Interviews: Meet some of the I.H teachers.

Our photo and blogging class spent a great amount of time interviewing some of the fantastic teachers at International House, Vancouver. Here is what they found....

Kenneth Deane Craig 

Life motto; "Love conquers all ".  
Ken is Canadian; his father used to be a Professor at Oxford University. When he was a kindergarten student, he went on a study tour to England, then in high school he did an exchange in Germany. He is a Capricorn man, so he is a practical person. He doesn't like puke yellow and he likes Punk Rock style. His favorite food is Pizza with beer. Also he is a shy boy, he likes snowboarding and mountain biking. But walking with his Korean dog, is his only hobby now. He has many, many travel experiences in the world. He has been to; Italy, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia and more…, close to 25 countries. Also he has a rich experience as an English teacher, he possess 15 years of teaching knowledge.

  When he taught English in Korea, from 2001-2007, it was the best time of his life. He had a good job, a nice house and met other foreigners also traveling in the world. the most important was meeting his dream girl, . Also he had his second best life experience  in England, he enjoyed studying there. Now he has a goal, he wants to become a lawyer in Vancouver and to help people get a future and job. 

  He is a broad-minded man because he said “Even if one day I find my other half is man, I'll also say love you to him, even if I suffer peculiar looks from the world. so he likes to share different cultures with students, also he has a lot of knowledge in his brain, students can break into it, then dig out the treasure, one day you will find one piece.

Andrew Gordon Claxton

Life motto; "Leave the world a fairer place than you found it".

Andrew was born in Richmond, Vancouver,  then he grew up in Langley, eight years ago he moved to Vancouver. He is a Taurus man, He looks calm, friendly and mature, also he is an imaginative teacher. He loves every food and can "eat anything". He likes ordinary style and loves any color. In the future, he wants to go back to university and to get PDP, so that he can teach in public schools. Also, he has many English teaching experiences with children and adults. He has even taught English in Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan for two years. He has traveled through the USA and Canada as well so if you have travel questions he can become your travel Consultant. He has even been to the Philippines. He likes to help students to simulate and imagine real situations that help them to remember English, also he is very good actor, you can see many different shows in his class. 

Julie Morphet  
Life motto;“In the future your more likely to regret the things that you didn’t do, rather than the things that you did do, I want to do a lot things, have a lot of adventures, and then I won’t regret anything in my life...”
  
Julie was born in Guelph, Ontario Canada; her father was born in Scotland. She is a very grounded and practical person also patient and willing to wait for what she wants. Despite her intense focus on her goals, she can be very witty like her horoscope Capricorn. She doesn’t like yellow but likes casual style and also likes to create things, like sewing. Her favourite food is Greek Souvlaki, but she also likes BBQ, steak,and stinky tofu. She enjoys snowboarding and playing hockey.
 She has been to many countries; Taiwan, Mexico,Scotland, France, Czech Republic, China, Thailand, Cambodia and America. But her favorite time in her life was traveling in Thailand for three months. It is a beautiful country and she met very nice friends there. If she have time travel abilities then her want go to the future. In the future she wants to get married and meet her dream man Mr. Darcy.She likes to make students speak like machines, because in her class you must say something, but don't worry about it, she has a lot of teaching experience and she can operate your brain.

'Ken, Andrew and Julie'
 By Roger Chen

 

Teacher: Mariko

  Mariko Shimizu was born in Vancouver, Canada. Her parents are Japanese who came from Japan to Canada a long time ago. She grew up in the city and studied Political Science at UBC University.

  Now, she teaches English at International House. she has been teaching here for eight months. She enjoys education very much because it’s very fun and makes her happy. She met many international students and is told a lot of interesting things that her students think about. Before she taught at I.H, she was a tutor and had many part time jobs. When she tutored, she had to teach children homework and English one by one.

  When she has free time, she always relaxes and likes watching TV series/shows and reads any kind of books at home. On Friday nights, she plays volley ball in the gym, but sometimes wants to play it at the beach in summer.

  Mariko likes traveling and she has been to the USA, Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Europe, and more. Her favorite travel experience is Florence, Italy. She only stayed there one day, but the city is so beautiful and the food is so delicious that she couldn’t forget the sightseeing (pasta and famous Gelato ice cream). She wants to visit Florence again one day.

  Mariko thinks the best city is Vancouver. It’s her hometown, she feels comfortable and happy in the city, with beautiful mountains, ocean, and parks. Maybe sometimes people drink to much and are impolite, but she still likes Vancouver.

  In the future she wants to move to a different country to get more experience. And she hopes she has a dog, because she never had pets. A dog is cute like a baby. Mariko really wants a dog in the future.

Teacher: Bryan

  Bryan Field Anderson was born in Canada. His parents are from England. He likes Vancouver very much, there is beautiful scenery, friendly people and comfortable weather, everything is good, but the best thing for him is the hockey.

  Bryan says “Canadians like Hockey”, He likes hockey very much  that sometimes he plays in the park with his students. The sport lets him feel great and excited. But he played hockey with us, for the first time in the Rockies. He can’t forget that experience, it had amazing scenery and everyone had fun.

