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ABOUT US · SPANISH IMMERSION MONTESSORI SCHOOL

Built from love.

Grown by purpose.

The Story Behind Spanish Immersion Montessori School

SIMS started as a Venezuelan educator's deepest belief that language, music, and childhood

wonder belong together and that every child deserves all three.

"My daughters were my first students and my

greatest teachers."

FOUNDER & CEO

MEET JOUVETH SHORTELL - FOUNDER & CEO

Hi, I'm Jouveth. I built this school.

I grew up in Venezuela, surrounded by the warmth of Spanish: its rhythms, its songs, its way of pulling people close. When I moved to the United States and had my two daughters, one thing was never in question: they would grow up with that warmth too.

"I used my daughters as guinea pigs. And what I discovered changed everything I thought I knew about how children learn language."

I have a Bachelor's in Education from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, a Master's in Intercultural Service and Leadership from the School for International Training in Vermont, and my Montessori certification from the American Montessori Society.

That insight became a curriculum. The curriculum became a program. The program became a school. And the school became a community of families who share the same belief: that language is something you give a child the right environment to find for themselves.

OUR JOURNEY

From a kitchen experiment to three campuses.

2009 The Beginning

ABC Spanish in Motion is born

Jouveth designs a Spanish music and movement curriculum and begins teaching in preschools, libraries, and homes across the Boston area — built entirely around the belief that children learn language through song, rhythm, and real experience.

2011 The Music

Eight original seasonal albums recorded

Jouveth writes, produces, and records eight seasonal music albums entirely in Spanish, filled with Caribbean rhythms, Latin American animals, foods, and traditions. These songs are still being sung in cars across New England today.

2013 The Discovery

A Montessori classroom changes everything

Teaching in schools across Boston, Jouveth notices something remarkable: children in Montessori classrooms absorb the ABC curriculum faster and more deeply. The prepared environment isn't just beautiful — it's amplifying everything.

2014 The Dream

SIMS opens its first doors

Spanish Immersion Montessori School opens its first physical campus, where the ABC methodology and the Montessori method live together under one roof, all day, every day. With 10 trained Latin American instructors already teaching in 40 schools across Boston, the foundation is solid.

2019 The Growth

Expansion across Newton and West Roxbury

SIMS grows to serve more families across multiple campuses — Newton Highlands, Newton Corner, and West Roxbury — each carrying the same philosophy, the same warmth, and the same unwavering commitment to bilingual Montessori excellence.

Today The Community

Over 10,000 children and counting

More than a decade later, ABC Spanish in Motion has reached over 10,000 children. The music has crossed 1 million plays on Spotify. And every morning at SIMS, a new generation discovers that Spanish isn't something you have to learn — it's something you can live.

THE ABC METHOD

A different kind of Spanish class

Traditional language instruction teaches Spanish. ABC Spanish in Motion gives children the gift of living in it.

15

Years of experience

+10K

Children who've lived it

1M+

Spotify plays

Why this breaks the mold

• Language acquisition happens through music, movement, and genuine play.

• Original music as curriculum. The songs travel home and the learning doesn’t stop when the school day does.

• Full immersion, all day. Children don't have a Spanish class, they live in Spanish from arrival to goodbye.

• Latin American culture: traditions, stories, rhythms, and foods every single week.

WHAT WE STAND FOR

Mission & Vision

The living principles behind every classroom decision, every song choice, every welcome at the door.

Mission

To give every child a life in two languages before the world makes it hard.

We provide a high-quality Spanish immersion program rooted in the Montessori method, where children ages 15 months to 6 years develop language not through instruction, but through genuine daily living — surrounded by Latin American culture, music, and warmth from the very first day.

Vision

A generation that grows up fluent in both language and cultural empathy.

We believe bilingualism is a bridge — not just to a second language, but to a deeper way of understanding the world. Every child who leaves SIMS carries more than Spanish. They carry curiosity, openness, and a genuine love of cultures that aren't their own. That's the generation we're building toward.