History Goals & Methodology Board of Directors and Staff References

LESTA
365 NE Jackson St. Hillsboro, OR 97124

Phone: 503.617.6986

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Who We Are

History

LESTA, Learn English / Spanish Through the Arts, was created by Cyndi Turtledove in 2004, when she returned from 18 years of teaching ESL, Spanish and Theatre Arts in MEXICO (1986 – 2004). She began by integrating her university ESL Teacher Training students with her ESL Handicapped students in wheelchairs. Her student teachers at CAM (Centro de Actualizacion del Magisterio – Staff Development Center - under the Sinaloa Secretary of Public Education) produced 7 original ESL shows with these Handicapped students, receiving many wonderful articles in Mazatlan newspapers.

'ACTION GAMES… 101 Fun Ways to Learn English Grammar' - Cyndi’s action oriented Conversation ESL games book, was published in 1993 in Mexico D.F. by Editorial Delti, and has been used throughout Mexico by ESL teachers there, as well as in language programs to teach Spanish, French and German in D.F. ISBN#: 968-6820-14-0. Visit Website >>

Upon Cyndi’s return to Oregon in 2004, she founded the Bilingual Theatre Club in Cornelius, using students from Echo Shaw and Cornelius Elementary schools to perform in the free space donated to her by the Centro Cultural in Cornelius. In 2004-2005 she wrote and produced "A Cornelius Christmas Posada", and "Ardillas Mias – A Squirrel’s Tale", and LESTA continues to use these educational scripts. 2006 saw 3 Bilingual Musical Theatre courses developed at Barnes Elementary School in the Beaverton School District.

In 2006 – 2007 Cyndi began to base the LESTA Bilingual Musical Theatre program of classes at THPRD’s Cedar Hills Rec Center in Beaverton. Working with children ages 6-11 Cyndi wrote and produced "La Trompa del Elefante", "Hotel Buena Vista", "Los Cangrejos", "Los Gatos" and "Sponge Bob y Los Vaqueros en España" for their regular semester and summer camp courses. And each semester a new BMT course is offered to the public, with special scholarships for Latinos/Hispanics.

LESTA’s roots go back to Action Arts Foundation, a non-profit corporation in Portland during the 1980’s, where Cyndi as Artistic Director developed alcohol and drug abuse theatre projects, receiving funding from the Oregon Dept. of Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Rose Tucker Charitable Trust and the then Metropolitan Arts Commission, to produce Charles Deemer’s "The Genie in the Bottle" , a cultural history of alcohol use. Action Arts Foundation also created projects for The Chemical People and the Oregon Nurses Association unions. Other LESTA roots include Synthaxis Theatre Company (1972-1977) with its unique "Theatre Tools in the Schools" program in the Pasadena Unified School District.

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Goals & Methodology

LESTA works with 4 different types of Goals: Language, Artistic, Social and Community.

1. LANGUAGE GOALS
The 4 basic Language Skills in all languages are: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.

Two are Passive: Reading and Listening. Two are Active: Speaking and Writing. In her 18 years in Mexico, Cyndi discovered that students, of all ages, regardless of what language they were studying, had great difficulty with Speaking and Listening Comprehension. Even university graduates who had had 4 years of English language training were frequently frightened of speaking and/or had little or no experience with Speaking. Traditional methods of teaching a Language usually involve an extreme concentration on Reading and Grammar, a bit of Listening, but very little and very non-creative methods of Speaking and Conversation. The use of THEATRE – not just formal Theatre, but Theatre in all its forms – improvisation, games, writing, etc. tricks students into SPEAKING and they lose their FEAR of speaking while having fun.

Writing their own scenes, songs and raps helps students develop their creativity and relate better to the world around them, while learning the 2nd language. And the unusual use of both English and Spanish at the same time (frequently frowned upon) makes students of both cultures feel comfortable and as if they have something of their own culture to share. They see they are valuable and really needed to help others who are helping them at the same time.

2. ARTISTIC GOALS
Theatre, Music, Dance, Crafts and Games teach many disciplinary skills, following directions, spatial relationships, rhythms, musical skills, flexibility and strength, organization, memorization, concentration, focus, visual awareness, imagination development, many forms of creativity. The 7 Social Goals listed below also deal with specific Theatre Arts areas.

