Introductions

Page history last edited by Nahir 14 years, 1 month ago

Let's introduce ourselves....

Leticia Esteves Reyes (Caracas, Venezuela)

I´m an English teacher who teaches English for Architecture and Urban Planning at the Simón Bolívar University. I sometimes teach English for Science and Technology. I also teach Curriculum Design at the USB Master Program in Applied Linguistics and have coordinated the English Program at FUNINDES-USB as well as the ESP Section at USB Language Department. I am quite interested in discussing topics related to Curriculum Design, Course Evaluation, Lesson Planning, Materials Development, ICT integration in ELT, and last but not least Teacher Trainning.

Rubena St. Louis (Caracas, Venezuela)

I'm Rubena St. Louis and I teach at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas Venezuela. In the university's undergraduate programme, I teach a reading course called English for Science and Technology and I sometimes teach a 4 skills English for Computer Science course. In our graduate programme in Applied Linguistics, I teach Language Teaching Methodologies and Design and Evaluation of language teaching materials. That's what I like doing best, designing materials. My other areas of interest are Learner Autonomy, Language and Cognition and Information and Communication Technology in language learning. I've also done a bit of Teacher Training, as well.

Rogerio Costa (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

I work for a business college in Sao Paulo as an academic assistant, not a teacher. I'm involved with the international accreditation projects (AACSB,EFMD) as well as the processes regarding the higher education system in Brazil and the faculty qualification criteria (Ministry of Education, CAPES,CNPq and so on). I started learning English when I was 11 (I'm almost 28 now) and I love it! I taught General English at a language institute in 2003 and since 2004 I've been teaching 1-1 classes at home. I've had some experience with teenagers, adults, English for Work and English for Exams (FCE and TOEFL). I've also done some freelance work as a translator. I've got both the FCE and the CAE certificates. I know I have very little teaching experience since this hasnever been my main occupation but I really enjoy teaching (and learning! English. I've got a B.A. in Computer Science (but no experience at all!) and agraduate degree (specialization) in Educational Law and another inTranslation (English-Portuguese). I'm currently studying Business Managementand I intend to take the TKT Cambridge exam as soon as possible. I'm particularly interested in Business English, Teaching 1-1 Classes and Translation. My hobbies include reading and watching TV series. I'd love to keep in touch with you and share experiences.

Micaela (Málaga, Spain)

I am originally from a small town in upstate New York near Rochester,which is also near the border with Canada. I got my first experience withteaching there when I taught Spanish to middle and high-schoolers. The harshwinters and a love for Spanish culture drove me to make the move to Malaga onthe southern coast of Spain. I've lived here for over seven years now. I've taught EFL for six years to children and adults. During the past three yearsI've been pretty much in charge of an extra-curricular program at a PrimarySchool. The children in my classes are ages 4 to 14. In my 'spare time' I also teach a few adults one-to-one classes.

Gina Webster (NY, USA)

I’m originally from Montreal, Canada, I now live (and teach) in New York City. I'm a mid-life career changer, so am still new-ish to teaching (2 years). I teach ESOL and TOEFL test prep to young adults.

Beatrice Halves (Bahia, Brazil)

I've been teaching English and French in Bahia, Brazil for 17years. At first I taught groups of kids, teens and adults in a LanguageInstitute using their manuals and methodology. Then, little by little, I came to using less manuals as well as more student-centered methodology. Now I still teach teens, young adults and adults in the Language Institute(where I train new teachers), but I also teach language for specific purpose (hotel, restaurants, engineering, academic.) to groups or one-to-one classes (face-to-face and on-line). In these cases, I have to design the course and,especially for the French classes, a lot of material. I eventually organize"immersion" weekends. So far, my online courses are mostly given thru Skype for the synchronous part, and thru e-mail for the homework, follow-up activities, feedback, etc. Besides, I am training to start teaching in Second Life. I strongly believe in e-learning, especially in a country like Brazil which is so huge and where many people don't have access to knowledge and skill development just because they live in very remote places; tv and internet arrive there but teachers don't. I am an e-learner myself: I got a Master1 in French didactics in Dijon, France, while living in Bahia, took some management e-courses in Brazil and I am still working on my German with internet pages, radios, blogs, and language exchange sites. Being a student helps me a lot in my teaching. Whatever the type of class I'm giving, I always try to make it as enjoyable and creative as possible to be productive, and in order to do so planning is essential. I can't think of much to add for the moment, except that I'm very happy to be in this group, to share my experience and learn from all of you. It's so exciting to be linked to teachers from all over the world, I'm looking forward to reading your introductions too.

