Capital Region
Language Center

Spanish Teachersf 200

Michèle Atallah

Michèle Atallah, a native bilingual speaker of French and Arabic, was born and raised in Lebanon. She has taught French and Spanish at Bethlehem High School for many years. She is also an adjunct French professor at the State University at Albany. Traveling, learning and teaching languages are her passions.

Gloria Batista

Gloria was raised in New York City in a Spanish-speaking household and is bilingual.  She received a B.S. from the University at Albany in political science with a Minor in Spanish and previously worked with the New York State Department of Labor where she translated and interpreted for Spanish speaking applicants. She also assisted in the creation of a Spanish speaking hotline.  She loves teaching the preschool and elementary Spanish classes with CRLC and makes her classes come alive with boundless energy. She has been teaching with Capital Region Language Center for more than 6 years.

Belkis Castro

Belkis Castro, a native Spanish speaker originally from Venezuela, moved to the US in 2008 with her family.   Belkis enjoys teaching both children and adults.   Her teaching style is systematic, but open and spontaneous  at the same time, allowing for creativity. She guides her students to learn Spanish by associating the similarities and differences of both language and culture. Belkis' passion for Spanish is contagious.  Prior to teaching Belkis enjoyed a career as an attorney.  If you are an attorney or a judge and are looking for a vocabulary-rich Spanish program, we have the teacher for you!  Whether children, youth or seniors, expect the class to be participatory and fun. 

Jennifer Dinkel

Jennifer learned Spanish while living in Chile. She is enamored of the country and the people. After a year and a half she returned to the states and earned a BA in Spanish, BS in Special Education, and an MSLT- Master of Second Language Teaching.  After moving to New York she completed her NYS certification and has enjoyed teaching in local public and private schools. She has experience teaching preschool children to adults.  Jen also has experience teaching ESL and informal interpreting.  She LOVES traveling, learning about other people, their languages and cultures and wants to help you enjoy the same. 

Charlene Grant

Charlene is a Spanish professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs.  She is fluent in Spanish, French and Portuguese and has taught all of those languages at the college level.  She also focuses on Spanish and Hispanic literature and culture; Francophone literature and Maghrebi women writers.  She is a frequent traveler and her positive energy is contagious.

Carmen Nieves

Carmen Nieves was born in New Jersey and spent her early childhood in the US, speaking both Spanish and English at home. She later moved to Puerto Rico for 16 years, where she got her BA in Education in Secondary Level Spanish at the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras and became a certified teacher. She is currently back in the US and working on her MA in Spanish Linguistics and a PhD in Latin American, Caribbean and US Latino Studies, with a focus on how Puerto Ricans build their identity based on the education they're exposed to as colonial subjects. She presented a paper at the Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference in October 2012 and is a published author (a book of poetry called “Despertar”). Her passion in life is teaching, and she loves to share her language and culture with her students!

Sara Zaidspiner-Leibo

Born and raised in Cuba, Sara immigrated to the United States where she learned English as a Second Language and gained a personal understanding of the difficulties involved in learning languages and navigating new cultures.  She studied education, linguistics, and second language acquisition at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.  Sara holds NYS permanent teaching certificates in Pre K – 6^th grade and K-12 Spanish. For many years, Sara coordinated a wide variety of professional development activities for educators in the Capital Region.  While part of her career was focused on teacher education and training, she has, over many years, taught nearly every grade level from first grade through adults in bilingual programs, ESL classes, pre-service teacher education, and Spanish.  She has travelled widely and attempted to learn several other languages.  Sara is immensely impressed by the commitment, interest, and hard work demonstrated by the students at CRLC.

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Capital Region Language Center is a full service language school offering Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian.  With locations in Ballston Spa and Albany.  We are convenient to Albany, Saratoga, Schenectady, Clifton Park, Troy, Wilton and surrounding areas.  We offer both adult and children's classes.  We offer group classes, private instruction and tutoring.