President's
Message

News from Team TEFL

Greetings from the TEFL Department! We hope this newsletter finds you well. 2008 was another busy and eventful year here at The Boston Language Institute. The TEFL Certificate Program continues to grow, and we’ve added new staff members to our team, including four graduates of the TEFL Certificate Program.

Our beloved trainer, Susan Bippus, had a beautiful baby girl in May, and after taking some time off, she has just rejoined us part-time in the New Year. Last March, we welcomed Rich Shah to our team. Rich joins us after an 8-year stint teaching and training in Korea and brings both his experience and his humor to the program. The Institute’s principal cross-cultural consultant, Kerianne Panos, is now presenting our newly revised Cross-Cultural Awareness Workshop. Hannah Treworgy (August 2003), Robert Davis (March 2005), and Katja Davidoff are still going strong as trainers in the program. Two new observers have joined Fiona Kerr (September 2005) this year; Emily Harris (May 2008) and Charlie DiSilva (May 2008) began observing teaching practice sessions for us in the summer. We also have two new coordinators. Rebecca Angle (April 2008) became part of the team as Program Coordinator in June and was joined part-time in the fall by Alexis Giannopoulos (April 2008), who will soon be off to teach overseas.

We’ve had a big year in other ways, too. We entered into a partnership with Disney English, which is a new English language education division of Disney Publishing Worldwide (www.disneyenglish.com).  They plan to open more than five new English schools in Shanghai by June 2009 and will have over 50 teaching positions available in the short term. They would love to hear from any of our graduates who are interested in teaching kids in Shanghai. The new schools look really exciting, with Smart Boards and Disney movie-themed classrooms.

We have created a network for graduates to keep in touch and participate in our expanding international community through The Boston Language Institute Group on Facebook or by contacting us directly.

We wish you a happy and prosperous 2009.

Best wishes,
Team TEFL

President's
Message