Our team
Lisa Bartels, M.Ed., NBCT
Founder & Curriculum Designer
Foreign Language Association of North Carolina
2023 Teacher of the Year
Like many of my students, my first language learning experience was in 10th grade. My amazing high school French teacher inspired me to explore language and culture, and set me on a path of lifelong discovery. In college I majored in French with a Spanish minor, and it opened opportunities to travel all over the world, to teach in international schools in Africa and in the Philippines, and to build bridges with Spanish speaking families here in the US.
I teach languages because I want to share with students the rich benefits I’ve seen in my own life: the ability to push through limitations, to embrace challenges, and to develop friendships with people around the world. My instructional resources are designed to help kids use real language, and to engage and support all types of learners.
I believe innovative curriculum design can address the most challenging aspects of classroom instruction, and I love sharing my resources with other teachers.
I thought for a long time about starting a business, but the design and marketing aspects intimidated me, until I met...
Claire Wentzel
Creative Consultant | Red Rose Studios
I love amplifying the impact of innovative individuals and organizations by helping them define their brand, refine their message and visually express their passion in a way that is meaningful and memorable to their audiences. I design and write with an artist’s eye and an editor’s mind, applying goal-centric strategic thinking to all my work.
Already an advocate for culturally immersive language learning after my own experience gaining fluency in Portuguese through this method, I am delighted to collaborate with Lisa to make this kind of living curriculum more accessible and engaging to more students through template design and content editing of our EXPLORE! product lines.
If you have a project you would like to bring into bloom, too, let’s start a dialogue!
Rong Zhang
Chinese Curriculum Specialist
I was born in Beijing, China, so Chinese is my native language. I came to the United States in 2007. I used to teach Chinese in a bilingual program for K-5 students, and I also taught Chinese to graduate students in a business school.
I believe that Mandarin Chinese, as a world language, will play an increasingly important role in the future. The reason is simple: Chinese is spoken by about one-fifth of the world’s population, and its culture cannot be simply ignored. It is also a worthy subject of global study. For example, how and why are Chinese people different from us? Kids will benefit from learning the Chinese language and culture, as they grow up and need to interact with Chinese-speaking people.
I am grateful for all the support and help I received from Lisa. I always wanted to find a place to share resources with Chinese teachers, and after I met Lisa, I found it! If you have any questions about the resources, feel free to contact me!