THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

The Executive Board of TESL Toronto is made up of members in good standing of TESL Toronto who volunteer their time and energy.

The Executive Board meets throughout the year to organize TESL Toronto's conferences and other initiatives. Applications for the Executive Board are accepted from September to March, and new members are voted in at our Spring Annual General Meeting. If you are interested in volunteering on the board, please contact our president for more information.

CURRENT EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERSHIP (2009 - 2010)


TESL Toronto Executive (2008 - 2009)

Antonella Valeo (Past President)

Antonella  has had the joy of being a board member, membership secretary, conference chair, president and affiliate representative with TESL Toronto. Outside of TESL Toronto, she is a program consultant with Toronto Catholic District School Board, a teacher educator, and a Ph.D candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the Unviersity of Toronto.

Karen Thomson (President)

Karen signed up for a TESL course at CCLCS in 1994 as a way to escape Toronto and a failed love affair. Strangely, the escape from Toronto never occurred since she has been teaching in the city ever since. In various incarnations and for various organizations, she has taught international students and immigrants over the years, and even tried her hand at administration for awhile. She is currently an Instructor at University of Toronto's English Language Program, and indulges her passion for professional development by teaching a TESL course at CCLCS, volunteering on the TESL Toronto executive board, and presenting at conferences around the province. She has recently completed her Master of Teaching degree at OISE/UT. While not teaching and presenting, Karen escapes the city to explore exotic vacation adventures such as visiting her parents' farm in Nova Scotia, riding a camel in Egypt, or studying Spanish in Nicaragua. Although she hasn't settled on a date yet, she plans to visit the only continent left on her list, Antarctica. While in the city, Karen spends her time balancing out all the greenhouse gases she burns on airplanes by working in her vegetable garden and nagging her husband to turn off the lights.  

Akua Joseph (President Elect & Recording Secretary)

Akua holds an MA in English Language Teaching from the University of Reading in England.  She also has a TESOL certificate from the University of Toronto.  She has over 7 years of teaching and administrative experience in Canada and abroad.  Her main interest is in the cultural issues involved in English language learning and how these issues are dealt with in classroom programs and materials. Akua currently works at English Central, a book distributor catering to ESL professionals and students where she helps direct regular business operations, conducts market research, and runs various events.  In her free time Akua enjoys painting, sketching, and working on her budding clothing and accessory company she runs with her sister.

Anne McGregor-O'Neill (Treasurer)

Anne has been teaching ESL for the past 18 years with the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB).  She also teaches ESL for Pregnant Women at Access Alliance Multicultural Community Health Centre.   She has co-authored a book on Toronto Field Trips and has presented at the TESL Toronto and the TESL Ontario conferences.   She has been on the TESL Toronto executive since 2004 and has held the positions of member–at-large, co-conference chair, and most recently treasurer.   She has also sat on the bursary, conference, planning and newsletter committees. Along with a small group of dedicated volunteers Anne has been involved with setting up and running a small lending library for adult ESL learners.  Anne is well known for her extensive picture collection and she would probably have a picture for any unit and topic that an ESL teacher would need…ever. 

Cheryl Richman (Affiliate Representative)

Cheryl has been involved in the field of Adult ESL for over 20 years both as an instructor and in an administrative role. Since graduating with Woodsworth College’s TESL Certificate, she has worked in a variety of programs including ESL and LINC. She is currently a Program Officer with the Toronto District School Board supervising a wide range of adult ESL classes. Cheryl has presented workshops extensively for the local school boards, TESL Ontario and its affiliates. As well as being involved in professional development, she has been actively involved in TESL Toronto and has served in a number of positions on its Executive Board including President, Treasurer, Conference Chair, and Affiliate Director. As well, she filled the role of TESL Ontario’s Conference Chair for 3 years. When she has spare time, she enjoys playing recorder and bridge.   

Joanne Hincks (Membership Secretary)

Joanne has been working in education for many years and has taught a range of students, from preschoolers to adults in both southern Ontario and southern Africa. She currently works as a Program Consultant for the Adult Education Program of the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Joanne has been  a member of the TESL Toronto Board since 2004 and has held the offices of Member at Large, Recording Secretary and Affiliate Director. She has also sat on the TESL Ontario Board and currently chairs its Membership Committee.

