Alerces Bilingual Teachers
How Alerces Came to Be
Maru Aguirre & Bati McComas
The passion and will of Maru and Bati to change the landscape of Early childhood education in Saskatoon inspired the creation of Alerces Spanish Preschool & Kindergarten. Read more about their mission and vision here.
Bati McComas
I’m the Pedagogic and Educational Director of Alerces, I’m Argentinean-Canadian, living in Saskatchewan for many years, and loving the Prairies. My whole professional life has been focused on advocating for and inspiring children’s love for learning. It is a wondrous experience to imagine and develop, along with Maru, a dream space for children and families. For us there are no limits in what children want to learn, achieve and create.
I’m a teacher and Social Psychologist, I have more than thirty years of teaching experience in Preschool and Kindergarten, and facilitate workshops for teachers and educators. I believe in the beautiful benefits of yoga so as a certified Vinyasa Yoga for Youth instructor I offer a fun yoga experience to our students everyday. I love learning alongside children, and I express myself through art, knitting, and cooking. I enjoy the outdoors and traveling.
Maru Aguirre
I’m the Administrative Director and Human Resources Manager. I was born and raised in Colombia and became a Canadian citizen in 2009. I have been walking odd paths through my life from Forestry Engineering in my early twenties to Psychologist in my early thirties, working with teenagers for many years in my home country. I had the opportunity to land myself in early childhood education.
Holding Bati’s hand through continuous training in several aspects of Early Childhood Education has been very rewarding. Three years ago I took the Outdoor Education training from Forest School Canada and York Region Nature Collaborative. After bringing it to Alerces I have been enjoying the “Escuela del Bosque” everyday since, learning with the children, experiencing nature and being challenged by the weather.
I love spending time with children. I also enjoy reading, embroidering, crocheting and learning quilting.
Vanessa Galarza
I come from Ecuador. My education includes a bachelor degree of Child Psychology and Psychorehabilitation, and a postgraduate degree as M.D. in University Teaching and Educational Administration. I have been teaching for over twenty years. I have had the opportunity to work in different areas as a teacher and coordinator in preschool. I have found that teaching little children is marvellous and magical.
Adventure, exploration, discovery, and creativity are experiences that I always try to provide to my students; as well as the inspiration to learn with love in a wonderful place.
Daniella Garcia Lugo
Although I was born in Canada I spent most of my life in Venezuela. I earned a Bachelor of Education with a major in Early Childhood Education from the University of Los Andes. I have been a preschool teacher for almost 15 years. My professional experience includes the position of head teacher for nursery school children, preschool coordinator, and educational advisor for children living in refuge. I really enjoy working with children, so I feel privileged accompanying them on their educational journey and at the same time learning constantly from those little great masters.
Blanca Mirna Quintanilla
I was born in El Salvador, Central America and graduated from high school in 1986. I received a diploma in physics and math at the National Institute Francisco Morazan as well as computer science at Jose Matias Delgado University. In 1992 I moved to Canada with my husband and completed my studies in Early Childhood Education. I spent the majority of my teaching career teaching Spanish at Mount Royal Collegiate for 14 years through the multilingual programs.
In 1998 I graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree focused on the methods of teaching heritage languages.
I am the proud mother of two adult daughters and a school aged son.
Daniela Trujillo
I'm Daniela Trujillo. I was raised in Colombia and have been in Canada for 3 years.
Anabel Lopez Gomez
I'm Anabel Lopez Gomez and I'm from Ensenada B.C.N., Mexico. I have a Masters Degree in Education. I'm very passionate about education and working with little ones, helping them to flourish and enjoy learning through experiences.
I have been in Saskatoon for 4 years. I'm married and I have 2 children.
I'm very approachable and love to develop good communication with children and their families.
