Spring International - Arapahoe Faculty

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STUDENTS FACULTY FACULTY-LITTLETON FACULTY-DENVER ALUMNI


		Pambos Polycarpou, President Pambos, originally from Cyprus, was a Fulbright Exchange Scholar at Colorado College where he graduated with a B.A. in English Literature. He received an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language and a M.Ed. in English Education at the University of Arizona. He also completed course work for a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education at Indiana University. He is one of the founders of Spring International Language Center. He enjoys skiing and travel.

	A R A P A H O E C E N T E R
	All of our full-time instructors hold advanced degrees or have completed special coursework in English as a second language, linguistics, or a related field. They have an average of 12 years experience teaching foreign students in the United States and abroad.

		Ivy Atlas, Part-Time Instructor M.A., Applied Linguistics/TESOL, University of South Florida B.A. Communications and French, State University of new York at Oswego

		Susan Blahut, Instructor Susan Blahut has a B.A. in Intercultural Communications and finished two years of graduate studies in Linguistics at the University of Kansas. After having lived and worked in Germany for 11 years, she has recently moved back to the U.S. Although she enjoyed her time in Europe and teaching primarily German students, she is excited to be back in the international classroom after so many years.

		Shirlaine Castellino, Instructor and Faculty Coordinator Shirlaine has B.A. and M.A. degrees from Silliman University in the Philippines. She holds an additional MATESL from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to four years of teaching at Silliman University, Shirlaine was Composition Coordinator and teaching associate at the Intensive English Institute, University of Illinois for three years. After moving to Colorado, Shirlaine worked as ESL Coordinator at the Asian Pacific Center. Shirlaine loves to sing, plays the guitar, and travels the world with her family.

		Patricia H. Cate, Instructor M.A. in English as a Second Language-Curriculum Development University of Colorado at Denver B.A. in Spanish and French, Vanderbilt University

		Lily Delaney, Instructor Lily Delaney has B.A. in Speech Communications from the University of Nevada Reno, and an M.A in Linguistics with a concentration in TESOL from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her interest in teaching came from her experience tutoring English in Spain. Since then she has tutored and taught English in Portland, Oregon and the Denver area. Lily enjoys traveling, and has traveled to Mexico, Costa Rica, and parts of Europe and Asia including Thailand where her family lives. She also enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, camping, and biking.

		Nicole Esteve, Executive Assistant, DSO Niki has a B.A. degree in Sociology from Mesa State College. Before Spring she was an International Student Advisor and Registrar at another Intensive English program. Prior to that, she taught English in Madrid, Spain for four years. Her hobbies include photography, snowboarding and travel.

		Becky Griffin, Instructor Becky Griffin holds an M.A. degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and Intercultural studies from Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina, and a B.S. degree in Bible and General Studies, also from CIU. She has taught ESOL, ESP, and EAP at Seminole Community College in the Orlando, Florida area, and has also taught American and British literature in Language Arts through ESOL at the senior high school level. Becky enjoys cooking, attending community and cultural festivals, hiking and exploring beautiful Colorado, and traveling and meeting people from other cultures around the world.

		Missy Hull, Housing Coordinator With an A.A. degree from Arapahoe Community College and a B.A. degree from Metropolitan State in Administration of Justice, Missy has worked in a counseling center for troubled adolescents and has volunteered with a program for developmentally disabled persons. Her hobbies include bike riding, hockey mom, movies and travel. She lived in Egypt for four years and has traveled in Europe and the Middle East. She has worked for Spring International since 1997.

		Gunilla Johnson, Instructor Gunilla has B.A. and M.A. degrees in Languages and Education from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she was born and raised. She moved to the States in 1987, having lived in Colorado ever since. Languages have been a passion for Gunilla since a very young age, and she is fluent in Swedish and French in addition to English. German, Spanish and Latin are also languages that she has studied, and she understands Norwegian and Danish as well. Gunilla has taught French, Swedish, and German for several years, but has devoted most of her career to ESL, teaching at four other ESL schools in the Denver area. She has found ESL to be the most exciting subject to teach thanks to the wonderful ESL students, whom she shares many language learning and cross-cultural experiences. Learning about other cultures is another excitement for Gunilla, and she enjoys traveling and meeting people from all over the world.

		Elaine Kusulas, Instructor Elaine has a B.S. and M.A. from the University of Colorado at Denver in addition to graduate classes in English as a Second Language. Elaine has taught for more than 30 years and was an elementary science teacher before joining Spring International. Recently she has taught vocabulary, listening and speaking, and reading at Spring International. She has also taught classes in Modern Greek for many years to all levels of students.

		Constance Lederer, Instructor Constance is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she earned a BA in Geography and an MA in Classical Antiquity. She has spent the last 25 years teaching in a variety of places on a variety of topics, including high schools in Denver, teaching English in Japan, and teaching Latin and Greek at ACC. She was born in New York but lived in Iran and Italy until the age of 18. She loves the outdoors, and her hobbies include biking and hiking in the Colorado mountains.

		Alice Roussel, Instructor Alice has an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, where she lived and worked as an ESL teacher before moving to Denver. She has taught General/Academic English, Business English and IELTS exam preparation for over 8 years in Canada, China and Australia. She enjoys traveling, cooking (and eating!), and meeting people from other cultures.

		Kim Maksymovich, Instructor Kim grew up in the Denver/Littleton area. She lived in Kobe, Japan for seven years, where she taught English, and elementary and high school. She likes to read, hike, travel, and scuba dive.

