About Elena
Elena is a New Jersey native and a high school teacher of Spanish in her home state. She is dually certified to teach Spanish and English as a Second Language. Elena earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Spanish and Modern Greek Studies, as well as a Masters of Education Degree in Language Education from Rutgers University. She additionally completed her second Masters Degree in Teacher Leadership from Rowan University, with a concentration in English as a Second Language. Following this degree, she continued her coursework in leadership, specifically in the realm of curriculum development and supervision.
Growing up in a bilingual Greek household allowed Elena to see the value in language learning from a young age. Elena is passionate about lesson design, and her goal is to create culturally-focused lessons that incorporate technology effectively. She aims to promote the use of authentic resources in novice and intermediate courses. Elena is determined to open her students’ eyes to the power a new language holds. She is a frequent traveler and is eager to see the world and experience other cultures - this is what further fueled her desire to teach Spanish.
In addition to teaching, Elena also writes articles and blog posts on behalf of Edutopia, Wayside Publishing, and SmartBrief, focused on promoting high-quality world language instruction. To date, she has published six articles on Edutopia, all of which focus on student engagement, effective methodologies, and top technology tools in the world language classroom. Likewise, she has authored several posts for the Wayside Publishing Proficiency Talks Blog Series, in which she was also interviewed as a "Featured Teacher" and participated in a Facebook Live Q&A session focused on mindfulness exercises in the world language classroom. She was honored as the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey (FLENJ) Teacher of the Year in 2021, and represented the state of NJ at the 2022 NECTFL Conference.
Furthermore, Elena has served as a workshop and webinar presenter. In June 2020, she conducted a webinar on behalf of the New Jersey Department of Education, the New Jersey Seal of Biliteracy and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, titled: "Paving the Way for the Seal of Biliteracy: Teaching Culturally-Focused, Thematic Units." She presented another online workshop, "Mindfulness in the World Language Classroom," as part of the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey (FLENJ) Virtual Summer Refresher. Elena has served as a guest panelist on podcasts related to teaching world languages. Likewise, she was featured and quoted in two issues of Bergen Magazine. One article, "School's Out, Teaching's In," highlighted innovative virtual teaching practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, while another article, "Learning on Instagram," focused on creative ways to use Instagram as an educational resource.
Elena is a proud member of ACTFL and FLENJ. This year, she is serving as a voluntary mentor through ACTFL's mentoring program, and will be presenting an online workshop at the annual ACTFL convention. She enjoys exchanging ideas and collaborating with fellow language teachers across the world. Find her on Twitter @ElenaSpathis.
Below, view the slideshow of pictures Elena has taken from her travels throughout Spain and Mexico!
Growing up in a bilingual Greek household allowed Elena to see the value in language learning from a young age. Elena is passionate about lesson design, and her goal is to create culturally-focused lessons that incorporate technology effectively. She aims to promote the use of authentic resources in novice and intermediate courses. Elena is determined to open her students’ eyes to the power a new language holds. She is a frequent traveler and is eager to see the world and experience other cultures - this is what further fueled her desire to teach Spanish.
In addition to teaching, Elena also writes articles and blog posts on behalf of Edutopia, Wayside Publishing, and SmartBrief, focused on promoting high-quality world language instruction. To date, she has published six articles on Edutopia, all of which focus on student engagement, effective methodologies, and top technology tools in the world language classroom. Likewise, she has authored several posts for the Wayside Publishing Proficiency Talks Blog Series, in which she was also interviewed as a "Featured Teacher" and participated in a Facebook Live Q&A session focused on mindfulness exercises in the world language classroom. She was honored as the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey (FLENJ) Teacher of the Year in 2021, and represented the state of NJ at the 2022 NECTFL Conference.
Furthermore, Elena has served as a workshop and webinar presenter. In June 2020, she conducted a webinar on behalf of the New Jersey Department of Education, the New Jersey Seal of Biliteracy and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, titled: "Paving the Way for the Seal of Biliteracy: Teaching Culturally-Focused, Thematic Units." She presented another online workshop, "Mindfulness in the World Language Classroom," as part of the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey (FLENJ) Virtual Summer Refresher. Elena has served as a guest panelist on podcasts related to teaching world languages. Likewise, she was featured and quoted in two issues of Bergen Magazine. One article, "School's Out, Teaching's In," highlighted innovative virtual teaching practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, while another article, "Learning on Instagram," focused on creative ways to use Instagram as an educational resource.
Elena is a proud member of ACTFL and FLENJ. This year, she is serving as a voluntary mentor through ACTFL's mentoring program, and will be presenting an online workshop at the annual ACTFL convention. She enjoys exchanging ideas and collaborating with fellow language teachers across the world. Find her on Twitter @ElenaSpathis.
Below, view the slideshow of pictures Elena has taken from her travels throughout Spain and Mexico!