322 Vista del Mar Suite B,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
310.378.1086
Languages Offered:
ARABIC
ENGLISH
CHINESE
FRENCH
GERMAN
ITALIAN
MANDARIN
JAPANESE
SPANISH
We also offer E.S.L.
Our Teachers
Trained, fluent both in the language and the culture they teach they understand how you or your child learn and what’s the most successful way to teach language.
Caring and invested whose objectives are your success we chose for their history, experience and personality as well as for their skills. We love them, we know you will too...
- Ana Maza (Spanish- since 2001)
- Armand Schiappa (French - Italian - since 2008)
- Brant Carey (English – French - since 1999
- Caroline Buck: (French- since 2009)
- Christine Woods (German since 2001)
- Ibeth Nixon (Spanish- since 2010)
- Ines Belluardo (Italian - since 2006)
- Irene Flotzinger (German – Italian – French – English - since 2004)
- Julia Arce (Spanish and English- since 2004)
- Ken Denis (Japanese – English - since 2009)
- Miki Barker (Japanese -since 2010)
- Nicola Brownson (Italian- since 2010)
- Patricia Moraga: (Spanish- since 2006)
- Rolla Marini (French – Arabic- since 2009)
- Sonia Fernandez: (Spanish- since 1997)
- Zoila Norwood: (Spanish-ince 2000)
- Yunjou Tseng (Mandarin - Cantonese since 2010)
Ana Maza (Spanish)
Born and raised in a town outside of Mexico City, she attended the Universidad Tecnologica de Mexico where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Before joining Savoir Faire in December 2001, Ana spent time tutoring disadvantaged youth in reading and writing in Spanish. She has a terrific track record at Savoir Faire teaching beginning to advanced Spanish and providing customized programs to our private students. She also excels working with children and is responsible for our immersion preschool. Ana is a great people person and “loves the interaction with students”. They love her back! She has been learning language for a long time and she acquired English both in school and when traveling. “I believe learning a new language opens doors to new opportunities”.
Julia Arce (Spanish and English)
Born, raised and educated in the U.S., she had an amazing opportunity at a young age to spend 2 weeks with a family in Spain. Upon her return to the U.S. she decided to learn Spanish. She owns a B.A., a Master and a M.A. in Spanish plus a second degree credential. She has lived intensively in Columbia and in Mexico (her husband’s family is still there and they return to visit yearly); she has travelled in several occasions to Spain and all over South America. Since Julia started with Savoir-Faire Language Institute in September 2004, she has become one of our master teachers and is in charge of our after school and tutoring programs. Her success with her students matches her enthusiasm for teaching Spanish to children and adults alike.
Patricia N. Moraga: (Spanish)
Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, Patricia earned her Bachelor's Degree in Public Administration at the University of Chile and a Master's Degree in Public Administration at CSULB (California State University Long Beach). She works as a Spanish Teacher, a Cross-Cultural Trainer and a Life & Career Coach. She is bicultural and is fluent in English and Spanish.
Her passion for teaching, training and coaching comes from her joy in making a difference in other people's lives!
She loves traveling because of the exposure to other cultures, other languages. Since she started with Savoir Faire in 2006, she has established herself as a caring, always prepared teacher. Her students love her for her soft humor, patience and never ending dedication.
Zoila Norwood: (Spanish)
A full credential teacher from Peru she has been teaching with us since 1999. She is one of the master teachers who helped in writing the Spanish curriculum for Savoir Faire Language Institute. She has experience in teaching all levels. Kids and adults absolutely love coming to her class. Very patient, passionate and always prepared she creates magic in her classroom. One of her students told us: "Be aware, when you or your child sit in her class, you will not want to leave!"
Sonia Fernandez: (Spanish)
With a BS in Education from Peru, Sonia joined SFLI’s team in 1997. Now that her children are in college, she spends her time developing fun lessons for her classes. Her love of teaching is reflected by her dedication to her students, always prepared and ready to reach out, she makes her class fun and is loved by her students, young and young at heart.
Rolla Marini (French – Arabic)
She owns a Bachelor in Educational Psychology and a Teaching Credential (from the French Educational Ministry). She has followed multiple trainings over the years to refine her knowledge and skills in her field of teaching French as a foreign language and has been very involved with Human Rights Associations since the early 90’s.
She started teaching French as a second language in the early 80’s and was working for the same institution for 20 years until she moved in the US in August 08, to allow her son to study in an American University. She is from Lebanon, educated in a French University. Her skills as a language teacher are deep and well practiced. Since she started with us, she has always been very prepared, loved by her students (including some little ones, 6 years old). She is extremely patient and attentive to the needs of her students. Her lovely personality is very welcoming for any one who has the opportunity to talk with her. She joined Savoir Faire’s team in 2008.