		Debby McBride, Office Assistant Debby has studied at the University of Idaho and Arapahoe Community College. She was the executive assistant at Spring International when it began on the Auraria campus. She currently hosts students for Spring at Arapahoe and is a Sales Director with Mary Kay Cosmetics, a direct sales company.

		Colleen McGovern, Instructor Colleen has many years of experience teaching and administering ESL programs both in the United States and abroad in Hungary, Tunisia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the United States, she has taught at the University of Denver, the Economics Institute, Boulder, and the International English Center at the University of Colorado. She has an M.F.A. in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University in Boulder; an M.A. in International Studies from Ohio University, and a B.A. in English from the University of Northern Iowa.

		Jessica Miklich, Part-Time Instructor Jessica, a Colorado native, holds a B.A. in English Literature from Metropolitan State College, and is currently taking TESOL graduate classes at the University of Colorado at Denver. She has been teaching at Spring International for nearly three years. She particularly enjoys learning about cultures, reading, and has traveled to 20 countries with an ambition to learn more.

		Linda Miklich, Instructor Linda has been teaching at Spring International centers for several years. Before that she taught in Fairfax County, Virginia. She has taught all levels of English as a second language, including academic English, English for Executives, workplace English, and individualized tutorials. Teacher training is also part of her varied experience. Linda did graduate work at George Mason University and received her bachelor’s degree at Queens College, New York.

		Laura-Elena Moreno, Instructor Laura-Elena Moreno has a Master degree in TESOL from C.W. Post, LIU and is a native New Yorker. She's been teaching ESL for the past 5 years to students from ages 10-65 in both public and private schools. She has lived, studied and traveled in several states and countries around the world. She recently moved to Denver after living and teaching in California, Colombia and is eager to explore this beautiful area.

		Heidi Peterson, Instructor Heidi Peterson has a B.A. in Fine Art and a minor in French from Metropolitan State College. After her studies she decided that living and working in France would be the best way to learn to speak French. As it turned out she fell in love with other cultures, other languages and, decided that being a language teacher (a teacher of English) would be wonderful. Upon her return to the US she began her pursuit of an M.A. degree at the University of Colorado at Denver. This has led to many opportunities to teach and meet individuals from all over the world. She has taught at both Spring Schools in Denver, at CCD and, plenty of workplace English programs. Most recently she was the Director of Education at DPT Business School.

		Susan Polycarpou, Academic Coordinator Susan is a native of Colorado. She majored in German Literature at Colorado College and received her M.A. degree in teaching English as a second language at the University of Arizona. After studying and teaching in Germany, she lived in Cyprus, where she taught English to junior and senior high school students. For the last twenty years she has been teaching in intensive English programs in Colorado. Susan’s interests include reading, movies, hiking, and skiing. She is the co-author of a writing text and a reading text for beginning levels.

		Andy Pulford, Instructor and Testing Coordinator Andy holds an M.A. degree in Intercultural Studies and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Wheaton College and a B.A. Degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Williams Baptist College. In addition to teaching with World Relief DuPage, College of DuPage, Elgin Community College, American Cultural Exchange, and Arkansas State University, he served as the Program Director for the American Cultural Exchange Language Institute at Arkansas State University before joining the Spring International Language Center team. He is happily married and spends a great deal of time with his wife and two children.

		Jessie Rathburn, Instructor Jessie holds a Multi-disciplinary B.A. in Music and Theology and will graduate in May with her Master's in Adult Linguistically Diverse Education from CU Denver. She has taught English in a variety of settings, including public elementary schools, after-school programming, and overseas. Jessie lived and taught in Tikhvin, Russia for a year, and when she returned to the U.S., she moved to Denver and began working with refugees. Jessie loves traveling, biking, running, hiking, skiing, cooking, reading, and playing the piano.

		Tom Rohrbach, Instructor and Computer Specialist Tom received his M.A. degree in Education from the University of New Hampshire in 1978 and a B.A. degree in English from Muhlenberg College in 1976. Tom’s overseas experience includes two years in Japan. He has been teaching with Spring International at both Colorado locations for many years. *2009 Winner of the Presidential Award for Outstanding Contribution to CoTESOL

		Alice Roussel, Instructor Alice has an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, where she lived and worked as an ESL teacher before moving to Denver. She has taught General/Academic English, Business English and IELTS exam preparation for over 8 years in Canada, China and Australia. She enjoys traveling, cooking (and eating!), and meeting people from other cultures.

		Connie Shoemaker, Director Emeritus Connie has a B.A. degree in English and Journalism and an M.A. in English from Colorado State University. She has 25 years of teaching experience in secondary, university and ESL programs, including four years at American University in Cairo, Egypt, in addition to newspaper writing experience in the U.S. and Egypt. Writing and travel are her hobbies. She is one of the founders of Spring International Language Center and the author of four ESL textbooks and a book of poetry.

		Parmelee Welsh, Instructor Parmelee has a B.A. in English, a Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, and is working towards a M.A. in TESOL. She taught in England and at the University of Akron, Ohio before joining Spring International Language Center. Her enthusiasm for teaching ESL comes from a strong interest in the students and their cultures. She has traveled to over 36 countries, but she also likes being home in Colorado enjoying outdoor activities with her family and friends.

		Elly White, Instructor Elly holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Elmira College and a Master of Science degree Reading/Education from the University of Bridgeport. Elly has taught Composition, Humanities, and ESL courses in community colleges in Colorado, Connecticut and California. She has also taught in private language schools and in workforce development and adult education programs. She has worked as a freelance writer and written for media outlets, schools, and the US Navy. She loves to travel, particularly to visit family in Denmark, North Carolina and Maine.


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