A new year and a new journey in world languages begins!

Lessons with Valentina “Vale” Ardiles, GDS’s new Lower School Spanish teacher, have started in PK through 2nd grade. The Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES) program at GDS begins with two 30-minute lessons each week for each class. In kindergarten, students sang songs about colors and crocodiles, while in 2nd grade, they practiced everyday greetings and responses. Catch a glimpse from kindergarten and read Vale’s GDS bio below.

Valentina Ardiles joined the Lower School in 2023 as a Spanish teacher for early language exposure for PK–2nd grade Hoppers. Previously, she taught Spanish for three years at a Waldorf School and served as a volunteer Spanish teacher at the Committee on U.S.-Latin American Relations. Valentina received a BS in Elementary Education from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile as well as a diploma in Experimental Science from the University of Chile. When not at School, you might find this cat lover from Santiago, Chile in an artistic frame of mind, painting, embroidering (animals are a favorite subject matter), or honing her craft as a future scientific illustrator. Or, if not enjoying time with her cats, Oscar and Linda, Valentina might be working on her black belt in Taekwondo.