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About Us
At Sonrisas Spanish School our mission is to create high quality, standards-based Spanish curriculum materials that are effective for teachers and provide a positive foreign language learning experience for students. We believe that children learn Spanish most effectively with the fundamentals: a talented teacher, an effective, standards-based curriculum and (last but certainly not least), pure fun. We have been teaching Spanish to children for fourteen years, and we know what works in the classroom. We value the human communication that a teacher provides, and we believe that this type of learning is much more effective than media-based programs.
Sonrisas Spanish School was founded in 1996 by Blue Lindner after she became interested in combining her experience as a bilingual/ESL elementary teacher and her experience teaching at the Austin Waldorf School. Blue's husband Brooks, also a certified bilingual/ESL elementary teacher, soon joined her, and Sonrisas Spanish School grew rapidly from 12 students at one school to more than 100 students at multiple schools in the Austin area.
The curriculum that Blue and Brooks created and used in their elementary Spanish classes proved to be very successful. The combination of ESL techniques and Waldorf techniques addressed the specific ways that children learn Spanish. The results were phenomenal—not only were the students learning Spanish, but they loved Spanish class and looked forward to it.
Noting a lack of Spanish curriculum at the early childhood level, Blue and Brooks decided to publish their curriculum in order to share their success with other Spanish teachers. In 2002, they completed and published Sonrisas Spanish School: An Early Childhood Spanish Language Curriculum. Ten years later, their first book continues to sell steadily to teachers in all fifty states.
Energized by the success of their first curriculum, Blue and Brooks saw a need for a more substantial cultural component to the Sonrisas classroom. In 2009 they published Sonrisas Spanish School: An Elementary Cultural Curriculum.
Blue and Brooks Lindner live, teach and make music in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. They have two children, Pitcher and Elsa.
