Online Spanish

About the Instructor

Elissa McLean
Founder, Director, and Spanish Instructor

Elissa holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and is a licensed Pre-K–12 Spanish teacher in the state of Vermont.

She began teaching Spanish in 1998 and has since worked with students ranging in age from 3 to 78. Her travels throughout Latin America inspired her both to learn and to teach Spanish. Prior to founding Express Fluency (formerly Escuelita Spanish School) in 2009, she served as curriculum director on the founding teams of two innovative high schools (The Shackleton School and Watershed School) where she developed Spanish immersion and travel programs for students. She led high school students on expeditions to study border issues in the United States and Mexico for six years and currently leads Express Fluency’s travel programs in Central and South America. She has taught students in grades pre K-12 in public and independent schools. In 2013 she lived in Costa Rica, teaching Spanish in a high school semester program.

Elissa is trained in Comprehensible Input (CI) methods including Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling® (TPRS®).

She brings to Express Fluency her passion for travel and cultural exchange as well as her firm belief that anyone can acquire another language—even those who have given up.

Becca Rice
Spanish Instructor

Becca has been teaching middle and high school Spanish since 2009. She studied Spanish Language and Literature with a concentration in Education at Guilford College in North Carolina. During this time Becca lived and studied in Guadalajara, Mexico and worked with a local grassroots organization, teaching and surveying in small, urban communities outside of Guadalajara. Becca has traveled and studied in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico. She employs a variety of teaching techniques and strategies. Her classes are playful and are sure to get you thinking in Spanish. In her free time Becca and her husband Chris raise their two young boys, Jeremiah and Louis (in Spanish of course!) She also loves to rock climb, grow delicious food, practice yoga, and spin.