All BAKS+ teachers are native German speakers, and have extensive background and on-the-job experience working with children of various ages in a language instruction environment. BAKS+ is currently looking for energetic and enthusiastic substitute teachers to join our team! Please contact our directors, Heike Feltes and Sylvia Klein, at baksplus@kinderstube.org.

Heike Feltes (co-director and teacher)

Heike Feltes joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2008 and has been co-director since 2009. She holds a diploma in social work from Cologne, Germany, as well as a California teaching credential and a master’s degree in teaching from John F. Kennedy University. Heike was the head teacher at Bay Area Kinderstube from 1998 to 1999. She also taught at the German School of the East Bay in Oakland for six years, everything from kindergarten to adults. Heike also organizes and directs the BAKS+ summer camp. Her three children attended BAKS+.

Sylvia Klein (co-director and teacher)

Sylvia Klein joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2008 and has been co-director since 2009. She holds a teaching credential for elementary and middle school from Germany. Sylvia has six years of teaching experience in Germany. Since 1999 she has been teaching at various programs in the USA. She taught German at the German School of Connecticut for eight years and at the German School of the East Bay in Oakland for six years. She also taught children groups in Walnut Creek and one-on-one classes for the Goethe Institute from 2009 to 2012. Sylvia is also part of the BAHS+ summer camp team.

Monika Hartmann (teacher)

Monika Hartmann joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2016. She was born in Germany, where she played basketball and earned a teaching credential for elementary school. During her teacher training, she taught all levels of German, and also coached a basketball team of third and fourth graders. After moving to California, she taught German at an adult school in Concord and earned her master’s degree in integral psychology from John F. Kennedy University. Before joining BAKS+, Monika taught various English classes for 20 years at a business college.

Salma Nabkel (teacher)

Salma Nabkel joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2016. She received her bachelor´s and master´s degree from the University of Münster in Germany, where she studied to be a German and educational science teacher for secondary schools. She worked with children aged six through nine at a primary school and taught German and educational science to fifth through eleventh graders at a secondary school in Germany. At the secondary school, she also tutored students in German on different levels and supervised children in their afternoon program.

Nahid Hassan (teacher)

Nahid Hassan joined the BAKS+ team in 2017. She has a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, with a focus in multiple subject elementary teaching. Her love for teaching took root during her high school years in Germany while completing an internship with kindergarten teachers and their students. She tutored students privately in the German language after she moved to the US in 2004, and she also teaches at the German School of the East Bay. She looks forward to sharing her passion for teaching and learning with all of her students and watching them grow socially and academically. 

Helga Recker (teacher)

Helga Recker joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2018. She was born in Germany and moved to Calgary, Canada, with her young family more than 20 years ago. After moving to Colorado, she started teaching German and English online. Helga has been head teacher and DSD/AP teacher at San Ramon Valley German School since 2013. She specializes in the AP and Deutsche Sprachdiplom and has the Prüferzertifikat DSD1, which permits her chairmanship on the oral test of the DSD1 exam. She received a certificate from the University of Arizona in teaching languages to foreign speakers.

Fanny Jasper (teacher)

Fanny Jasper joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2020. A native of Berlin, she has a degree in English and French literature and linguistics and holds a teaching credential from Germany for foreign languages (French, English, DaF). She moved to the US in 2001 and has been teaching German since 2009. She was co-founder, principal, and elementary school teacher at the Deutsche Schule Rochester (in upstate NY); taught at the University of Rochester and at Sonoma State University; and has been Curriculum Director and DSD/AP teacher at the German School of the North Bay since 2012.

Stefanie Baldwin (teacher)

Stefanie Baldwin joined the BAKS+ team in 2021, teaching the Friday enrichment class with Monika Hartmann, where she discovered her love for teaching arts and crafts to children in a mixed-age setting. She earned her master’s degree in education and early childhood development in Berlin, Germany, and moved to the Bay Area in 1999. She started teaching classes as a certified Music Together teacher in Berkeley in 2012. Since 2014, Stefanie has led weekly children’s music circles in German, taught music at Kinderstube, and been an assistant in BAKS+ classes and summer camps for children in kindergarten through second grade. Stefanie also feels passionate about parent education and has conducted workshops and private sessions on positive discipline with parents and Kinderstube staff.

Isabella Wargel (teacher)

Isabella Wargel joined the BAKS+ teaching staff in 2022. She holds a teaching certificate from Germany in Elementary School for Children with Special Needs and German as a Second Language. Over the years, she has taught German from preschool through 8th grade in various countries and schools. Isabella also teaches at Bay Area Kinderstube and is dedicated to supporting each child individually in the development of a strong self-esteem, multilingual and multicultural identity that will help them learn throughout their lives.

Ute Dawe (teacher)