Staff

About our Staff

Amanda Black is our Programmer Manager, teacher, translator, interpreter ...

You will most likely see or communicate with Amanda as your first CHICLE contact. She works at the front desk, juggling the myriad tasks she has taken on. Coming from a music and art background, Amanda is a language natural. She studied in Guanajuato, Mexico and Malaga, Spain. Since then she has picked up Portuguese. In addition, she grew up in Chapel Hill and knows half the population.

Nina Lorch works the evening shift.

If come by or contact us in the evening, you'll meet Nina, who recently retired after 21+ years as a Speech Pathologist at Wright School in Durham. Nina was one of our voracious students for years, studying Spanish, French, German, Greek, Italian ... She loves languages, is very subtly funny, and brings her calm to our somewhat chaotic evening hours. Nina also has a degree in linguistics and spent three years in francophone Africa with the Peace Corps.

Jane Stein is CHICLE’s Business Director and computer guru.

She has a doctorate in Public Health from UNC where she has taught research methods and seminars in international health. Jane has worked as a research consultant in Africa, Asia, Mexico, and Central America. She volunteers at Piedmont Health Services. In a previous life, she was a systems analyst and has a Masters Degree in Operations Research.

Sharon Mújica is our Marketing Director.

She grew up in Chapel Hill and lived in Mexico for 20 years where she taught English and translated for the Office of the President. Sharon also has a passion for Mexican art and Latin American literature and cinema. She created and organized the Latin American film festival held each November at local universities and was Outreach Director of Latin American Studies at UNC-CH for many years.

Perla Saitz is CHICLE’s Program Coordinator. 

Perla is from Mexico City where she taught both English and Spanish. She has taught at CHICLE since we opened in 1999 and, with Craig Snyder, developed our new curriculum. She hires and coordinates our teachers, which is, as they say, a little like herding cats. Perla also translates, manages translations, and develops our intensive and profession-specific materials. She is also a perfectionist.

Alicia Vila Tornero is our Children's Program Coordinator.

While we certainly hated to see Ashley Yoder leave for graduate school in New Mexico, we are very pleased to have Alicia now leading the program. Alicia Vila teaches both Spanish and French at CHICLE. A native of Barcelona, Spain, she has taught Spanish,French, and German in the Chapel Hill area since 1994. Her students have ranged from children as young as 2 to high school students and even teachers studying abroad. She has taught in France and Spain and holds a K-12 teaching license. Alicia takes her cues from the Montessori philosophy and enjoys teaching children through songs, stories, and poetry. She is raising two bilingual sons in addition to performing and teaching Flamenco with the group Flamenco Carolina.

Sue Mathias teaches ESL and occasionally Japanese.

She has been passionate about studying foreign language and language learning since her first study abroad experience (in Japan) as an undergraduate. She has since earned graduate degrees (M.A. TESL and M.Ed.) from Penn State University in Teaching ESL and Foreign Language Education. She loves her children dearly and cannot wait until they are old enough for full-day school, so she can return to being a student in the foreign language classroom more frequently! It turns out that in a previous life Sue was an auditor, so she has been drafted to help us with our accounting.

Pilar Lotero Peters comes from Bogotá, Colombia where she worked for Berlitz teaching Spanish and English for 14 years.

She is CHICLE’s most experienced teacher and a strict taskmaster whose students always request that she continue to be their teacher. Pilar has worked at CHICLE since 2000. She is our resident artist and her art is on display in our offices.

 

Becky Cabrera is also a very experienced Spanish teacher

She is Costa Rican and taught for many years at the Instituto Latinoamericano de Idiomas in Costa Rica. She's wonderfully organized, prepares great materials for her classes, and works well with all levels and types of Spanish learners. Becky runs and runs and runs.

Heather Thomas teaches English and Japanese

Heather is one of our amazingly versatile teachers. Originally from Ohio, she has lived in Australia and Japan. At CHICLE she teaches children, adults, and families, juggling languages and hours. Heather loves teaching and has taught since 2007. She also loves to travel. Besides us, her favorite thing in NC is the food.

 

Javier Cid has been with CHICLE for a long time.

He is a very experienced teacher who is also originally from Mexico City. He teaches in Raleigh, is in a graduate program at NC State, and has two very active bilingual children. Javier's wife, Lisa, teaches at NC Central.

Ricardo Huaman is from Los Angeles, California and teaches both Spanish and English at CHICLE.

He is currently in his final year of the PhD program in Romance Languages and Literatures at UNC Chapel Hill where he is specializing in medieval and Golden Age Spanish literature. Ricardo received his master’s degree in Spanish at Duke University. When asked which team he roots for when Duke and UNC play, he answers “UCLA,” his alma mater, where he majored in Spanish, Italian and French..

Bernard Luscans teaches some of our French classes.

He is a native of Toulouse. Bernard finished his doctoral studies in UNC’s Romance Languages department, focusing on 21st century French novels. He now teaches at St. Augustine's University in Raleigh. He has coordinated our French program since its inception and developed courses in history, film, and current events. He has a group of very loyal students.

Sophie Monnet is another of our expert and experienced French teachers.

She and her husband Pierre both teach French for us. Sophie teaches all levels and is beloved by her students. She and Pierre are just a wee bit busy raising four active children. Pierre is also a soccer coach and amazing bread baker.

 

Barbara Roeder is a native of Bavaria, Germany.

She received her B.A. in Language Education from Julius-Maximilian-Universitaet Wuerzburg. Barb came to North Carolina in 1987 with a scholarship to Davidson College, and also has a M.A. from Appalachian State University. She has lived and taught in this area for more than 20 years. She really enjoys showing her students that German grammar is not as bad as its reputation!

Vaneep Sandhu teaches English and Hindi.

She is from Punjab, India. She teaches at CHICLE and at Durham Tech and is a graduate student in Intercultural Relations. She is also a multicultural trainer. She is a busy person. Vaneep has lived in North Carolina since 1989 and taught at CHICLE since 2002.

 

Christine Wai is our one and only Karen teacher, whom we are very lucky to have found.

Christine came to the area when she was nine years old with her parents, coming from a Thai refugee camp. Christine graduated from UNC-CH with a degree in biology and works in a UNC medical lab when she's not teaching for us. She also does a lot of work with the local Karen and Burmese community.