Staff
Elvia Taylor, Executive Director
Elvia Taylor was born in Mexico and spent her youth living in San Luis Potosi and the United States. Mrs. Taylor studied at and subsequently graduated from the Instituto Hispano Ingles in 1987. Following graduation Elvia worked as a Bilingual Executive assistant for several CEO’s and VP’s of major Fortune 500 Companies throughout Mexico. After years of working as a Bilingual and Relocation specialist in Mexico, Mrs. Taylor moved to Houston where she continued her career as a Bilingual Assistant and Relocation expert.
Crossing Borders started out as a small, side project with Elvia giving classes out of her dining room. In the last decade Crossing Borders has expanded to included classes and programs for children, adults, corporations and schools. CB now offers classes in over 10 different languages throughout the Houston area with a total of 5 satellite locations in Houston and one in San Antonio, TX. With the partnership of Crossing Borders and River Oaks Academy, Elvia is now on her way to achieving her goal of bringing authentic and dynamic bilingual education to the area. It is Elvia’s passion for language, culture and people that have brought her this far and will continue to inspire her in the future.
Angelica Campos, Office Manager in Houston, Materials & Spanish
Angelica manages the day-to-day operations for Crossing Borders, ensuring that all the details are taken care of. She also writes and produces all Crossing Borders materials.
Angelica Campos is a native Spanish speaker who brings 5 years of teaching experience to our organization. A graduate from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, her area of expertise is in field of Spanish Grammar. She enjoys sharing what she knows and seeing each student reach the next level.
Having also learned a second language, she has a clearer understanding of where the student is coming from. To her potential students she leaves these encouraging words:” Do not be afraid to make mistakes, keep trying until you get it right”.
Marcia J. DeVost, Project Manager for Kids Programs and Bilingual (English/Spanish) Teacher
Marcia J. DeVost was born in Honduras, Central America. In May of 1983, she traveled to the United States of America at the age of 6 years old along with her family. She has lived in Conroe for the last 27 years. She has a 12 year old daughter in the 6th grade. She is a Texas Certified Bilingual Teacher, Early Childhood-4th grade. Marcia enjoys teaching, especially early childhood. She has worked in the public school system as well as a preschool center along with serving in at a local church in the children’s ministry. She is passionate about bilingual education. She believes that bilingual education is about teaching a student in being bilingual as well as being literate in both languages in their academic years. She states that children are the future of tomorrow and what better way to promote confidence that breaks down barriers in a multilingual and multicultural society.
Claire Nussbaum, Office Manager in San Antonio, English, Arabic and French Teacher
Claire Nussbaum graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007, having studied both advanced Arabic and French. She has extensive experience in speaking multiple languages, as she has lived, studied and worked in Europe and the Middle East. She was an assistant violin teacher when she was in just 6th grade and continues her passion of teaching through French, Arabic, and ESL. Her many years of teaching experience includes working with children and adults to overcome learning difficulties and help achieve their individual goals. She believes that “whether you are child learning a language in a new country or an adult learning a language to further career goals, language is the key to new possibilities.”
Maria “Macky” Rodriguez, Spanish Teacher - The Woodlands Immersion Program & adults
Maria Carolina Rodriguez affectionately known “Macky” brings more than 20 years teaching experience with her from Venezuela. With a degree from the Metropolitana University, she is experienced in dance, cooking, arts and crafts. As an experienced Pre-K teacher she can calm any child while also gearing them up to learn.
“It fills me with satisfaction when a parent tells me their child is learning a lot,” says the native Venezuelan, adding, “If I can learn English, anyone can learn Spanish!”
Sandra Ramis Recchini, Spanish Teacher
Sandra is a native Spanish speaker from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Formerly she has held numerous positions in accounting and marketing for Banco Nazionale des Lavoro and cost accounting for Fabril Financiera. While she holds a B.B.A. in Business from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in recent years she has focused her attention on education. She is a certified assistant teacher in Argentina, where she participated in many education seminars and conferences. She has 7 years of experience working with multinational companies in different sectors. Also, she has taught Spanish in many Pre-K programs in schools in the northwest Houston area.
Siranush Andreau, Spanish Teacher - West Chase Immersion Program
Siranush was born and raised in Mexico City where she attended the Universidad Del Valle de Mexico and got a Communication degree. While going to college, she stated working for the Secretaria de Seguridad Publica Federal (Federal Secretariat of Public Safety) in the communications department analyzing and filtering all the media releases related to the organization. After four years in the Secretaria and once I completed my studies in Mexico, I moved to Houston in 2007.
Once in Houston, Siranush completed an intensive English program (ESL) with Houston Community College and immediately started working towards an Early Childhood Education degree. Siranush loves working with children! “It’s one of the most rewarding and beautiful experiences in the world.”
AnaElisa DiCesare, Spanish Teacher - Rice Village Immersion Program
AnaElisa was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, where she studied at one of Latin America’s finest universities. In 1994, she traveled to the United States, where she met her husband who she has two beautiful children, Adrian and Elisa, with. AnaElisa has a passion for working with children, so much so that she volunteers at her church’s children’s ministry. This passion led AnaElisa to open and run a home-base childcare service; Growing Up. Growing Up was a registered and licensed childcare service that operated from 2006 to 2007. I enjoy working with children for two good reasons, "Their hearts are pure and their minds are open," with those two things the sky is the limit.
Crossing Borders Instructors
Crossing Borders contracts with several other experienced language professionals. All CB instructors are college educated and many hold Master's degrees. Crossing Borders makes every attempt to hire native speakers for all language classes whenever possible. Teachers are evaluated in all areas of language, classroom experience and personality. CB prides ourselves on being able to offer our students the best language education available, delivered by quality and personable teachers.
