Meet our "Founding Mothers"
Gigi Swenson, co-owner and manager of Music Lingua, is the mother of 2 children and is herself the product of a German-born mother and German-speaking father. From infancy Gigi was exposed to German language, music and traditions. This early influence inspired a lifelong interest in foreign languages and cultures. She holds a degree in modern languages including French, German, and Spanish. She has traveled extensively abroad, with time spent studying in France and Mexico, and is a longtime member of the Alliance Française de Bozeman. Watching the ease with which her own children pick up a second language has reinforced in her the importance of starting young. Gigi is excited to share the same songs, stories and languages that sparked her interest in other cultures with other families. In addition to growing Music Lingua to the rest of Montana and other states, Gigi continues to teach French and German Music Lingua classes in Bozeman.
 
Ellen Guettler, co-owner of Music Lingua, is a twin and the youngest of eleven children. She was raised in a very Irish home full of music and storytelling, and has two young sons.  She taught elementary bilingual education for ten years.  Her passion for the Spanish language, background in Orff-Schulwerk music instruction and travel in Latin American countries are complementary experiences that she brings to Music Lingua.  Ellen holds a Montana K-8 teaching credential with a Spanish endorsement and is a published author of the Spanish phonics program, Letralandia which is used in Spanish magnet and immersion schools in the U.S. and abroad.  As a product of early foreign language instruction herself, Ellen was greatly influenced by her early exposure and positive experiences acquiring the Spanish languange.
 
Michele West, Spanish teacher, studied Spanish through traveling and living in Spanish speaking countries as well as through formal studies of the language.  Her first degree in Educational Psychology allowed her to study the language acquisition abilities of children.  After graduating she settled in Montana and furthered her experience of working with children and adolescents in various youth-at-risk counseling programs ranging from the group home setting to the remote backcountry as a wilderness counselor.  She returned to academia at Montana State University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education, K-12 Spanish with a minor in Teaching Reading K-12.  She chose to complete her student teaching in Mexico at the American School of Puerto Vallarta where she lived for five months.  Michele taught Spanish at Hawthorne Elementary School, and has taught Spanish Music Lingua classes for 2 years.