Stacey Dunbar
Stacey Dunbar is a certified elementary educator and English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor. She received her BS in Early Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught pre-kindergarten, first and second grade students for five years. During her time as a teacher, she developed a Spanish immersion program in her classroom where all students learned to read, write and speak in both English and Spanish. Her success developing a Spanish immersion program led her to begin an educational consulting business where she trained numerous school districts to develop or improve their Spanish immersion, bilingual or ESL programs. She is now the proud mother of two boys and is thrilled that her sons have been a part of the Aprende con Amigos family.
Through her experiences as a teacher and consultant, Stacey Dunbar observed first-hand how children learn differently, have individual interests and excel in different areas. Therefore, she believes the educational approach at Aprende con Amigos should directly reflect, support, and implement a variety of philosophies, methods and strategies to meet the needs, interests and abilities of all students. Applying one philosophy or approach limits the ability to provide a well-balanced learning environment that meets the strengths and needs of all of its children.
“Tuly” Gertrudis Novoa Garcia
Tuly Novoa is a licensed preschool teacher from Venezuela with extensive experience in early childhood education. She has worked with children in various capacities such as summer camps, in-home child care, tutoring and Spanish immersion programs. As a mother of three, she believes that the most important gift a parent can give to their children is an education. Tuly and her husband have focused on teaching the joy of education and the importance of bilingualism. She is passionate about working with children and enjoys seeing how they progress every day.
In 2022, Tuly became co-owner of Aprende con Amigos and is currently the Director of the Overlook location.
Stacey Dunbar
Stacey Dunbar is a certified elementary educator and English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor. She received her BS in Early Elementary Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught pre-kindergarten, first and second grade students for five years. During her time as a teacher, she developed a Spanish immersion program in her classroom where all students learned to read, write and speak in both English and Spanish. Her success developing a Spanish immersion program led her to begin an educational consulting business where she trained numerous school districts to develop or improve their Spanish immersion, bilingual or ESL programs. She is now the proud mother of two boys and is thrilled that her sons have been a part of the Aprende con Amigos family.
Through her experiences as a teacher and consultant, Stacey Dunbar observed first-hand how children learn differently, have individual interests and excel in different areas. Therefore, she believes the educational approach at Aprende con Amigos should directly reflect, support, and implement a variety of philosophies, methods and strategies to meet the needs, interests and abilities of all students. Applying one philosophy or approach limits the ability to provide a well-balanced learning environment that meets the strengths and needs of all of its children.
Recently, Stacey started the ASPEN Comunidad Foundation to better serve and bring equity to families in Portland. She feels strongly about increasing opportunities for underserved populations to have access to education and care to better meet the needs of their families and personal growth. Visit aspencenterpdx.com to learn more about ASPEN Comunidad Foundation and the greater Aspen Center concept.
Teresa Hernandez
Teresa Hernandez-Claudio is California born, but Oregon raised. Teresa’s parents are from Baja California, Mexico. She’s the oldest of her siblings. She is a native Spanish speaker, Spanish was her first language until she started grade school.
Teresa has worked with kids for about nine years, when she first started working with kids she realized how amazing their little brains work and just how great it is to watch them learn and develop, she also loves to make kids feel loved and happy at school.
Teresa has 2 kids of her own with her high school sweet heart, Alexa 8 and Malik 7. Her household is a Spanish speaking home with some English since sadly there is no immersion programs in their district.
When she first started working at Aprende she started off as Floater supporting the teachers and serving snack to the children, she later became the Pollito Teacher. A year later she decided the floating position was best for her schedule. While she was Floater she supported the teachers the most she could and she was able to work with all the kids, which was what she loved the most. Now she’s the Director at the Cully location. She continues to support our teachers at Cully and make our children feel happy and welcome to our school family. Teresa is happy to be part of the Aprende family, She’s grown and have learned so much as a teacher, person, and a parent in the wonderful Aprende community. To further her commitment to our program, Teresa became co-owner of Aprende con Amigos in 2022.
Norma Moreno
Norma Moreno was born in Mexico and has fond memories from growing up there. After high school, she entered Bachillerato Pedagogico, where she first started her path towards working in educational services. For five years, she worked as a preschool teacher in Mexico. Years later, Norma moved to the US with her husband Fernando and her eldest son Fernando. She enjoyed spending time as a volunteer in her son’s classroom and wanted to continue studying to work towards a career in education. After having her second son named Yari, Norma enrolled at Mt Hood Community College to take English courses and work towards earning her Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate. She applied at head start where she worked as a part time assistant for five years and then worked five more years as a fulltime assistant teacher. She enjoyed the 10 years she worked at the Head start program.
In addition to teaching, Norma is very involved in her community. She’s graduated as a parish health promoter in a leadership program and works to help support other Latinos in her community.
She enjoys being part of the Aprende community where she happily teaches in her first language and in 2022 became co-owner of Aprende con Amigos. She currently is the Substitute Director of the Cully location as well as our Curriculum Coordinator.
