Meet The Owners

Jory Samkoff and James Mayr are a husband-and-wife team that have 25 years of combined experience in language, music and childhood education. They are proud and excited to make available to the public the very same language and music-based holistic preschool experience that they built and customized for their son, Julian.

Choose LANGUAGE RHYTHM ACADEMY to be your family's trusted early-childhood education provider!

Jory Samkoff - head teacher

Jory Samkoff is a third-generation public school educator who combines the best traditions of teaching with 21st-century research to create an approach in which children become eager and successful learners.  

Her passion is to help learners communicate in new languages, and along the way understand new cultures. She decided that a language program for young children is vital after watching friends’ children excel in school. For many of these youngsters, English was their second, third or even fourth language! The early multilingualism of these children clearly had a positive influence on their later academic successes. 

Jory is fluent in French, plus speaks Spanish and Moroccan Arabic. Jory holds degrees in linguistics and French studies; she has completed doctoral course work in curriculum and instruction. An award-winning educator, she has served as a board member of NJTESOL (New Jersey Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). She is a presenter at state educator’s conferences and facilitates workshops for school districts in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. She produced the educational DVD titled Muslim Arabic-Speaking Students in the American Classroom. She also has co-authored two papers on teaching as a human, artistic and moral act. 

James Mayr - operations manager

Jim Mayr holds a straight-forward music-education philosophy: Music is a language. Music is another tool for expression and communication, and no one should be excluded from the conversation. Helping others learn how to communicate musically, that’s Jim’s goal.

Like many musicians, Jim came to music in a round-about manner. Winner of an undergraduate fellowship in chemistry, Jim studied science, philosophy and music. He worked as a chemist for an international pharmaceutical company before becoming a full-time musician. Moving to New Jersey, he completed coursework in the jazz performance program at Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University).

Jim has more than 14 years of performance experience, working with jazz big bands, pop, rock and R&B bands as well as pit orchestra work. He has performed and recorded with Foley (bass player for Miles Davis and drummer for George Clinton) and is currently executive director of the big band, The Silver Starlite Orchestra..

A freelance woodwind player and instructor, Jim’s primary instruments include the saxophone family, flute and clarinet, as well as drum set and guitar. His teaching experience ranges from young students to retired adults.