I have been teaching English communication skills for many years and for a wide range of student populations with an equally wide range of objectives including academic, business, and social purposes.

I started teaching English as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and enjoyed it.  So I went to the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California to earn my Master’s Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).  While in graduate school, I taught Mexican, Vietnamese, and Indonesian immigrants in Seaside’s adult school.  Subsequently, I went to Sri Lanka to train English teachers and write materials for the National Institute of Education as an English Teaching Fellow with the U.S. State Department. 

I settled in South Florida, where the community is so diverse and many of my neighbors, coworkers, and students were born in other countries and spoke more than one language.  In Florida, I taught ESL in community adult schools and Lynn University’s intensive program and trained primary and secondary teachers for the State ESOL credential.  Later, I joined the Graduate Business Communications Program in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University.  As a business communications instructor, I taught effective writing and presentation skills to American and international students in Florida, helped to develop the Master of Science in International Business program in Brazil and Spain, taught a business communications course for an environmental-MBA program in Panama, and created and taught workshops for local businesses and organizations. 

Recently, my husband and I moved to Kentucky, so I empathize a bit with my students’ culture shock in their new environment.  However, the atmosphere at CESL has been welcoming and fun:  The teachers I work with at CESL are interesting and creative, and the students are diverse and motivated.  I am currently juggling various projects including teaching at CESL, developing materials for the Monterey Institute at Middlebury College, teaching in Monterey’s summer Intensive College English program, doing some tutor-training for Berea College's Hispanic Outreach Project (HOP), and developing a business writing course for FAU’s Executive Programs.  I love teaching ESL because it brings constant—interesting—variety to my life, and every day reveals a new lesson.