MG Browning

MG Browning - aka MG Sensei, tries to integrate culture into her classes: e.g. in Japan one starts a speech with an apology; in the UK one starts a speech with a joke: MG starts by apologising for not making a joke!

Mrs Sands

Olga, aka Mrs Sands, has been at Stephen Perse for almost three years. She studied teaching Russian Language and Literature at St Petersburg State Pedagogical University in Russia and has lived in Britain since 2005. She has worked as a Russian tutor for over 20 years, teaching a wide range of levels – from complete beginners to A Level Russian, both heritage learners and second language learners. She really enjoys it when her students find language learning exciting. She likes seeing how quickly beginners master the Cyrillic alphabet; she enjoys drawing parallels with other languages and cultures, and sometimes she annoys her students with Russian grammar riddles. In her free time, she enjoys ceramics, gardening, hillwalking, foraging for mushrooms and reading books.

Chinese

Yang Laoshi

Yang Laoshi is an experienced and dedicated Chinese teacher, who has helped many students to learn and appreciate the intricacies of the Chinese language. Her students, from Year 1 to Year 13, admire her for her commitment and enthusiasm in teaching. She also runs the calligraphy and crafts club, which is a popular choice among our students. In addition to her teaching skills, she has a loveable pair of pandas named PO and OREO, who have become very popular in her classroom. Yang Laoshi is also known for her baking skills, and her cakes are always a hit.

Guo Laoshi

For Guo Laoshi, teaching Chinese is more than just a profession - it's a true passion. With an MA Applied Linguistics, she finds joy in sharing her love of language and culture with her students, and feels fulfilled by watching them grow and progress in their understanding of Mandarin and Chinese culture. She started the first Mandarin Club at Junior School Dame Bradbury's in 2011. Since then, she has been able to guide her students as they grow, and is proud to be a part of their educational journey.

Martin Laoshi

Martin Laoshi was one of the first qualified Mandarin teachers in the UK and she has been teaching for over 15 years. She enjoys sharing the language and culture through games, music, drama, and art. Her lessons are engaging and full of fun as she firmly believes that happy pupils perform better at school and in life. She loves reading, travelling, going to the gym, and spending time with her children as well as trying new things such as golf, skiing and learning new instruments.