OUR VISION
NWLA makes it possible for the residents of the local community to become residents of the larger, global community. Through the study of languages, cultural enrichment and foreign travel, we are preserving and honoring diversity, while building bridges of understanding and appreciation between people of different cultures. In this way we hope to contribute to a more peaceful and harmonious global community and a richer local one.

OUR INSTRUCTORS
Our instructors are native speakers (or equivalent) who bring both linguistic and cultural expertise to the classroom. They are enthusiastic and engaging professionals that make language come alive. Instruction is always tailored to meet the needs of the individuals in the group.

Josephine D. Hendrix (Josette) founder and Director of NWLA, was born in Bulgaria in a French household. She attended school in Rome, Italy, and then moved to the United States where she learned her fourth language, English. Josette received her BA in Psychology and Education from Wesleyan U. in Connecticut. While raising her 3 children, Josette pursued her passion for creating new avenues into language and cultural discovery for her students and travel clients. She has taught Italian and French to children and adults since 1981 and has written texts in both French and Italian for Travelers. Josette shares her love of travel and adventure with NWLA clients “On the path less traveled”.

Monica Lenoci grew up a small town near Milan, the fashion capital of the world. She studied French and English in high school and continued her specialization at the Milan School for Interpreters and Translators. She later attended Cambridge University, in the United Kingdom where she received certification as teacher of Italian as a foreign language.

Monica is outgoing and bubbling with enthusiasm about her language and culture. She loves teaching and talking about the beauties of her native country, explaining lifestyles and habits. She has traveled widely and worked and lived in France and United Kingdom which gave her an international and open-minded personality.

Michael McArthur’s love of language began during his junior year when he participated in an exchange program with a high school near Hanover, Germany and had the wonderful opportunity to live with a German family. As an undergraduate at the University of Washington Mike minored in German and spent one summer using a scholarship to attend the Goethe Institute in Konstanz, Germany. Mike then decided to pursue German as an academic profession. He has since completed his Master of Arts at the UW, where he was a language instructor for five years, and has lived, studied, and taught in the university cities of Tuebingen, Muenster, and Freiburg. He loves sharing that ineffable moment of enlightenment with his students when the distinct aspects of German shed insight on us and our world in ways that otherwise would have remained obscure.


Carol Makela de Rosales earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Seattle University with a double major in Spanish and History, and spent a year in an intensive language and cultural immersion program in Puebla, Mexico, where she returns yearly. She has extensive background in the performing arts which enriches all her teaching, by bringing music and movement to her classes. She has designed and taught Spanish language classes for K-8 students, and has been our Spanish Language Summer Camps leader since 2002. Carol firmly believes that exposing children to other languages allows them to become responsible and innovative global citizens.


Gyoko Koike Weeks was born in Tokyo, Japan. Gyoko graduated from Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. She worked as an editor and a writer for several publishing companies in Japan for almost 20 years. Her language teaching started in California, in 1994 at various immersion schools. She has been working with children, teens and adults, ever since, bringing her engaging and fresh approach to teaching Japanese to the Pacific Northwest in 1998. Gyoko teaches the adult and young adult classes and is the Japanese Summer Camps leader.


Anne Ferry Brennan was born and raised in eastern France, in the Champagne area and spent her summers in Bretagne. She completed her studies at Oxford and Paris and moved to the northwest 16 years ago. While living on Whidbey Island, Anne’s priorities have revolved around her two daughters, art and music. Anne shares her love of the French language and culture in her unique and colorful style – bringing a deep care and attention to each student. She is currently teaching the young adult and some of the children’s programs for NWLA.


Michaela Marx Wheatley recently moved to Whidbey Island from Frankfurt, Germany, where she worked for English and German-language newspapers. Working with languages is a passion that Michaela started at the age of 10 when she was introduced to English. French, Latin and Spanish followed over time. She has taught German and English for many years. In 2002, she developed an English course for German children. She joined the NWLA team in December 2005 teaching German for adults and children.



Jeannette Mougel Fujita is an experienced French teacher working with multi-age groups ranging from preschool to high-school. She is able to engage the most reluctant students in the joy of learning another language. Her background includes 15 years of living in France, where she attended University with a major in education. She is fluent in French, English and Japanese.




Linda Good has long been an advocate of learning languages. She received her BA from UW and an MA in ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii. She started her foreign language studies in High School with French, then took Spanish, and in Graduate School received a grant to study Fijian for two years. She has learned songs in German and Russian, and in the last decade has been learning Japanese. She likes to learn about the music and culture along with the language. For more than 30 years she has been an enthusiastic advocate of the Suzuki philosophy and taught hundreds of children to play the violin an to appreciate music.


Stella Canfield grew up in Varna, Bulgaria. She left her native country in 1980 for Germany, where she learned ceramics and taught Bulgarian language in Dusseldorf. She moved to the United States in 1985. While raising four children, Stella has pursued her life long interest in the arts and found her second profession. Her paintings are in private and corporate collections in the USA, Europe and Asia. Stella has an incredible love and appreciation for languages. She speaks Bulgarian, German, Russian and French in addition to English of course. Fun loving by nature, Stella brings life and success to any endeavor. Stella is also the founder of Stellar Arts Foundation, an educational and charitable non-profit foundation. Stellar Arts Foundation conducts educational artist's tours to Bulgaria and the Republic of Georgia. These exceptional art tours encourage cultural understanding between people, as they provide art training in a continuously inspiring atmosphere. For more information on Stella's art and Stellar Arts Foundation please see www.artgallerystella.com and www.stellararts.org