Esperanza Education is a collaboration between language specialists who share a common educational vision that emphasizes language learning for intercultural communication and understanding. We believe that language learning is about much more than acquiring skills – it is about learning to understand other cultural perspectives and working together with others. We work together to develop resources for progressive language education and we work with our students to develop learning plans that best suit their needs. Through this approach, we have found that it is possible to teach and learn languages while fostering individual growth, cross-cultural cooperation, and social change.
Collaborators
Nicki Benson
Nicki Benson (MA) founded Esperanza Education as part of her vision to bring about social justice through language education. After 15 years of teaching, she now focusses on research and consulting to support language programs, including for Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation. View Profile
Mary Leighton
Mary Leighton (MEd, BEd) sees language learning as a way to develop personal, community, and global understanding. She directs the language exchange organization Language Partners BC, and is always working on her own language fluency and language learning and teaching techniques. View Profile
Kathryn Stewart
Kathryn Stewart (BEd, BA) is a certified English and Humanities teacher. She believes that learning a new language should be a positive and engaging journey, and has a diverse teaching background in Indonesia, Turkey, Australia and Canada. Kathryn is currently a middle school teacher in North Vancouver, BC. View Profile
Past Collaborators
We have had the joy and honour of working with a number of passionate and skilled language experts over the years, including Roma Ilynckyj, Martín Urrutia Varese, Heather Escobar, and Yane Brogiollo.