Judson International School Welcomes New Teachers for the 2013-14 School Year

David Cronk – 2nd and 3rd grade teacher

Why teaching? After graduating from Westmont College, David worked at Focus on the Family for several years. In 1988 he felt led to do a short term, one year mission trip to China. He taught in a foreign languages college and loved it and the students. He felt then that God had given him a gift for teaching. And apart from graduate school and sometime in the states after getting married, David has basically been a teacher in China, teaching at colleges and universities. His most recently assignment was at an International Christian school in Kunming, Yunnan Province, where he taught 4th grade. David teaches a combo class of 2nd and 3rd graders at Judson International School.

Educational background: Westmont College, BA English, magna cum laude; CSULA, MA in TESOL, “with distinction”; Fuller Seminary, MA Intercultural Studies, summa cum laude. Northeast Normal University, 2 year Mandarin certificate.

Melissa Stanley – High School ESL teacher

Melissa Stanley graduated from UC San Diego with majors in anthropology and music. She has had an interest in education ever since she started teaching private music lessons in high school, but her experiences in Japan were what inspired her to enter the classroom. While studying abroad in Tokyo and doing research for her honors thesis about Japanese teenagers and street fashion, Melissa applied and was accepted to the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. She was able to return to Japan after university to provide language instruction in public school classrooms. Her tenure abroad inspired Melissa to pursue a teaching credential and continue working in ESL education in California. The warm, welcoming community at Judson has made her first few weeks at the school a pleasure. Besides her interest in ESL, Melissa is a passionate musician and enjoys books and sewing. Melissa currently teaches High School ESL.

Judson International School, 1610 East Elizabeth St., Pasadena, (626) 398-2476 or visit www.judsonschool.org.