Lower School Spanish, 6th Grade Conversational Spanish
Sheila grew up in Latin America with her family and lived there until the 8th grade, when her family moved to Reston, Virginia. Sheila attended the University of Virginia, where she earned a B.S. in Architecture and double-majored in Latin American Studies. After marriage to her husband, Tom, Sheila moved to Greene County.
Prior to teaching at Grymes, Sheila developed an elementary school Spanish program and curriculum for Charlottesville Catholic School, where she taught Spanish for three years at the K-5 and 8th grade levels. Other teaching experiences include substitute teaching, and teaching Spanish to kindergartners as a parent volunteer in the Madison and Greene County Public Schools. Sheila’s first work experience was in business and corporate marketing.
Sheila’s personal experience leads her to believe that “learning elements of a foreign language before high school is exciting and almost effortless”. As a child, she learned Spanish in kindergarten, began learning Portuguese in the fourth grade, and was fluent in both languages by the end of high school. As a teacher, Sheila enjoys presenting a new language and culture to children and seeing what part of the lesson rivets their attention. She enjoys observing which details stay with them over the course of the school year as they discover increasing amounts of material. Sheila finds it rewarding to “support and lead the children a few steps out of their comfort zone, so that they can see how much they really do understand in a foreign language”.
Sheila lives in Madison County with her husband, Tom and their son, Trent. Outside of her profession, Sheila enjoys spending time with her family and relatives, taking road trips, digital photography, genealogy research and preserving old photos, reading, and baking.