World Languages Faculty

Abdelhakim Chakour was born in Morocco and has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years. He majored in Arabic and French in high school, holds a BA in International Relations, MA in Leadership and Management, and a Doctorate in Organizational Behavior & Educational Leadership. Hakim has taught Arabic and French at WAL since 2010. Before teaching at WAL, Hakim worked with a non-profit to introduce the Arabic language in Seattle and Hawaii. Additionally, he spent five years teaching in Japan. Hakim is a world traveler and speaks Arabic, French, English, and Spanish.

Lydia Condrea was born in Moldova. She earned an M.A. in French Philology from the University of Chisinau, Moldova and her Ph.C. in Romance Linguistics from the University of Washington. She is an accomplished educator, linguist and author, specializing in prosody.  She has presented her research at conferences in Europe, the Caribbean, and North America.  She has taught all levels of French in Moldova, Italy, and the United States.  In addition to French, she is fluent in Romanian, Italian, Spanish and Russian.  Her collaboration with WAL began in 1994.

Perle Deutsch Shadpour is a French and English instructor at WAL and has  been teaching heresince 2006. She grew up in Versailles, near Paris.  As an adult, chose to travel and live in England, Ireland, and Israel before returning to the Pacific Northwest. Perle holds dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Performance/Musicianship and English and double Master’s Degrees in American Studies and Teaching French as a Second Language. She taught classical guitar for 10 years and has been teaching French and English for 10 years. Perle includes among former employers The National Office for the French  Language and the Languages of France (DGLFLF) and the University of Washington, and she occasionally works as a translator-interpreter. Perle loves the arts, horses, dogs - anything with fur, learning new languages, and cooking as well as sharing her different cultures and languages with her students!

Andrea Schmidt enjoys sharing her love of the German language and culture with students. She is currently in the doctoral program at the University of Washington in Comparative Literature focusing on German and British literature and film. She joined WAL in Autumn 2011 and also teaches at the University of Washington. She has studied in Germany and loves schnitzel!

Melissa Storr has taught German and Italian for WAL since 2009. She earned a B.A. in a triple language concentration (German, Italian, and Russian) at the University of Delaware .   She also lived and studied in Germany and Italy .  In 2006, Melissa completed a teacher certification course in England in German and French and, in 2009, received an M.A. in Germanics from the University of Washington . She also teaches German at a local high school and hopes to awaken a love for foreign languages and cultures in all her students!

Ruth Richert went abroad to teach English, Spanish and Italian to students and professionals in three European countries following her edu cation at Western Washington University. She has spent the last six years with WAL, teaching its full curriculum of Italian courses and serving as a part-time instructor in WAL’s ESL program. In addition to her university-level work, Ruth has coached scores of professional musicians in Italian language and culture and has performed in speaking roles with Seattle Opera and the Seattle Symphony. Her favorite part of teaching is watching students surprise themselves by successfully getting across a complex idea in a new language.

Hideki Aikoh has extensive experience as an instructor. He graduated from Gakushuin University in Tokyo with a B.A. in American literature, as well as a Certificate in Teaching English. He then went on to teach English in Japan for many years. He moved to the U.S. to complete his coursework in the MATESOL program at the School for International Training, in Vermont , where he also taught Japanese. He has taught at WAL since 1991.  His hobby is roasting his own beans for his specialty coffee.

Machiko Akasaka has been an instructor of Japanese for many years at educational institutions and universities in Washington State. She comes from Sapporo, Japan where she graduated from Hokusei College with a B.A. in English Literature and Education. She then completed the Teacher Training program at the Tokyo School of the Japanese Language. Machiko moved to the U.S. and earned an M.A. in English and a M.Ed. in Education from Eastern Washington University, as well as completed all coursework for a graduate degree in Linguistics, at the University of Washington. She has also studied at Cornell University in their program for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language. She has been an iinstructor at WAL since 1991.

Shiho Aoki has been a  Japanese instructor at WAL since March, 2010. She grew up in Yamagata, Japan and graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University in Japan with BA in Literature.  She studied at Seattle University, earning her M.Ed. in TESOL. She has more than eights years of experience teaching in Japan and in US. Although she enjoys Seattle, she misses relaxing in the hot springs in Yamagata.  Shiho loves teaching and her students always remark on how much they enjoy learning in her classroom.