Clayton Graves (Newsletter Editor)

Clayton has been affiliated with the Independent Learning  Centre/TVO since 1990. He previously taught English at the secondary and college levels and worked in publishing with Nelson as senior editor and series author in language arts programs. His special interests include pronunciation and the writing process.

Marina Marcan (Communications Officer)

Marina holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature as well as a TESL Certificate from Humber College. She has been teaching ESL for the past 16 years at various colleges in the city and for the most part for Tortonto Disrict School Board in ESL and LINC. Being a foreign trained professional, she felt the need to give back to Toronto’s ESL community that has so graciously accepted her. She joined TESL Toronto executive board about 12 years ago. When she is not busy with family, work or TESL duties, she enjoys reading, yoga, long walks with her dog, and most recently dancing lessons.

Patricia Glogowski (Website Officer)

Patricia holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and a TESOL Certificate from UofT. She is an ESL Instructor at York University English Language Institute. She is a blogger, researcher, teacher trainer, conference presenter, volunteer, traveler, photographer, and most recently Twitteress.  She is interested in creating dynamic, full of fun learning environments that help students become motivated and life-long language learners. She is also interested in meaningful uses of technology in language learning.

Ken Lackman (Member at Large)

Ken completed his B. Ed. degree at the University of Toronto in 1995 and went to the Czech Republic to teach EFL. Shortly after arriving at the Caledonian School in Prague, his concerns about the lack of teaching resources led to him being offered part-time employment developing teaching materials. Over the next seven years he developed hundreds of games and activities for teachers and played a major role in building one of the largest private language school libraries in Europe. In 1997 he became a senior teacher and two years later he also took on the position of social director. Ken obtained the DELTA Certificate in Poland in 2002 and returned to Canada to become the director of studies at EF Toronto. Ken presently works as a freelance teacher trainer and coursebook writer. He offers workshops at English Central every two weeks on topics relevant to all ESL teachers.

Margaret MacLeod (Member at Large)

Margaret currently works at the YMCA as a language assessor for LINC and higher level language programmes. She has been in the adult ESL field for almost 20 years, instructing for TDSB, community colleges, and in the workplace. She particularly enjoyed teaching special focus pronunciation classes. A certified mediator and workplace trainer, Margaret facilitates conflict resolution training sessions for YMCA staff in the GTA. Her focus now is in the role that culture plays in workplace conflict. Family, friends, gardening, learning, and Toronto in general make Margaret happy.

Bruce Russell (Member at Large)

Bruce holds an M.Ed. from OISE/UT. He works both in the settlement and international language training sectors and his main interests are assessment and programming. As a private consultant he has developed two occupation specific language assessments for use with internationally trained immigrants; he is also an assessor/trainer for the CCLB. As an employee of the University of Toronto, he is the Academic Director of two language programs for international students at New College.

Marju Toomsalu (Member at Large)

Marju holds a B.A. in English language and literature and an M.A. in Second Language Learning and Teaching.  She has also pursued graduate studies in Sociology of Language. She has extensively taught a wide range of ESL, EFL and EAP and related courses in Europe, the USA and Canada. Marju is in charge of ESL/EAL programs at Ryerson University. Her areas of expertise and interests include language testing, second language teaching, and learning and sociology of language.

Jean Dub (Member at Large)

Derrick Hempel (Member at Large)

Derrick teaches ESL at Humber and Seneca Colleges. He worked in the corporate world for twenty years as a senior sales professional, travelling across North America in the fields of telecommunications, information technology and management consulting before changing careers and getting his TESL Certificate from Humber College. Derrick has a B.A. in English and Sociology from the University of Toronto. A past member of the Canadian Professional Sales Association and the Project Management Institute, Derrick is teaching in the Occupation Specific Language Training, Technology (OSLT), pilot project at Seneca College. Derrick lives in Bloor West Village with his wife Andrea, two children, two cats and a dog. He enjoys coaching hockey and soccer, as well as renovating his house for what seems like an eternity.

MEETING DATES (2009 - 2010)