3. SOCIAL GOALS
The improvement of Self-Esteem, Enthusiasm, Team-work, Cooperation, learning to be both Leaders and Followers, helping others in new ways, seeing how older children can help younger ones, making new friends, developing TOLERANCE and enjoyment of others different from themselves. Organizing and management skills, Directing, Assistant Directing, Stage Managing, and Coordinating different areas: Props, Costumes, Sound Effects, Lights, Design, Sets, and Publicity.

4. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT GOALS
LESTA seeks to develop projects to help different kinds of community organizations and entities, including (but not limited to): Handicapped organizations, Hospitals, Mental and Physical Health programs, Crime Prevention and Law Enforcement / Police organizations, Drug and Alcohol Abuse programs, and Ecology / Environmental Improvement.

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Board of Directors & Staff

Cyndi Turtledove, Artistic Director

Cyndi holds a B.A. Bachelor of Arts and an M.F.A. Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from UCLA, with a specialization in Directing. She has more than 30 years experience training teachers, teaching, writing, performing and developing curriculum and programs in Theatre and Education. As a published author, she has traveled throughout Mexico using her book “Action Games …101 Fun Ways to Practice English Grammar”, to train university teachers to use the Arts in Education, and she is fluent in Spanish.

During her 18 years in Mexico, she taught ESL in rural schools, Spanish to Anglos and was Director of the Community Language Dept. at ITESM, Campus Queretaro and the Universidad Cuauhtemoc. In Mazatlan, she won awards for her Diploma Program in English at C.A.M. Centro de Actualización del Magisterio. Staff Development Center for State of Sinaloa Public Education Dept. She was Artistic Director of Action Arts Foundation in Oregon and Synthaxis Theatre Co. in Hollywood, California, and served as President of L.A.T.A. (Los Angeles Theatre Alliance) where she managed CETA grants connecting the Professional and Educational Theatre Communities. In Portland, before moving to Mexico, she taught Theatre at Jefferson High School of the Performing Arts, Mt. Hood Community College and Portland Public Schools.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board of Directors is made up of Volunteers with Community Leadership, Artistic Skills and dedication to LESTA’s Goals and Activities. The Board meets 4 times per year, on Sundays, in January, April, July and October.

Laura Remmen, President

Laura has a background in Management, Event Planning, Sales, Cost Control and team Leadership. She was President of the Garibaldi, Oregon, Parent Group where she wrote grant proposals and received funding for that non-profit organization and worked as a Special Education Assistant and Student Nutritional Guidelines Adviser. As Catering Manager for Haggen Foods, she planned entertaining parties and events for children as well as adults. Laura served as Councilwoman on the Bay City, Oregon, City Council, where she had a long history of community service.

Supriya Shanbhag Moffitt, Vice President
Supriya holds a B.S. Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Bombay, India, and an M.S. Master of Science in Computer Science from the Oregon Graduate Institute. She performs and teaches Indian Classical Music and is the owner of Abacus Business Solutions, which creates software products for small businesses. Supriya speaks several languages and understands the need for innovative, creative Language Teaching.

Gregg Wooden, Secretary/Treasurer

Gregg has long been involved in Education, the Arts, and non-profit organizations. As an actor/musician and technical director, Gregg worked with CETA grants in Los Angeles in the 1970’s using the arts to promote and teach subjects in LA area schools. He performed and provided technical direction for professional theatre companies in Hollywood, including touring shows throughout California and Europe. As a public high school teacher in Portland in the 1980’s, he taught students video production, technical theatre, and wrote grant proposals seeking additional funding for magnate arts high school programs. In the 1990’s he taught private classes to adults on advanced computer and network troubleshooting. Gregg is the owner of TechWise LLC, a computer/network consulting company, and enjoys playing guitar, juggling, and Bonsai in his spare time.

Jorge A. Aldaz, Spanish Translator. Board Member.
Jorge has over 10 years experience in management for large, multi-national corporations. Fluent in both English and Spanish, he is an executive at Pendleton Woolen Mills in Portland, Oregon. He has a B.S. Bachelor of Science in International Business from UNIVA, and a Master’s degree in Supply Chain Management from ITESM, Mexico. For many years he was an administrator and Supervisor of Delivery Logistics at Nike in Mexico, and later provided services as Materials Specialist to INTEL. He has been involved with LESTA since September 2007 when his wife and son both participated in Bilingual Musical Theatre with Cyndi.

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References

United States

Mexico

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