As part of my commitment to education, I organized and implemented a free ESL program at Damascus United Methodist Church for small groups of immigrants and refugees that helped students develop and improve basic language and workforce skills, as well as career opportunities by preparing lesson plans and conducting activities that targeted confidence, perception, vocabulary building, pronunciation practice, and grammar.

As part of the English Now! staff, I supported the Managing Director in pursuing program development and outreach with other schools, embassies, international organizations, and area companies, designing school curricula, organizing student schedules, registration and placement, and performing administrative office duties.Enhancing student engagement for learning, I coordinated and led Friday outings for entire school to cultural destinations and community events, designed and delivered workshops on second language acquisition, diversity, and other topics of interest, and collaborated with faculty members on curriculum development/adaptation and joint-class activities.

Dedicated to working with diverse groups of students, I taught adult intensive course and one-on-one instruction (hybrid – in-class and online) for emergent bilinguals, improving all dimensions of student language use, developed and taught private/semi-private lessons for youth program, and designed and delivered lessons for off-site teaching of small groups of ELLs interested in career advancement focusing on areas of relevance in corporate communication.Engaging students in discussions regarding important local and global issues provided them with opportunities to deepen their understanding of the world, learn how to ask questions, investigate issues, make informed decisions, and express their opinions.Incorporating significant experiential learning opportunities (drama, art, music, activities in the community) and age-appropriate print and web-based resources helped improve student vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversation and writing skills.

As part of BCCC's commitment to meeting the needs of the area's diverse language groups, I designed syllabi and taught basic life skills and workforce courses to multilingual classes of 20-30 students from both Refugee Assistance and Basic English Language Skills Programs, establishing rapport with students, parents, and critical family members using Spanish and French skills as needed.