Jodi Fisher

Although an almost native Idahoan from Moscow, Idaho, Jodi Marie Fisher considers herself a “born again Costa Rican.” She has traveled to Costa Rica several times over the course of the last four years. She lived in Costa Rica this last year teaching English and music (guitar, piano, and voice) as well as performing as a singer in various locations across the country. Jodi is excited to flip-flop her teaching from teaching English to Spanish speakers last year to teaching Spanish to English speakers this year at ArtsWest.

She is also excited about teaching private music lessons in the afterschool music program here at ArtsWest. She teaches piano, guitar, and voice lessons. She teaches beginning guitar and beginning piano (specializing in teaching children piano and teaching more advanced piano classes for children to adults that are based on music theory, chord charts, and scales.) She is also available to teach private music lessons in Spanish. Jodi is tri-lingual as she speaks the languages of English, Spanish, and music. Not only is Jodi fluent in Spanish, but also she is fluent in Costa Rican culture and was immersed into the music scene in Costa Rica while she was there. Jodi has experience in Mexico as well and has been studying Spanish for the past ten years.

You can watch a video of her former piano students, as well as future teaching videos at her teaching website: www.youtube.com/jodimarieprofe

Jodi is a unique Spanish teacher to have at ArtsWest because among receiving her Spanish degree at the University of Idaho and the University of Costa Rica, she also received her bachelor’s degree in Vocal Music Education. Jodi is a singer-songwriter and is passionate about music. She enjoys photography and video editing and has several of her video and music projects on her YouTube: www.youtube.com/jodimariemusic When Jodi isn’t speaking Spanish or playing guitar, piano, harmonica, or singing, she loves to make coffee and is a passionate barista. Jodi is known for her bubbly, enthusiastic, and uplifting nature. She plans to bring those aspects, along with her creativity and energy to the classroom this year. She wants to provide her Spanish students with a fun and interactive Spanish class with lots of activities and lots of speaking and conversation in the classroom itself. There is plenty of time outside of the class time to memorize vocabulary, make flashcards, and get into grammar details. In the classroom, as a team, the class will work together to create the closest environment to a Spanish speaking country as possible. Although studying Spanish for several years, Jodi claims that it wasn’t until she was really given the chance to immerse herself in the Costa Rican culture that she really was able to grasp the language.

In her private music classes, she wants to make classes relevant and fun. She wants to teach her students music that they like while at the same time teaching all the music theory and ear training required for each instrument. While teaching children, she is very patient and enthusiastic. Her goal is to allow for children to have a positive and fun music lesson experience so that they will want to continue learning music their whole life. Anyone interested in learning any of those instruments should get in contact with her.

As if Spanish, music, coffee making, photography, and video editing weren’t enough, Jodi is a passionate writer and fills journals and notebooks with several projects every day. She wrote a book that she is working on publishing in the next few months. Information for the book can be found at www.WhereAreYouGoingBook.blogspot.com

Sometimes Jodi likes to take on too many projects, but all these projects are just her dreams in progress. One of those dreams includes teaching Spanish and helping people experience another culture to better understand their own. She believes in following your dreams at all costs because life is too short not to pursue what you are passionate about. Jodi is looking forward to inspiring students to go beyond themselves, their own language, and their own expectations, to learn a brand new language this year: “Español! Muchas Gracias!” she says.