Liliana (Cluj Napoca, Romania)

I'm form Romania and this year I'm teaching English to primary school children. I can see you're also teaching to primary school children, so maybe we'll exchange some ideas! I'm Liliana, I'm 30 and I teach English in a high school in Cluj Napoca. I'm glad to find a Romanian colleague. I hope to keep in touch. My name is Liliana, I'm 30 and I teach English in a high school in Cluj Napoca, Romania. This year I teach only children from 7-10. But usually I teach pupils from 7 -18. I also run a small publishing house and I have written 3 books so far; a grammar for middle school pupils, a book for the baccalaureate and an activity book with audio Cd for the first grade pupils. If you want to know more, click on www.edituraamethyst.uv.ro. I'm eager to share your experience in teaching and make new friends.

Andrea (Brazil)

I've been teaching English in Brazil for 11 years, and am going to (under)graduate in the end of the year. I'm really looking forward to having a great time working on this subject, for it is going to be useful for my profession.

Gary (Jubail, Saudi Arabia)

My name is Gary Harwell. I currently work with International House in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. We teach classes for SABIC which is a large petrochemical company. All of our classes are task based and I have been trying to introduce a Blended Learning solution to my classes. I am interested in teh Lesson Planning course and it's great to see so many people from so many countries that it would be fun to teach in.

Ida (Prizren-Kosova)

This is Ida from Prizren-Kosova, South East Europe! I am an English student, 4th year. This is my last year at the faculty and from March till JUne, I will be having a practice in elementary school as an English Teacher! During my 3 years of studing english each year I had a practice in elementary schools for some weeks, teaching pupils from the age 9-15years old.

I also used to work in special school as an assisstent teacher, assissting in many subjects and also I worked as a music teacher in an integrative Kindergarden( with the so called normal and special need children). I am not a music teacher but I worked there as a volunteer from Caritas organization. So as my practice will begin soon, I am glad to take part in this group and to learn a lot from your experiences and share my experiences, too. I wish you all the best and good luck ;)

Nikko Sue

I am an elementary school teacher. I am looking forward to the lessons setting off.

Kasia (Poland)

I'm not a teacher yet, but I've already started my teaching practice as I am a student of Teachers' training college in Poland. I've never been a participant of a group like that before, but I hope that I will learn how it works soon. It will be really nice to meet you all.

Kim Edwards (Bern, Switzerland)

I also teach in Switzerland but in Bern. This will be my first distance

experience, and like you I don’t have a clue where to begin. I will try to follow but if no one hears from me it’s because. I’m having difficulty with the technology. I’ve been teaching for about 10 years now. I teach at the Volkshochschule so I have a lot of flexibility. I'm not at all sure how all this works. I'm a Brazilian by birth to American parents and besides Rio, have lived in the USA, Egypt and for the past 20 years in Switzerland. I completed the CELTA course over 10 years ago and have been teaching adults at various levels since then. Hi everyone. I'm not at all sure how all this works. I'm a Brazilian by birth

to American parents and besides Rio, have lived in the USA, Egypt and for the past 20 years in Switzerland. I completed the CELTA course over 10 years ago and have been teaching adults at various levels since then.

Cleusa Sousa (Gois, Brazil)

I'm an EFL teacher in Brazil . I'm also a teacher-trainer at UEG,a public University , in my state(Gois). In my opinion plan is the key word for any profession. I don't have a lot of experience on line, but I've been teaching English for 27 years. So, I want new ideas so that I can improve my classes. This is the first time I join a group discussion on the internet. I hope to have great moment on it. I teach English for teenagers and what they like most is action classes.I hope to learn a lot with you.

Mark Bain (Barcelona, Spain)

Hello. My name's Mark. I'm an English teacher and teacher-trainer in Barcelona. I'm interested in discussing some of the concepts behind lesson planning and how these concepts can be best packaged and presented to teachers. I find that most trainees find lesson planning confusing and time-consuming; whereas most practicing teachers see paper-and-pen planning as a waste of time.

Eve/Ivana (Vienna)

I am Eve (real name: Ivana Oman), I am 26 years old coming from Slovakia, living in Vienna for now, entrepreneur now starting to work as Language Teacher and now Live Online Teacher. I attended the Lancelot Research Programm (Language Certified Live Online Teacher) and that gave me a completely new reality on online teaching and possibilities and tools which can be used in a virtual environment. I am looking forward to learn and learn a lot, share ideas, experiences or suggestions.

Marcella (Moldova)

I am from Moldova. I work with pre-service teachers and I would like to gain more experience in lesson planning and share with you the experience that I have. Looking forward to meeting, and collaborating with all of you.

