About Us

 

Kathy Haven and Karen Goldberg
Founders

As our mission states, we have created the Bridge Language Academy to provide a bridge of language between the different cultures and communities here in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Karen and Kathy have both lived in South Lake Tahoe for many years and were both teachers before having children. We have 5 children between the two of us and all of them are 8 and under. Ultimately, we conceived this language academy because of what we want for our children and the community they will grow up in. We are true believers in strong relationships being built on good communication, and language is the root of communication. As our world is full of diverse cultures and languages, we feel it is important for children to experience different cultures and languages at an early age when, as all research shows, it is the easiest to grasp and learn.

Karen graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a Master’s degree in Linguistic Anthropology. She also holds a California teaching credential in Spanish and a credential in administration. Kathy graduated from UCSB with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s in Education. Kathy holds a teaching credential for math and science. Both of us have a love for learning and children, of course. Our overall goal for our own children is to help them become contributing and caring citizens to their community and world. We hope to help them become such citizens by giving them the ability to truly communicate with, appreciate, and understand their fellow citizens.

Over the past few years, while Karen has spent her time teaching Spanish at Lake Tahoe Community College and helping students new to the United States become more familiar with English as they enter Bijou Community School, Kathy has had an active role in establishing the Two Way Immersion Program at Bijou Community School. We have seen the growth and phenomenal success of this program for elementary aged children and hope to use many of its objectives and techniques in our own pre-kinder program (De Colores).

OTHER STAFF:

Sandra Guebard is our teacher's aide in the Tuesday - Thursday program, our after school Spanish class teacher, and one of our Summer Camp teachers. She is a native spanish speaker with two young children of her own! She has had over 4 years of experience teaching at The Bridge Language Academy. Our new teacher's aide in the Friday De Colores prekinder program is Vanessa Gallegos, a trained teacher's aide, a mother of two (one is also of prekinder age), and a native spanish speaker will also be working for us this year in the prekinder program and after school class. She is in her second year of teaching at The Bridge Language Academy.