What her students say about her:
I want you to know that Rolla is the best instructor ever! You have a wonderful person teaching there. She is the reason why I am continuing the class. Paige B., 2011
Caroline Buck: (French)
Born and educated in Quebec (don’t worry, her French is beautiful, and her accent barely audible; actually most of the time I can even not hear it!), she owns a BA and a Teaching Credential from the University of Laval. She has been teaching French as a second language and English as a second language for several years now. She moved in California to be with the love of her life. She started with Savoir Faire in January 2009. Her enthusiasm about teaching is contagious. She prepared her classes carefully to insure her students have fun while learning. She has a great contact with the children and knows how to stimulate their curiosity and develop their love for French.
Ines Belluardo (Italian)
She started with Savoir-Faire Language Institute in June 2006. Born, raised and educated in Italy, she owns a Teaching Credential from Italy. Master teacher, she was teacher, teacher trainer and coordinator for Italian as a second language programs in Italy before moving to the U.S. Today, she is very involved with developing our Italian language and culture programs at Savoir-Faire Language Institute and in the South Bay. Her students love her unconditionally. She is always prepared with exciting activities designed to enhance her teaching, facilitate her student’s learning experience as well as motivate them. Her classes are fun and focused. Her patience is without limit and her smile very contagious. She looks forward to meet all of her new students!
Brant Carey (English – French)
Brant has been with Savoir Faire since 1999, teaching mainly English, and helping with French. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from UCLA with minors in Philosophy and French. He has helped many students from various countries overcome problems learning English. American born and educated, he has lived abroad in Australia, France, Belgium, Vietnam and West Africa. His career was with Pan American Airways as an Operations Manager where he served as a trouble shooter, traveling often and extensively to solve system problems. In his semi-retirement, he is playing in a symphony orchestra and singing in a traveling choir. He has built four houses, including his own current residence. He loves to help foreign students use good English that can be understood by all their contacts in this country. He is able to relate well with them because of his wide range of experience. He has taught TOEFL preparatory courses and English Composition. Tell him how you want to improve; he is ready to help!
Christine Woods (German)
She started working for Savoir Faire in March of 2001. She moved with her family to the US in summer of 2000 and used to work in Germany teaching English at all levels to adult students. She has always enjoyed teaching very much and love to share German culture and funny little stories about her country.
Working for Savoir Faire gave her the opportunity not only to teach adults but also children. She is now teaching all levels to adults as well as children and enjoys both equally as much.
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Armand Schiappa (French - Italian)
Armand was born in Metz, France. He moved to the States in the early 80’s where he was involved in real estate affairs. He returned to France in 2002 where he taught French as a second language to adults and children visiting the Bouche-du-Rhone region. Along with the language, Armand emphasizes French culture and history. On the Italian side, Armand’s family emigrated from a small medieval town near Rome. He speaks fluent Italian.
Armand’s teaching skills include a demonstrated ability to establish effective relationships with adults and children. He also has a strong knowledge of French and Italian cultures. Armand and his family recently spent 5 years living in France and Italy.
Armand enjoys teaching and making his students comfortable in the classroom while learning a foreign language.
Irene Flotzinger (German - French - Italian - English)
Irene was born and raised in Switzerland. She came to the United States as a foreign student, where she earned a Master’s Degree in Psychology. After returning home, she lived and worked in the German, Italian and French part of Switzerland to brush up on her language skills.
Irene has been teaching high school students and adults at Savoir Faire since 2004. Knowing firsthand the joys and frustrations of learning a foreign language, she identifies with her students and tries to create a learning environment which is both challenging and entertaining.
Yunjou Tseng (Mandarin - Cantonse)
YunJou Tseng, our Chinese Lead Teacher, is a graduate from Beijing Language and Culture University, with emphasis in teaching Chinese as a foreign language and English. She earned her MA in Linguistic from Long Beach University in 2010. Her passion and dedication to teaching directly reflect in the quality of her instruction. She is actively involved in the development of our curriculum at Savoir Faire.
Nicola Bottacin Brownson was born in Padova, Italy. She has a degree in humanities from the University of Padova. She is a published author of two books: "35 settimane alla casa verde" (il Prato editore, 2007), "A Bientot" (Alcyone editore, 2010).
She has been living in California for the last 11 years and she is a mother of two lovely daughters.
Ken Dennis (Japanese & English)
Ken Dennis joined SFLI in 2009 as we were looking for a Japanese teacher with a strong bi-cultural business background. Educated in both the US and Japan, and working with companies in both countries, he was the perfect candidate. Since then, he has worked with us to create both children and adults curriculum as well as teaching all our students (business and other). His dedication to the success of his students is limitless, always prepared and looking for better ways to bring them closer to fluency, makes him one of the most successful teachers at SFLI. One of our true bilingual teacher, he now teaches Japanese and English.