Career

Career Roundtable Industry Expert Bio: Education

Introducing: Simon Leclerc

Website pic of Simon

Title: CELTA course assessor

Simon Leclerc has been involved in the education field, both research and training, since 1997.  His initial work experiences with education were through research projects at Wilfrid Laurier University where he conducted counselling groups for high-risk students.  This led to his work in researching the influences of residential mobility on academic success and socialization.

After some travel around Canada, Simon completed his CELTA certification at LSC Toronto in 2000 where he took on ESL teaching duties at LSC until 2003.  At that point, he decided to pursue a Bachelor of Education for K-grade 6 and spent some time in the public sector.  Having added to his experience, Simon came back to ESL instruction at LSC and also developed curriculum.  Two projects of note were a young learners summer program for ages 5 to 16 (for those from disadvantaged regions of Mexico) and redevelopment of a teacher training course for non-native speakers and TKT preparation. (more…)

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Career Roundtable Industry Expert Bio: Social Services

Introducing: Lourdes Zelaya

Title: Assessment Advisor

Lourdes Zelaya has worked with diverse client groups in both academic and community settings. Prior to working as an Assessment Advisor at George Brown College she has worked in the social service field for over 5 years. When she returned from the JET program in 2005, her career path began at the YMCA working as a Language Assessor for newcomers to Canada and transitioned to Resource Specialist supporting individuals in search of employment. Interest blossomed in this area and moved on to work as a Mentoring Counsellor at Skills for Change, coordinating mentoring partnerships for internationally trained teachers and students taking LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) classes. In her current role as an Assessment Advisor she evaluates essays for admission/placement testing, administers an English language assessment, and advises students on their testing results.  

Advice:

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Career Roundtable Industry Expert Bio: Education

Introducing: Patrick Huang

patrick

Title: CELTA trainer

Patrick’s career in ESL is fast approaching 10 years. He has always been interested in languages and linguistics, even as he studied sciences, modern languages (BA, University of Toronto) and music (MMus, Royal Academy of Music, London). Since he finished his CELTA course at EC Toronto, Patrick has taught a wide range of classes, including 1-to-1, TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge CAE, business and general English classes. Besides teaching, Patrick has also been an examiner for IELTS, as well as FCE and CAE oral examinations.

He also enjoys leading professional development workshops and seminars. Beyond the qualification itself, the CELTA course also gave Patrick a goal and ambition – to become a CELTA trainer. To fulfill that goal, he completed the DELTA at International House, London, and received his CELTA tutor training back at EC Toronto after that. He has been a CELTA trainer since 2007. With Toronto as his home base, Patrick has taught and trained in the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

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