PELP About Us

While serving in the Peace Corps in Panama, Lauren became fluent in Spanish and also learned to sew. Nowadays she divides her time between teaching Spanish and working on her handmade clothing line, indigofeet. She can also be found writing songs on her guitar, editing issues of her zine, churning up batches of homemade ice cream, and riding a bike with rainbow streamers. Her creativity and patience give her a natural rapport with children, and her intuitive teaching style has made her a favorite with students of all ages.

Nina holds a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies and joins PELP with a sincere passion for empowering children. Her experience working with children who have special needs, as well as typically developing children, has given her an appreciation for the learning styles, modes of expression, and methods of cognitive processing of children as unique individuals. With a love for culture and learning, she has traveled and volunteered in Mexico and Tanzania. She has recently spent over a year in Central and South America, with concentrated time spent at an orphanage in Bolivia. She is thrilled to be sharing her passion for the Spanish language while empowering children in her community!

Portland Early Learning Project is the product of a shared love of enriching the lives of young children.

We accomplish this by providing high quality, engaging and empowering classes to children, their parents and their teachers.

Currently, we offer Sign Language in Play and Spanish Language in Play classes and worshops.

Stay tuned and check back often to keep abreast of all that PELP has to offer!

Jessica Swartz Amezcua

SLiP instructor

Kara first began working with children as a preschool teacher in Madison, WI using the Reggio Emilia teaching philosophy. Later, she obtained a Masters degree in Speech-Language Pathology and currently holds her national Certificate of Clinical Competency with the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). She has worked with young children with & without developmental delays in private clinics, county-run programs, public schools, and preschools. A love for languages and travel has lead Kara to live and teach abroad in Bolivia, Argentina, and Italy. Eventually, her need to feel more joy, flexibility, and intrinsic reward from her work led her to co-found PELP. In her free time, she likes to dance salsa, hang out with her family, and get educated on political and environmental issues. She lives in NE Portland with her amazing husband, Dominick.

Christina has been working with children for as long as she can remember. She began teaching in a preschool in Brookfield, WI over twelve years ago. It was then that she realized just how much she loved working with families to support parent/child relationships. Christina has her Masters of Science degree in Speech Language Pathology and holds a national Certificate of Clinical Competency from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. She has taught families and children ages birth through thirteen in county programs, preschools, private and public schools. Christina's experience includes teaching children who have special needs as well as typically developing children. Her extensive training and experience have given her a strong understanding of language acquisition, the developmental stages of infants, and how to be a passionate and effective teacher. In her free time, Christina enjoys traveling, reading and hanging out with her family. Christina lives in SW Portland with her husband Steve, their feisty dog Parker, and will be welcoming a baby boy to her family this December!

Jessica is thrilled to be part of the stellar PELP team! She feels that with PELP she has finally found her niche as it provides the perfect venue for her two passions: early childhood education and Spanish. Throughout her life Jessica has been drawn to teaching; whether as a Teacher’s Assistant in Spanish at Earlham College, as a substitute, or as a volunteer in her children’s classrooms. Jessica has studied abroad and worked in Mexico as a lab technician - a great personal success, as she was eager to create a life abroad, working and speaking Spanish, immersed in her community. Since returning to the US, Jessica has earned her M.A. in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University; worked at a binational, non-profit, environmental organization; and worked as an elementary substitute teacher in bilingual and immersion classrooms. Jessica’s other “claim to fame” is that she is a member of the OR State Racquetball team for women’s doubles! She is married to her husband, Luis, and has three wonderful children: Raquel, Daniel, and Amanda.

"It is so fulfilling to see the youngest of children empowered by the ability to communicate and to witness the deep bond between parent and child that occurs as a result. Collaborating with Kara to create PELP and working with such incredible families is so gratifying!"

"Forming PELP alongside Christina is one of the most personally and professionaly rewarding endeavors I've pursued. I feel fortunate to have my passion and work be one in the same... always enjoying the unique giggles, eager voices, and individual personalities of each child to the fullest!"

Karina Guasso

SLiP instructor

Karina comes to us from Reynosa, Tamaulipas in Mexico. She obtained a B.S. in Architecture in Monterrey and enjoyed working in that field for many years. Her love for teaching, however, was revealed soon after moving to Oregon when she enrolled her Spanish-speaking son, Adrian, in an English-speaking kindergarten. Karina avidly tutored him at home in both languages and uncovered a real passion for creating lessons and seeing her son learn and progress. He finished his kindergarten year with flying colors, in terms of academics and English language skills. She realized she had caught the teaching bug and began teaching Spanish to small groups of neighborhood children, which eventually led her to Portland Early Learning Project. Karina has a patient, loving, and energetic spirit that makes her a wonderful teacher. She lives in West Linn with her children, Adrian and Melissa, and her husband, Miguel.

Lani first came to Oregon from Albuquerque, New Mexico to attend Lewis & Clark College where she majored in English and Hispanic Studies. While in college, she spent a year abroad in the Dominican Republic and Chile, both of which she absolutely adored living in. After graduating, she worked for a number of years with homeless and adjudicated youth with Boys and Girls Aid, but has been working with children of all ages for over 13 years. She has since earned her Master of Arts in Teaching in both Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Lewis & Clark Graduate School. She is incredibly excited about working in the two areas in which she is most passionate: education and speaking Spanish. Lani also teaches at the Maria's Place Montessori School in a primary classroom. In her spare time, she loves to read, knit, and most of all, play with her Australian Shepherd, Lilo.

Lani Ersfeld

SLiP instructor

Kim is a Midwestern transplant who has lived in Portland for over sixteen years. She graduated from PSU with a BA in Spanish and a Master's in Education, and her life is dedicated to both working with children as well as promoting foreign exchange. In between teaching and supervising her “extended family” (high school students from over forty different countries), she personally enjoys camping, hiking, reading, and laughing. With four children of her own, from ages two to fifteen years old, Kim has learned the fine art of being flexible as well as having a good sense of humor. A lifelong educator, she strongly believes in hands-on learning, emergent curriculum, and spontaneous celebrations.

Kim Neil

SLiP instructor

One of Shannon’s greatest joys is watching the parent-infant bond strengthen through signing. She loves sharing this with families through PELP! Shannon has shared her love of American Sign Language (ASL) with many different families as a teacher of Deaf and hard of hearing kids for over ten years. Though Shannon has worked with children ages birth to twenty one, she has most recently been an Early Intervention Specialist, where she had the privilege of working directly with parents and kids, aged birth to three. Shannon has her Masters degree in Education with a endorsements in Special Education: Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Early Childhood Special Education. As a new mom, she is excited to spend as much time with her baby girl as possible and still pursue her passions for early childhood education and ASL. When not teaching, Shannon enjoys spending time with friends and family, including her husband, Kevin, and their beautiful baby girl, Zella Rose. As a native of the Northwest, she loves the outdoors. You can find her on long walks around Portland, on the trails in Forest Park, or out in her garden growing food and digging in the dirt.