Ayman (Saudi Arabia)

I am a teacher of English at a secondary school in Saudi Arabia. I taught English in my country Egypt for ten years before coming to Saudi Arabia last year. This course is going to be especially important for me and my changing teaching setting as teachers are going to have more responsibility in building and planning courses in my country. I am enrolled in Cambridge Diploma for teachers and trainers and I hope this course is going to push me forward. It is really motivating to have friends from different countries.

Alison (Switzerland)

I'm originally from Britain but I teach in Switzerland. My school is for tourism and hospitality, where we have German speakers in one part of the school, and students from all over the world in the other part. I've taught all sorts, from 7 to 70 over many years. These days I train the German speakers for a BEC Vantage in March and some of the foreign students (mainly Chinese at the moment) for a second bash at the right IELTS grade at the end of April. I have to do all the planning myself. This online session sounds like fun and it's something I've wanted to try for a long time. Well, we'll see....

Kat (Montreal, Canada)

I'm a business English teacher and also cover the Cambridge suite. I'm currently working in Montreal, Canada but have worked in Italy, South Korea and Scotland (my home country).

Dave (China)

My name is Dave and I'm currently teaching at a college in China. I've been teaching ESL / EFL for over 8 years and have an MA from the University of Hawaii. I've taught students of all ages, but mostly college-aged recently. I am interested in content-based classes, especially those dealing with global issues and activism. I also run the website ESLetc.com.

Emanuela Nistor (Romania)

I'm 25 and in my 3rd year of teaching in a Romanian high-school. Being at the beginning of my career I feel I have a lot more to learn! So, I'm looking forward to finding new and useful things to improve my teaching, and sharing from your experience and, why not? Making new friends.

Fanny (Ecuador)

I'm an Ecuadorian TEFL. I live and work in Latacunga city. I work at ESPE University. And I work with children too. I'm here to learn and share about lesson planning and information with you and others.

Kathi (Israel)

I teach EFL at a high school in Israel, where many of my pupils come from difficult home and social environments. Some of them are at-risk, and some have various learning disabilities. I hope to learn how to better organize my lessons.

Simon (Lisbon, Portugal)

I work for the British Council in Lisbon, Portugal. I have been teaching English for 8 years. I teach students from 7 - 70 years old. The majority of my students and my main focus is teaching Primary aged children. I have a particular interest in using 'authentic' storybooks in the language classroom and have run training courses for Portuguese state teachers of English on this subject. I'm not quite sure what to expect from this course and hope I have the time to keep up with it, but I think any opportunity to share ideas and experiences with teachers from around the world has to be valuable. I'm looking forward to learning from everyone.

Ewa (Poland)

I'm a Polish teacher of English in teacher training college. I teach Methodology, Literature, Grammar and Reading. I'd be interested to learn about teacher education in your country. I'm a Polish teacher of English in teacher training college. I teach Methodology, Literature, Grammar and Reading. I'd be interested to learn about teacher education in your country. I'm Ewa Schramm. I work in a teacher training college in Poland. I have also taught teenagers in a secondary school. I've just entered your website and am really impressed. Some time ago I took part in a course for English teachers in Cluj-Napoca with the authors of the first English textbook written with some help of British educators. I still have the book in our college library.

Farnaz Latif (Iran)

I am an Iranian EFL teacher and also supervisor and head of board of Education in an institute. I live in Tehran also I am in favor of doing research specially on teacher education and teaching. I am a PhD candiadte in my country. I am also writing a book on ESP. I would be delighted to swap information with you and others.

Erika (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)

I'm a Brazilian EFL teacher and an education coordinator of an institution of higher education. I live and work in Belo Horizonte, my hometown, and I'm here to learn and share about lesson planning. I'm a Brazilian EFL teacher and an education coordinator of an institution of higher education. I live and work in Belo Horizonte, my hometown, and I'm here to learn and share about lesson planning. But I also want to make friends... But I also want to make friends...

Lance Cane (Kibbutz Tzora, Israel)

I live on Kibbutz Tzora in Israel.I am currently on a Tutors course and studying in David Yellin College in Jerusalem.

Tasha (Vigo, Spain)

I'm also based in Spain, in Vigo in the North-West, although I'm originally from Scotland. I have students from 4 to adult in a private language school and I also teach groups in a large company here. I’m ooking forward to participating in the course with you all.

Sheila (Germany)

I am a teacher and teacher trainer from Germany. I am English and I teach mostly adults in companies.

Teadira (Mérida, Venezuela)

I am Teadira from Mérida, Venezuela. I work at the School of Modern Languages, University of Los Andes. I teach Reading and Writing to undergraduate students and Didactic Resources at graduate level. I am currently conducting a research study in e-materials development.

