Course Listing - by Instructor

Maria Elena Bucelli was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but moved to Milan, Italy, at a young age, where she completed her education. Later in life, she moved to the United States and obtained a Master’s degree in Foreign language and literature and a TESL certificate. She taught at Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University, where she was the faculty director for the Study Abroad Programs in Spain, Italy and Latin America. She taught English to Italians, Italian to foreigners, and Spanish to Italians while she lived in Milan for fifteen years. Now a retired teacher of Spanish and Italian of Arlington County Public Schools, she has been teaching for the Community Learning Center for six years.

A native Arlingtonian, Richard has been performing professionally since the age of thirteen. With multiple shows under his belt, he started to privately teach guitar and bass to friends in his neighborhood. Since then, Richard has taught numerous classes, workshops and camps. Back in the fall of 2014, Richard was approached by the pre-production team of Andrew Lloyd Webber to help their lead Alex Brightman to play and sing guitar for the fall 2015 musical “School of Rock”. The musical opened to rave reviews, and Alex Brightman received a Tony nomination for best male performance. Richie has been teaching for over twenty years and loves to interact and have fun with his students; his bohemian approach to teaching guitar is both infectious and viral.

Carol Stevens has spent more than 30 years involved in all aspects writing and editing — both nonfiction and fiction works. She has worked as a reporter and editor for publications including USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, and Washingtonian magazine where she has written about subjects ranging from health care to presidential politics. She currently runs the communications division of a major trade association where she is involved in all phases of media relations from speech writing to media training. Carol graduated from Syracuse University with a major in communications and international relations.

Larissa Vassilkova was born and grew up in Kazakhstan, her family originated from the Central Russia region where they settled down almost two centuries ago. Her family immigrated to the USA in 2000, she has lived in Virginia since. Larissa continued to share her knowledge of Russian language and culture with the students of Arlington community. She is a graduate of The Kazakh State University and has more than 25 years of teaching experience. Larissa was an instructor in the Technology college and taught a variety of subjects for Food Processing, Bakery and Brewery specialists. Larissa is dedicated to prepare, motivate and encourage students by getting them ready to work. with full level of responsibility in the real life situations and the workplace. Her life experience in the different countries, her hobby to travel around the world, and love of teaching give her exceptional tools to help students to learn more languages and cultures. Larissa has a belief that one of the ways to learn more about the culture of people from different countries is to work or cook together and get knowledge about food, traditions and terminology.