  Now he's been working 6.5 years at I.H. school. But before he came to I.H. he taught English for 3 years in Japan in 1999. He likes this job a lot and enjoys it, because he meets and teaches many students. His teaching style is interesting that every student can understand in the class.

  Bryan's other hobby is playing the piano. He started to play piano when he was 9 years old. He made the song “Game on”, it’s about “Winter Olympics” which is wonderful, and I like the song a lot. His inspiration for the song was from the Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. He is excited and it touches his heart when he watches the game’s video. And he follows his feelings when he plays piano. He doesn’t have to write on  paper, he just keeps it in his head and plays by ear. Before he had a band, he met them at a nightclub in 2006. Bryan likes many singers, but only Elton John and Billy Joel are heroes in his mind.

  He has even been to American, Japan, Australia, and more. In the future, he hopes to travel more. (South American and Europe) He wants to get a lot of different culture and experience.  

'Bryan and Mariko '
by Calvin Lai

   Fey
   Fernanda Laffitte was born in Curitiba, Brazil. She immigrated to Canada with her husband in 2010, because they wanted a new life. After a while, she started teaching ESL students.  She is a friendly and hard working teacher, students in her classes all like her. Since she likes teaching high level students, she usually teaches the EAP course, exam courses and other kinds of advanced courses. 

   In her classes, students are very concentrated and hardworking although they have a lot of homework to do. Fey likes helping people. Therefore, when she sees the reaction of the students’ understanding, she is very happy. 

   In her free time, Fey likes doing yoga three or four times a week and going to the gym or running in nice weather; sometimes, she likes doing hand crafts. She likes watching movies and prefers realistic and documentary movies, but interestingly, she also likes fantasy movies, like The Lord of the Rings. Fey doesn’t like baking; she would only try to make dessert on the stove, not in the oven. But she likes to try new recipes in cooking.She has been to many countries and has lived in the U.S.A for 3 months, but her favorite country is Germany. In the future Fey hopes she can get her Masters degree in Linguistics. 

 

 Carina 

  Carina Soares was born in Brasilia, Brazil. She immigrated to Canada in 2011, because Canada is safer and transportation is convenient. Although she is afraid of the ocean, she still went on a cruise to Argentina and Chile for fourteen days to see the beautiful scenery. It’s a special experience. She loves ice-skating in winter and roller skating in summer; sometimes she like watching TV or movies. She likes shopping for food in the supermarket, but she doesn’t need to cook because her husband cooks very well. Also, she likes making small desserts. 

 Carina has a memorable experience. One time when she was at home, a cockroach climbed up her leg very quickly and left an unforgettable and disgusting feeling. Since that, she really hates cockroaches. 

 She likes to interact with her students in her classes. If students pay attention, are keen to learn, do their homework and participate in her classes, she would be much happier and eager to teach them. 

 Carina is going to be a mother soon; she wishes she can be an ideal mother. But because she really loves English, she will continue teaching and do her best to be a good teacher as well. 

'Fey and Carina'
 by Jersey Wang

Victor

The halls of International House are different since a new class started; English through Song! Do you know who that fault is? The big guilty one is Victor Botelho, a Brazilian teacher. But he doesn’t speak Portuguese here, OK? Only English, guys!

Victor was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but he lived for many years in the capital Brasilia. He and his wife immigrated to Canada four years ago. Both of them were English teachers. There were many reasons that he changed his mind about Brazil; violence, traffic jams, and everything was expensive. Now, he has more reasons to continue living in Vancouver; Victor and his wife are expecting their first baby.
Victor is the owner of a pretty beautiful voice and he discovered his talent to sing a long time ago. He has been in four Rock Bands; he used to be a lead singer. In his ESL class, he keeps being a singer and now has a big group of anxious students! Sometimes Victor plays guitar and sings with them. The class is not boring at all. His students love him. In his definition, he is lucky to have a fun job; “It’s not like an office job, sit down, deal number, even if you are tired you can find energy to teach, it’s much funner”! He started teaching English 17 years ago. 17! That’s it! In the beginning as teacher, he taught Spanish. For this reason he lived for a couple months in Argentina.At 20 years old, he started teaching English and he hasn’t stopped since. He has always had an interest to teach international students. In Brazil, he taught EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and here ESL (English as a Second Language). This is a big opportunity to know more about different cultures, what happens in another countries, etc.

   He loves living abroad and to know different places. He has been to Europe, South America, and the USA. By the way, Victor also did an exchange in 1996! He lived for one year in the USA. This was the most important experience in his life, because it encouraged and helped him to be a teacher.
   For him, Vancouver is safe, clean, has fresh air, and doesn't have a lot of people everywhere. When he has free time, he likes to work out, to go to pubs and restaurants, play guitar, and of course, sing songs!  “English and songs walk hand and hand”, he emphasizes. 
   I asked him what are his future goals and the answer cannot be different; “I’m going to be a teacher for the rest of my life!”

