about kathy

My Professional Journey (United States)

I have long sought new and exciting adventures. During college, this meant studying abroad in Córdoba, Spain. After college, it meant moving across the U.S. to Seattle (where I had never been) without a job, but with a K-12 Spanish teaching certificate in hand. After teaching high schoolers for seven years, I made the move from AP Spanish to teaching Kindergartners their ABCs in a Spanish immersion program. I rounded out my U.S. teaching experience with middle school Spanish immersion.

My Professional Journey (International)

My husband, three children, dog, and I made another big change and moved abroad in 2016. I worked at a large international school in Singapore, which afforded me invaluable professional development working on a large team of Spanish teachers. During this time, I was trained and hired to be a teacher coach and PLC lead. I was a part of developing a consistent vertical and horizontal curriculum plan and learned so much about collaboration and partnership.

Our next international move brought us to Israel, where I moved back to high school teaching. It was here that I was able to put all that I had learned into practice. I became the language department lead and school-wide language coordinator.

My Language-Learning Journey

As a young person learning Spanish, I was immediately drawn to the magic of language learning and felt directly how it could open up new worlds to me. A medical mission trip with my father to the Dominican Republic (where I served as an interpreter) showed me firsthand how powerful it is to connect with someone with a completely different worldview and experience from my own. Speaking Spanish allowed this to happen on a deeper level. This is why I have chosen to continue learning languages. I have come to value and celebrate successful communication at every level, novice to distinguished, and everywhere in between.

My Language Learning Philosophy

I believe it is possible for most people to make significant progress in learning a language. I believe that even some successful communication in a non-dominant language helps us truly connect with more people and become more empathetic humans.

Esch Language Education

While living in Israel, I learned that “Esch,” my last name growing up, has the same phonetic sound as “אֵשׁ” in Hebrew, which means “Fire.” This is the perfect metaphor for the next steps in my career: I have found that I have a fire inside of me to help create positive language learning experiences for students of all ages. I look forward to hearing about how this connects to you and your language learning or program goals.