Kindergarten English Teacher ( MANDARIN  PROGRAM )

My name is Wendie Orrison. I love teaching Kindergarten and I love Broadway Elementary School! I look forward to teaching this year in the Mandarin Dual Immersion Program, and will serve as this year's Program Lead Teacher. By way of an introduction, I attended LAUSD schools myself from Kindergarten through High School. I graduated from Pepperdine University Malibu with degrees in French and Fine Arts. After graduation I worked as an advertising executive in Santiago, Chile, where I became fluent in Spanish, I returned to the US with my young family to work as an actress in film and television for over twenty years.

I decided to combine my travels, knowledge of languages, acting, and art into a teaching career.  I attended Pepperdine University Graduate School where I completed my Master Degree in Education. From that time I have enjoyed teaching, specializing in second language acquisition. I enjoy learning languages and have at different times studied French, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese. I think it might be time to learn Mandarin! I have two children and we love to travel together. In my free time I enjoy reading, doing pen and ink drawings, and en plein aire watercolor paintings.

I love teaching and appreciate the opportunity to work in this amazing Dual Language Program. Kindergarten is the introduction to a lifetime of learning and it is my privilege to teach this very important first year of school.