Raoul Cansino - Lower School German

MA German, UCLA; MFA Film, UCLA; Certificate in TESL, UCLA; studied German and Spanish, Georg-August Universität, Göttingen, Germany.

Raoul serves on the Collegium, the Community Service Committee, the Collegium Committee, and is on the Threefold Educational Foundation Board. He teaches German in grades 1-7 and is currently the Chair of the Lower School.

As Chair of the Community Service Committee, Raoul encourages the multitude of service initiatives undertaken by, students, parents and faculty at Green Meadow. He is the founder and president of Helping Hands, Inc., a not-for-profit agency that works with the homeless in Rockland County, providing them with shelter, food, and many other services. He also spearheads Green Meadow's Midnight Run chapter, which has collected and distributed clothing and food to street homeless in New York City for many years.

Raoul is the translator of The Light Course, a series of Rudolf Steiner's lectures on physics (Anthroposophic Press).

Barbara Lester - 8th Grade German and High School German

BS, Education, Rutgers University; MA, German Studies, New York University.

Barbara was born in Germany during World War II. After the war, she lived with her family in what was then East Germany, escaping to West Germany when she was 12 years old. She came to the United States when she was 19. 

For the past 20 years, Barbara has been teaching German at the German Language School Westwood, NJ, where she is currently the school’s principal.  She is also an Adjunct Professor of German at Bergen (NJ) Community College, where she has been teaching for over 15 years.

2010 marks Barbara’s fourth year of being on the Green Meadow faculty.  She loves to teach and believes that a language teacher’s most important mission is to instill in her students both a love of the language and an appreciation for the culture of the country they are studying about.  She hopes that the love of the German language will remain a part of her Green Meadow students when they graduate from the school.

Brigitte Marten - High School German 

1 and 2 Staatsexamen (first and second state examinations), Freie Universität, Berlin.

In 1984, Brigitte started teaching German as an assistant teacher in London during a gap year while still studying German and English at the Berlin University. Since 1989, she has taught German in such varied places as Berlin, London, and San Francisco and has tutored students in all levels of the language.

Brigitte is the parent of two teenagers. She joined the Green Meadow faculty in 2009 and embraces the creative, friendly, and rural atmosphere of this unique school.

Marie-Paule Mahoney - Lower School and High School French

Certificat D'études Littéraires, University of Haute-Bretagne, France; M.A.,University of  Wisconsin, Madison.

Marie-Paule teaches High School French 2, 3 and 4. She also offers an independent study course to twelfth graders who have demonstrated a high proficiency in the language.  She has been a member of the Green Meadow faculty since 1992.

Marie-Paule (Rocher) is the author of The French Connection (University Press of America, 1988) and co-author of En Français (The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003), a course-book with three audio CDs.

Ivette Lenard - Lower School Spanish

M.A. Brazilian and French Literature, NYU; K-12 NYS Certificate for French/Spanish, Marymount College.

Ivette has been a Green Meadow language teacher since 1994.  She serves on Green Meadow's Movement Committee, the Collegium, and the Care Group.

For the past 15 years, Ivette has been practicing Vipassana meditation and is involved with the Thich Nat Hahn practice. She also practices Chi Gong and Yoga.

Jennifer Brooks Quinn - High School Spanish

B.A. Behavioral Sciences, Marylhurst University; Waldorf Teacher Training, Emerson College, England; Biography  Training; Psychosynthesis Training.  

Jennifer serves on the Green Meadow Listening Committee and is the foreign exchange coordinator for Spanish language exchanges.

In addition to teaching Green Meadow Spanish classes, she is very involved in parent education lectures and workshops and biographical counseling, and is a consultant for homeschool education in the United States and Mexico.

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