Inseon Chung is a native of Seoul , Korea and has been teaching Korean at Washington Academy of Languages since March 2011. She holds an MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Seattle University and her BA in French is from Ewha Woman’s University in Korea . She trained English teachers for seven years in Seoul , implementing a teaching method she personally developed. She also taught Korean as a lecturer at the University of Washington and English writing at Bellevue College for over 3 years. She is currently teaching online Korean courses for Air Force officers. She has constantly challenged herself academically and has also earned degrees in interior design and Montessori edu cation.

Adiane Blum is from Brazil; she has travelled and lived in the US and Spain.  Her native language is    Portuguese and she is fluent in Spanish and English.  She completed her MA in Teaching English to      Speakers of Other Languages (MATESOL), from the University of Washington. She has taught portuguese at WAL since 2006 and always has a lively class filled with cultural tidbits and lots of engaging opportunities.  When she is not teaching, she likes traveling, spending time with her kids and getting to know different places around Washington.

Avram Blum has taught both Spanish and Portuguese at WAL since 2007.  He has alternately taught Spanish, Portuguese, and ESL at UW since 2005 while simultaneously working on an MA in Linguistics (2008) and an MA for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (2010).  He is currently writing his doctoral dissertation in English Language and Rhetoric, also at UW.  Before moving to Seattle in 2005, Avram taught English in the Amazon region of Brazil for five years at a public university, a private college, and several private language schools.   Avram grew up near the tulip fields of rural Skagit County and enjoys traveling and exploring the outdoors with his family. 

Pamela Jeffcoat fell in love with Slavic languages in 1991 and never looked back.  She has an MA in Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington.  She has studied and taught in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Seattle-area colleges.  She has been teaching at WAL since 2011.  Pam also serves as a medical interpreter and nurse. She believes adults learn a foreign language best in an unthreatening atmosphere where they are free to make mistakes

Alegdy Carrillo-Martin grew up in San Cristoblal, state of Tachira, Venezuela and has taught Spanish at WAL since 2003.  She graduated from Andres Bello Catholic University in Education, has a MA in Education from University of Tachira, and graduated at Central University of Venezuela with a degree in Radio and TV Broadcasting. In addition to Spanish and English, Alegdy can also speak Italian, French and Portuguese.  In her spare time, she loves arts and crafts, fine art painting, and writing poetry.  Alegdy has published a booklet to sing and learn Spanish called, "Romance Latino" as well as a book of poetry titled, "Versos de Loto"

Camelia Gavrila has taught Spanish at WAL since 2008. Her students enjoy her active classes where conversation and demonstrations lead to lots of learning in a convivial atmosphere.  Her BA in Spanish Philology is from University of New Hampshire and her MA in Hispanic Literature is from University of Washington where she was also a Spanish language instructor for several years. In addition, she earned a graduate Certificate in Teaching English Language Learnings from WAL/SPU.  Camelia has lived in Romania, Spain, and the United States and fluently speaks Romanian, Spanish and English.

Nathaniel Greenberg teaches Arabic, French and Spanish at WAL and is a Doctoral Teaching Associate at the University of Washington. He is a recipient of the U.S. State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship Program and currently a Dissertation Fellow with the Modern Language Quarterly.  In addition to studies at the University of Washington (M.A. 2007, Ph.C. 2009), Nathaniel has studied at the American Institute of Maghreb Studies, the American University in Cairo, the University of Paris 8, and the City University of New York (B.A. 2003). He has lived in Argentina, Egypt and Morocco. Nathan wrote a series of articles about the Egyptian revolution for The Seattle Times and the online magazine, Common Language Project, and hopes to turn the articles into a book after completing his Ph.D.  Nathaniel has taught at WAL since 2008.

Zach Bohnenkamp began learning Spanish when he was 10 years old; he has lived, worked and travelled in Spain regularly since that young age. He has completed his doctoral course requirements in Romance Linguistics from the University of Washington and has been teaching Spanish in Seattle since 2000. His classes are structured but remain inviting because they are active and fun. Zach has taught at the University of Washington, Highline Community College, and Seattle Language Academy.  He began teaching at WAL in 2011. When Zach is not teaching Spanish, he follows his artistic muse and paints.