Olivia is from Bloomington-Normal, IL. She speaks English and Spanish and holds a B.A. in Language Studies and TESL/TEFL certificate from Indiana State University. She enjoys TESOL because it gives her the opportunity to meet people from different cultures. She did a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Mexico and has most recently taught in an ESL program at a community college. She is excited to get to know the Washington, DC area and all it has to offer!

Jordan graduated from St. Olaf college with a BA in Classics, which is a study of Latin and Ancient Greek. Her final two years of college she studied German in Berlin, Spanish in Quito, and Indonesian in Malang. She currently works as a TA for Academic Writing for Graduate Students. 

Jennifer earned her B.A. in French at Lynchburg College with the idea of joining the foreign service but instead became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. She taught EFL for three years in Oued Zem and Rabat. Upon close of service, she assisted in efforts to place the first computers in Peace Corps offices around the world. From there, she went on to manage computer software documentation and training groups for a civil engineering company and for NASA’s Office of Space Flight. Jennifer finally returned to TESOL after staying at home to raise her young children. She has been teaching non-credit part-time and IEP classes at Northern Virginia Community College’s Annandale campus for the past 15 years. Getting a Master’s degree has been an aspiration for a long time, and Jennifer is thrilled to be part of AU’s MA TESOL program. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia with her husband, sons, and three cats. Her passion is making specialty cakes for family and friends.

Mariana is Brazilian and she is interested in language learning. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and English language education from Universidade Federal de Pelotas. After her graduation from college, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and spent one year teaching Portuguese at a community college in New Jersey. Upon completion of her Fulbright program, she returned to Brazil to work as an EFL teacher at a US-Brazil Binational Center in Brasilia. She is back to the US to pursue her MA TESOL degree at AU while working as a Graduate Assistant for the TESOL Office.

Ghislaine was born and raised in Côte D’Ivoire, but her family is from Senegal and Guinée Conakry. When she moved to the USA from Ivory coast in 2006, she had no idea that she would fall in love with teaching. Today she is a third-grade French Immersion teacher for Montgomery County Public Schools. She is a full-time mother, teacher, and grad student who loves cooking, eating and dancing (African Dance). She is looking forward to obtaining her MA TESOL and move up into her teaching career. 

Margaret comes to the AU TESOL program after a career in finance. After graduating from Yale University with a BA in English she worked for WNET Channel 13, the New York City public television station, and subsequently spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley Institutional Investment Management, also in New York. She has taught English with Literacy Volunteers of New York City, the English Speaking Union (NY) and since, moving to DC eight years ago, has volunteered with Reading Partners and currently teaches at Washington English Center. Margaret recently transferred from the AU TESOL certificate program to the MA program and hopes someday to create curriculum combining financial and English language literacy.

Kahla hails from Boothbay Harbor, ME. She graduated from Bowdoin College with a BA in Classical Studies. She studied for a semester in Italy and dearly hopes to return some day to teach English there. After spending a year teaching English online and working as an Americorps member with elementary students, she is thrilled to spend time studying at AU to improve teaching skills and learn more about TESOL.