Celeste is originally from New York City. she brings academic expertise, solid training in computer applications and computer assisted language learning, foreign language instruction and methodology, and real life experience to her language teaching. She recently taught Spanish in the classroom at Temple University and University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and online at Georgian Court University. Previously, she was Adjunct Assistant Professor at Pace University in New York City, and was Visiting Lecturer in Romance Languages at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Ms. Mann taught Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilian Culture full-time at Dickinson College (in Carlisle, PA) and began her university teaching career as a Teaching Assistant in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Iowa, (Iowa City), where she was trained in the Natural Approach, the method used with Dos Mundos. She earned a B.A. in Spanish with Distinction from Yale University, an MA from the University of Iowa, and completed all courses and comprehensive exams for the doctorate at the University of Iowa. She also teaches private Spanish (conversation, Business and Medical Spanish) and Portuguese lessons to adults. She has studied and lived in Guadalajara, Mexico, Salamanca, Spain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic and also in Spoleto, Assisi and Siena, Italy. She also taught K-8 for 3 years in Computer Education, so she also has experience with children.
Her presentations and publications attest to her knowledge of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian literature; her study and living abroad to her awareness and curiosity about other peoples. M values not only the intellectual aspects of Hispanic cultures, but also the day to day issues people face and the art of the Spanish-speaking world. She uses Spanish regularly as a voice teacher, professional singer (in choirs and as a opera/classical soloist). She has performed in zarzuelas (Spanish operettas) and appears in several DVDs and videos of this genre, and has collaborated with acclaimed conductors, singers, and directors from Spain and Latin America. She is a professional translator of Spanish and Portuguese into English, and is the founder and director of “Teatro hispano: Reading Plays in Spanish” based in Philadelphia. In her language teaching she hopes to inspire students to excel in their ability to speak, read, understand and write Spanish and Portuguese and to appreciate the beauty, enchantment and diversity of the many Latin American and Iberian nations.