  Talya 
Do you know this expression; “A world in a family”? So, let me introduce Talya Florian! Talya was born in Toronto, her mother is from Ireland, her father is from the Czech Republic and her siblings are from Colombia and Canada.

Her father was involved with ESL schools when she was a teenager. From that, she started to experience other foreign cultures. She has had the opportunity to know many countries in Europe, North America and South America, but not Brazil (YET).

  She has graduated in Photography at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Making art and taking pictures are her biggest passions. But one day, she discovered another one; TEACHING! “You love talking to people, you know many cultures, you should be a teacher”, her father always advised her. But in that time, to be a teacher was unimaginable for her. When finally she tried, it was love!. It has been one year since she is a teacher in ESL (English as a second language) at International House, Vancouver.

  Each day, she gains knowledge through her students about their various cultures and opinions. The students feel confident and really enjoy her class. For sure, you’ll learn and laugh in her class. It’s impossible to sleep when she is teaching!

  In this year, she had an amazing opportunity to combine, for her students, three abilities; photography, writing and speaking English. This funny class happens every day from 1:30 to 3:20 pm.

   All this cultural immersion has contributed to who she is today; her intensive knowledge about different cultures, accents and curiosities. Now, despite the fact she has a world in her family, she also has a big world in her heart.
by Tais Gomes. 

 Tina 

The one who inspired my interest in English 

As I know, Tina is a very kind and warmhearted teacher. She makes all of students be not afraid of speaking English and attempting to answer questions. In our Low-Intermediate Course, the learning environment she made was friendly and cheerful; students rarely absented and were pleased to talk each other. For me, she is the first teacher who make me know how attractive English is and how happy to improve myself.

Tina Chen, also know as Chih-Yu or Tia, is the youngest child in her family. She was born in Taiwan, and immigrated to Canada when she was eight years old. She graduated from UBC, and received two different degrees from the university; a B.Ed. in Elementary Education and a double major of Developmental Psychology and Asian Studies. While being a child care staff, she realized that her dream was to be an ESL teacher. Therefore, she went to Japan to improve her Japanese skills and practiced teaching children.

Through her career, she likes to interact with different students, learn other cultures from them, and get to know them well. Tina likes teaching those students who are active, has a good attitude, tries to use English and never gives up. In her class, you can always see she encourages students to answer questions, and see how students become more and more confident in using English. Although students sometimes make mistakes, Tina still will smile and cheer them up. She can easily create a positive learning environment, and that’s why students in her classes usually aren’t afraid of speaking English.

   In her free time, she listens to rock music and watches some TV comedy series; she likes the comedy named “The Big Bang Theory” and also recommends students to watch it to practice English under no pressure. She also likes those delicious Japanese and Taiwanese snacks, especially the “Stinking Dofu.” The time in Italy was most memorable for her, The Colosseum in Rome is the most fantastic place in her mind.

    Tina really likes the I.H photography blog, she said “the blog posts show lots of stories through pictures, and the personality of the students who took the pictures”. In the end of our interview, she said that she also likes photography, and she used to blog and shares her photographs with her friends; her favorite is architecture photography. In the future, she might start her photography blog again.

 Veronika

The liveliest person that I know 

Based on my experiences, Veronika is really an inspired and lively person. I remember the way she talking and smiling in the Current Events Course and Listening Course, it is moved and enthusiastic, and we had in-depth conversations. I even don’t know how come she can keep energetic every day, but it’s really pleased to stay in her classes! 

 Veronika Petrovski was born in Bosnia. She studied English literature in university, especially focus on British literature. She had wanted to be a pre-school teacher, or a Spanish teacher.

   Veronika is a positive and cheerful person, she never feels frustrated, and always attempts to give power to other people even when she is tired. That’s why her classes are always full of energy, fun and education. She likes to create an interesting learning environment with students, and is happy to see her students talking (and the more the better). Sometimes students might make mistakes in using English, but the most important thing for her is that they are moving their mouths and trying to say their opinions. She really wants all students to enjoy learning a new language, new culture, and always think in the new language.

   She likes doing something creative in her free time, such as drawing, painting, reading and so on. She also likes traveling to different places and seeing their beauty. She spends lots of time with her family, friends and her lovely dog Sammy; she said, “Having an animal at home can help me to become patient.” This attitude and thought might connect with her concerns-- Veronika thinks that the world needs more love in every part.” If people can pay more attention to nature, animals, solving pollution problems and some relevant issues, the world surely would be better than now.” It shows that Veronika is a really caring person.

  She likes photography and thinks it’s a good way to tell people stories. She really likes the IH photography blog, and really likes to get to know students more through the blog. Although she has never blogged, she still believes blogging might be the best way to share people’s opinions. Therefore, she might try to blog in the future, but right now, she only wants to focus on learning. The thing for her which will never change is being a student forever, she insists, “We learn more ideas and we can understand the world more; it’s the most interesting thing for me.”

'Tina and Veronika'
 by Selena Chen

Hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about some of the amazing I.H staff! 

Stay tuned for more staff interviews! 

(please feel free to leave comments, we love getting feedback!)