INTERLINK teachers are selected for their knowledge and competence in the field of ESL, their extensive cross-cultural experience, and their unqualified commitment to their students. They use a variety of methods and approaches to mold their classes in accordance with their personal pedagogical outlooks, the needs of the particular individuals in the class, and the fundamental principles and goals of INTERLINK.
Valley Peters, Program Director
Growing up in rural Nebraska and Montana, Valley Peters acquired wanderlust at a young age as she dreamt of far-flung places. A study abroad program in college to New Zealand ignited her plan to pursue a lifetime of traveling and learning about other cultures. A stint as an Americorps volunteer ESL instructor opened the door for combining travel and culture with her love for learning. Outside the classroom, you’ll find her dabbling in artistic pursuits, hiking, hanging out with her daughter, and listening to Tedtalks.Valley has taught in Japan, Mexico, and in the United States in a variety of settings. Her love for the outdoors led her to Jackson, Wyoming where she spent 10 years at a non-profit developing literacy programming for adults, training ESL tutors and teachers, and eventually acting as the executive director. Her professional interests include learning-to-learn strategies, reading development, reflective practice, learner efficacy, and intercultural competence. She has presented at conferences in Japan, Wyoming, and Washington on “constructive chaos” in the classroom, group discussion skills, reflective practice, participatory pedagogy, training ESL tutors, and advanced reading strategies.
Ana Valdivia, Admissions Director
Ana Valdivia is originally from Lima, Peru. She graduated with a degree in architecture before moving to Bozeman, Montana where she has lived for over 15 years. She is now used to the long and cold winters. Her interest in learning about different cultures began in 2000 when she began working on the Montana State University campus. Being herself a non-native English speaker, she felt she had found the perfect place to help foreign students in Bozeman. Over the years, Ana has taken different roles and assumed increasing responsibilities. As admissions director, she now oversees the student application process and provides academic advising, ensuring the INTERLINK student experience is smooth and fruitful from the point of application, through graduation, and into their academic and professional transitions. Ana enjoys meeting and assisting students from different countries and backgrounds, and seeing them succeed at INTERLINK.
Chloe Lance, Student Services Coordinator
Chloe graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2020 with a BA in Sociology. During her time at UNCG, she was able to work as a Peer Academic Leader helping first year students transition to college life, which sparked her interest to work in higher education. After an amazing study abroad experience in Sweden, she discovered the opportunity to mix her passion for education with her love of travel. After graduating, she began volunteering with UNCG’s International Programs Center and in October of 2021, Chloe began working as the Student Services Coordinator for INTERLINK’s UNCG office. She values INTERLINK’s dedication to experiential learning and the chance to be a part of an international community. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, going to the movies, thrifting, and spending time with her family.
Tim Healy, Instructor
Tim Healy has been active in the field of ESL for fifteen years as a teacher and administrator. He holds an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Seattle Pacific University and a BA in Russian from the University of Montana. As a college student, he studied in the U.S.S.R. and subsequently lived in Russia. Tim has published and presented on the topic of authenticity in the language classroom and presented on authoring websites to promote writing skills and using wikis in teacher training. His interests include action research, curriculum development and teacher training. He enjoys working with INTERLINK and SPU staff to assist students in optimizing their opportunities for learning in the multi-cultural environment of Seattle.
Nadya Modyanova, Instructor
After years of living, studying, and working in different places (Russia, Switzerland, France, UK, Portugal, and the United States), Nadya Modyanova discovered the last best place of Bozeman, MT. Here, she has been teaching English as a Second Language at INTERLINK, helping international undergraduate and graduate students succeed in learning and applying different aspects of English language to their studies, work, and life. Nadya has a TESOL Certificate from Lingua Edge. Previously, Nadya completed a B.A. (First Class Honours) in Linguistics with Cognitive Science at the University College London, and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she carried out research on and taught about normal and abnormal child language acquisition and its genetics. While Nadya still wishes to get back to doing research on language development sometime, she hopes to continue teaching for now!
Kathryn Clark, Instructor
Kathryn has been an Online Instructor at INTERLINK since 2021. Her love of language and cross-cultural exchange began with a gap year in France between high school and college. She has a BA in History and received a grant to conduct interviews with women who had grown up in former East Germany for her thesis. She earned her TEFL in 2013 from the WorldTeach program in Ecuador and began teaching in an English language school in downtown Seattle in 2014. She started her MA in TESOL in 2019 at the SIT Graduate Institute and experienced the shift to fully online instruction both as a student and as an instructor. She enjoys sharing the INTERLINK experience with students, particularly its focus on reflection and growing self awareness. Her academic interests include multilingual assessment and plurilingual pedagogy. Her personal interests include reading and listening to stories, playing ultimate frisbee, and taking community language classes. She’s studied French, German, and Spanish more extensively, and received introductions to Swedish, Thai, and Mandarin Chinese.