Vinicius Lemos (Brasilia, Brazil)

31, from Brasilia in Brazil. I've been an EFL teacher for quite a while and I'm eager to meet lots of teachers and share lots of ideas. I'm currently working at a language institute called Casa Thomas Jefferson and I teach mostly teens.

Khalid.A.El_Saiid (Cairo, Egypt)

I am Khalid.A.El_Saiid, 41, from Cairo, Egypt, I am a private Arabic tuor foradults. I`m eager to meet lots of teachers and share lots of ideas and opinions too...I hope it works as its my first time to share this issue.I am a private Arabic teacher from Cairo in Egypt. I am glad to meet you and hope to share and exchange ideas and opinions. I’m looking forward to participating in the course with you all.

Irina Telisca (Botosani, Romania)

Romania. I am an English teacher at a Highschool in Botosani, a city in the northern part of the country. I want to discover new interesting things and I want to make some new friends.

Naglaa (Egypt)

I'm from Egypt. I have been teaching English for about 10 years now. I have been teaching teenagers for more than 7 years now. I m really excited about that: meeting teachers from different countries, sharing experience, learning from each other.

Hala Salih (Khartoum, Sudan)

Salam everybody. My name is Hala Salih I am from Sudan. I work at univeristy level. I think the course is going to be very interesting with so many teachers from different parts of the world. Regards to all

Claudia (Montevideo, Uruguay)

I teach English in Montevideo, Uruguay. I have a Bachelor's degree (TESOL). I train students to take the Cambridge

and Trinity exams. Last year I participated in EVO07 (Beginning Internet Activities) and I managed to build my own website and to prepare some activities for my students. I don't want to miss the opportunity of sharing ideas with colleagues from all over the world.

Mariana Rusu (Romani)

I'm from Romania, I teach to primary, secondary and high school

Gena (Greece)

I am teaching English here in Greece and have been for 2.5 years now. Started only with students studying for the Cambridge Proficiency but now do all ages and mostly love it. I am originally from Seattle, WA in the US and came here via 11 years in the UK. Have done various types of teaching/training over the years. Am open to all help I can get, but my biggest problem is classroom management! Some of the kids don't want to be there but their parents force them... also could use some ideas on helping my slower students with writing.... :)

Carolina Lapointe (Peru)

I'm a Peruvian teacher with some experience in online courses. There's a lot involved in the field of teaching and learning languages and one important part is lesson planning. I'm currently taking the last 2 courses in a Master in TEFL and one of them has to do with course design. I'm very interested in being part of this course because it'll give me a chance to share ideas and find answers to unresolved questions. Looking forward to making friends as well!

Dara Rodrìguez (Spain)

I’m a Spanish teacher of English with (unfortunately) little experience. I’m really motivated to improve my teaching skills and become a good full-time teacher, so I thinkthis is going to be a great course for me.

Lisa (Israel)

I am from Israel. I am currently part of a group of teacher trainers working on the establishment of English Learning Centers in ten different schools from different population sectors

around the country. I look forward to learning more about lesson planning, especially suited to a rich technological environment.

Nira Artzy (Afula, Israel)

I'm a high school teacher and coordinator from Afula, Israel. I teach weak 10th graders, not so weak 11th graders and strong 12th graders, so I need new tricks for all levels. I've been a teacher for 31 years, have a MA degree in English teaching, but still feel I don't know enough.

Ana Rios (Lima, Peru)

My Name is Ana Rios and I am an English teacher in Lima Peru. Looking forward to hearing from you very soon.

Olga Tyuleneva (Moskow, Russia)

I'm Olga. I'm from Russia, Moscow. I teach English to 12-16 year-old students. Hope to learn a lot of new things here and share my ideas with you. It's great to join this course.

Berta Leiva (Caracas, Venezuela)

I have been an EFL teacher for more than 25 years and in the last 15 have worked in the Language Department at Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, where I have held several administrative positions. Nonetheless, I have always taught freshman EST reading courses or ESL

Theory and Methods in our graduate program in Applied Linguistics. I have participated in several EVO sessions since 2005 and have learned tons from moderators and participants, have met face to face (f2f) a couple of online Webheads in Canada and stayed in touch with others I would love to meet some day. There is still so much to learn!!! This group offers us the opportunity to keep updated in an area we take for granted most of the time and that will definitely improve our practice: how to plan

effective lessons.

