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200 W. Mercer Street
Suite 108
Seattle, WA 98119
ph: (206) 217-9644
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| WORLD LANGUAGE PROGRAMS STAFF |
David Woodward
World Language Programs Administrator
Marita Paly
Coordinator for Greater Tacoma Area
Elke S. Armajo
Coordinator for Olympia
MaryKay Speight
Coordinator for King County
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David Woodward
World Language Programs Administrator
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Woodward was born in Teheran, Iran, and spent his early youth in Southern Iran. He received a National Resource Fellowship in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization while at the University of Washington, and taught English as a foreign language at Kuwait University (1982-83). He has led in the establishment of a master's degree program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, has taught a 5-credit course on Modern Middle East History, and has presented extensively in forums and conferences on Middle East issues, Islam, cross-cultural communication, language education, and international program administration. Woodward holds four degrees from the University of Washington including a Master of Education in Higher Education with a specialization in Teaching English as a Second Language, a Master of Arts in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, and a Bachelor of Arts in History.
Woodward is fluent in Arabic, Persian, and French and has studied Hebrew and Greek. He is a member of the EIKEN Professional Advisory Council of Japan, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce-appointed District Export Council for Washington State, the Seattle Rotary Club, the Advisory Board of the Trade Development Alliance of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Global Business Advisory Board of Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics, is a Co-Chair for Study Washington, a Co-Chair for the Middle East Interest Group of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and a member of the Taproot Theatre Advisory Board.
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Marita Paly
Coordinator for Greater Tacoma Area
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Marita Paly is the Coordinator for WLP in the greater Tacoma area for Associates in Cultural Exchange (A.C.E). Mrs. Paly studied Education at the Universidad Femenina Sagrado Corazon in Lima, Peru. She also studied Tourism Education at the Schiphol Institute through the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and Rotterdam University in the Netherlands. She began working at A.C.E - WLP in 1994 as a Spanish teacher and then assumed the role of Regional Coordinator in 1999.
Mrs. Paly has been active in many non-profit organizations. She worked to help homeless children and orphans to find a home at the Asociación Enmanuel and Orfanato de Jesus María (Jesus and Mary Orphanage). She taught adults to read and write in Spanish and helped teenagers finish high school at the Centro Latino. She has also helped promote awareness of the Little Sisters Fund, which helps young Nepalese girls stay in school and avoid being susceptible to child labor, child marriage, and/or child trafficking.
She received the National Institute or Tourism Scholarship in Lima, Peru for hotel management, business administration, public relations, geography, history, and the construction of mileages. While in Lima, she also received the Aerotrafico Scholarship for graduate course work in mileage. For excellence in Spanish literature and culture she received a scholarship from the University of Salamanca in Spain. Air France awarded her with the Prive Scholarship for master in mileage and geography in Nice, France. She was also awarded the Raimondi Scholarship by Alitalia for educational tours in Rome, Italy.
Mrs. Paly was born and raised in Peru. She is third generation Japanese and speaks Spanish, English, Italian and 19th Century Japanese.
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Elke S. Armajo
Coordinator for Olympia
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Elke S. Armajo has been the Olympia Area Coordinator for the A.C.E. World Language Program since August 2009. Prior to this, she served as a German language class teacher for A.C.E. in the Mountain View Elementary school.
Elke was born in the southern state of Bavaria, Germany; home of the fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle and Bavarian Alps. Her husband, Darwin, is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of southeastern Idaho, with whom she has 6 children with, four of which currently attend North Thurston Public Schools.
Her love of children has always directed her path in life throughout the years. While stationed with her husband and family overseas, she volunteered in both American and local community German schools in promoting cultural awareness, languages, presentations, and helping in whatever capacity was needed. Elke and her family travelled extensively throughout Europe while trying to instill a sense of awareness and appreciation for cultural and social diversity in other countries.
Although enjoying her work as a certified Dental Assistant of 13 years, she followed her passion towards child development after the birth of her children by becoming a certified Family Child Care Provider; and further serving military service-families and their communities.
After relocating to Washington in 2003 with her family, she continued her volunteer services in her children's classrooms as well as volunteering in other capacities throughout the North Thurston Public School District.
Most notably, Elke has served as an Executive Member of the North Thurston Public Schools Native Student Program (Title VII) Parent Advisor Committee for the past 3 years.
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MaryKay Speight
Coordinator for King County
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MaryKay Speight is the Area Coordinator for WLP in the greater King County area. Ms. Speight has been teaching Spanish with A.C.E.'s World Language Programs since 2001. She graduated from Washington State University and is a certified, elementary teacher with a major endorsement in Bilingual/Bicultural Education and minor endorsements in Spanish, English as a Second Language and Anthropology. She has also traveled, lived and studied in Mexico, as well as, taught in a Bilingual Classroom. MaryKay has also taught and tutored Spanish to students pre-kindergarten through adults in both public and private school settings.
Ms. Speight has taken a great liking to the ancient Mexican cultures and all of its ruins. She has traveled to many sites in Mexico to climb pyramids, work on her travel study class work and absorb as much of these ancient cultures as she can. She enjoys sharing the findings from these experiences with her classes.
When Ms. Speight is not teaching Spanish, she is working at her home based business of dog training and doggie daycare. MaryKay has taught basic dog obedience classes, has several dogs of her own and also helps foster dogs in need. She has a special place in her heart for deaf dogs. Ms. Speight is also finishing up her studies in small animal massage therapy.
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