Mariann Manhertz originates from Budapest, Hungary, and currently resides in Prague, Czechia. Before embarking on her teaching journey at a Montessori elementary school, she completed a master's degree in English language and literature, along with Communication. With a background in the alternative marketing industry in New York and Budapest, Mariann shifted her focus to education following the birth of her two daughters, aiming to bring enjoyment, fun, and positivity into children's learning experiences.

She underwent training as a Helen Doron teacher, specializing in a distinctive methodology for teaching second languages from ages 3 months to 19 years old. Over the course of more than ten years, Mariann has dedicated herself to teaching second languages both in a language school and within the Montessori elementary environment.

Mariann's special interest in second language learning stems from actively raising her own two daughters, who fluently speak three languages daily. This personal experience drives her quest to provide as many second language opportunities as possible for her kids and her students in the classroom. In 2021, she attained her Montessori diploma for ages 6 to 12 in Prague and has served as an English-speaking guide at the Montessori School of Andilek since 2019.

Aoife Ahern, PhD (Spanish Linguistics), Professor of languages education at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), has been an enthusiast of all things related to languages from early on. Of Irish origin, Aoife has worked as a teacher educator in Spain, specialised in second language teaching for two decades, while investigating into themes such as the relationship between grammar (language structure) and pragmatics (language use), literacy education, the benefits of using picturebooks for integrating interculturality and global citizenship into language teaching, multilingual learning, communication and education, among others. In her teaching she focuses especially on the Reading to Learn approach to teaching comprehension and writing in L2 English.

In connection to her core belief that all children deserve an education that unlocks the potential of having a multilingual identity, Aoife is coordinator of a joint masters program in Multilingual Education (Universidad Complutense de Madrid - University College Dublin, with Hong Kong University) to be offered from September 2026. Also aligned with this deeply held value, she participated as researcher in the Erasmus+ Bilingual Montessori Project (2022-25) and contributed to “Building Bilingual Elementary Programs. A field guide for school leaders, classroom guides and language teachers”. This work is all aimed at eradicating deficit views of multilingual individuals and at helping educators to ensure success and joy in their students’ language and literacy learning journeys.