Debbie Jo was born in Charlottesville and is the 4th generation of her family to make Albemarle County home. She graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986 and has worked on her M.Ed. at Mary Baldwin College. She has been teaching children for more than 25 years. Her mother is from Managua, Nicaragua in Central America. Debbie Jo feels fortunate to have had Spanish as her first language while living in Nicaragua as a little child. Her (abuela) grandmother also lived with her family for many years in Charlottesville and rarely spoke English. This foundation of growing up with the language, songs, food, customs and culture enabled her to excel in her formal study of Spanish in middle school, high school and college. Traveling to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico and Spain strengthened her love for the people of these cultures and their language.
Debbie Jo taught Spanish in the Albemarle County School system to elementary age school children for several years before deciding to home school her own 3 children, twins aged 13 and an 11 year old. While home schooling the past 7 years, she has taught Spanish to other home school children in their homes and at the ACTS co-op. She has also tutored English as a second language (ESL) to Spanish speaking children at Greer elementary which she found very rewarding.
Debbie Jo McGowan