Marianela Najul (Caracas, Venezuela)

I work at Universidad Simón Bolívar in the Language Department. I teach ESP to Engineering, Architecture and Urban Planning students. Although I've been teaching for many years, there is always a space for learning new things and sharing what we know with others. Last year, for example, I was introduced to the use of webtools and I think that they are very useful for what we do in our different teaching situations. So far, I've used wikis, blogs, voice tools... I hope I can keep learning in this direction. I'm glad about taking this course and sharing with colleagues of different countries.

El Baida Marouane

Ehsan Amini (Tehran, Iran)

I’m Ehsan Amini, 29, (m) from Tehran, Iran. My only other experience with online courses is limited to last year EVO, which was really useful for me. I took "Becoming a Webhead", and "Blogging for Beginners". Unfortunately though, due to personal problems I couldn’t finish either. In the past 10 years I have taught EFL to adults in elementary to advanced levels. I majored in English literature so my theoretical knowledge concerning TEFL methodology and applied linguistics is very limited. I believe lesson planning is an essential skill for the consistently good (vs. occasionally brilliant) teacher. I’m looking forward to learning from all of you,

Loraine Pare

I am an Ontario certified teacher. Currently I am writing and teaching online. I also teach ESL and FSL.

Nadia (Algeria)

Well, my name is Nadia Kheira Mezough , my nick name among my colleagues andsuprevisor is "Miss.M" I will have the opportunity to tell you why I am called so, briefly, it's thanks to my teaching adventures. I am a 32 years old, and I started teaching at the age of 23, and even before I graduated. I am currently teachin English in a secondary school, all my students are teenagers, and these days we are working on many projects because of the educational reform, we care that the future gneration belongs to 21st century school, so this week our supervisor is going to launch a website where I have contributed some articles, as I have been invited to a training course of three days with American Teachers from Michigan University, more over I am working on Lesson Plan Project and I intend to design my own website. I have contributed to many teacher professional development courses as a teacher trainer where I presented interactive lessons using the ICTs, as I attended a summer school in Boston College in July 2006. I am an openminded teacher, and I love shring with my colleagues and any one interested in education, I love the ICTs as I like planning anything. So I have chosen this session because it suits me quite well. I promise to share with you a lot as soon as possible. You will all be invited to visit my space. All my love from Algeria

Nevien Mostafa

Nahir Aparicio (Caracas, Venezuela)

My name is Nahir Aparicio and I work for a teacher training university in Caracas, Venezuela. It's so nice to be interacting with so many teachers from different countries.

I joined this session to update myself in lesson planning, and hope to learn many things from all of you.

Claudia (Portugal)

My name is Cláudia and I'm from Portugal. I've been giving 1-1 english lessons and this is my first year working as an English teacher in primary

schools. It has been an adventure. I'm facing so many challenges! Glad to work with you soon.

Kifaya (Jordan)

I'm an English teacher from Jordan.I teach at UNRWA schools .I'm glad to share you this experince .UNRWA schools are special for Palestanian refugees so there are more than 50 students in each class .This fact makes it difficult to apply some lesson plans especialy with regard to the time given for each student.Thanks for you all and I hope I will benefit from this course.

Rachid Laanani (Morocco).

I guess I have the least bulk of experience in the whole group, namely eleven years as a high school teacher. I'm the editor of a small magazine, in our school, named "Streams in a Desert". Last year it was issue no 6. Contributions of students and few teachers are edited and rewritten to be enjoyed later by a limited audience, which well crystallises the idea of a cultural desert! I launched a couple of years ago an article titled "Citizenship and Education" in a website whose URL is www.laanani. bravehost. com, but since then I haven't been able to

modify it or make some progress therein as I still deem myself computer-illiterate . I should be all too beholden to anybody who may care to dart a glance at it and brief me with anything beneficial related to this issue. Further, before I became a teacher I had written lots of articles in a local newspaper in English, yet the latter seemed to be no more ages ago as I have heardno news about it for long. Hope these courses online will be too fruitful for everybody.

Abdesalam (Morocco)

I have been teaching English for more than fourteen years. I have been designing my own lesson plans and designing activities for my classroom activities. My students' age varies between

16 and 21 years. I am teaching English. I am really interested to improve my skills and techniques in having better lesson plans.

Moira Hunter (Paris, France)

I'm English and work in Paris and a lot online. My f2f learners are graduate and post graduate students in university with whom I blend in the use of technology where appropriate and my online learners are adults working in the corporate sector in different parts of the world.

Michael Griffin (Seoul, Korea)

I am teaching at the training center of a university here in Seoul. I have been out of the US for about 7.5 years and have spent about 5 of those years in the classroom. I am rediscovering my love of teaching and realized that I have a lot to learn about lesson planning.