Staff

Bruce has been Director (Academic) of International Programs since 2004 where he oversees programming and instruction. Bruce is interested in how language support can be tailored to meet the needs of both international and domestic English language learners in post-secondary contexts. His research interests include specific purposes language assessment, content language integrated learning, translanguaging, and reliability and validity issues in language assessment.

Tyson Seburn has been with the International Programs office since 2010 as Lead Instructor, Sessional Lecturer, and Assistant Academic Director. In the latter, he oversees academic administrative systems, teachers, and course curricula for all programs. He has led committees for local and international teacher association committees, particularly TESL Toronto, IATEFL (International Association for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language), and New College’s New Pedagogy roundtable sessions. His personal and professional experiences have led him to focus his research on Queer and racialised perspectives in English language teaching and learning, and thus ways to change practices and materials for a more inclusive experience.

With nearly 15 years of experience in English language education, Stephen began his career as a teacher in South Korea after completing his B.A. After seven wonderful years, he returned to Canada to further his studies and continue his career as an English language educator in the post-secondary sector. Prior to joining the IFP, Stephen taught English for Academic Purposes in the GTA at George Brown College and Seneca College, as well as in China for short-term teaching projects. Now, as the Program Advisor, Stephen provides support to all IFP students in their academic journeys by sharing his expertise and experiences in English language learning and higher education.

Chiharu has been with the International Programs team since 2019. In her role, Chiharu assists in academic administration, managing inventory and records, and handles enquiries from students and instructors. Outside the office, she’s known as the “walking vintage dictionary” and enjoys yoga, photography and café hopping!

Janine Rivière has been teaching EAP and undergraduate History courses at universities in Canada and Australia for over 10 years. She received her PhD in History from the University of Toronto and is the Lead Course Instructor of the University Skills and Strategies course in the IFP. Rivière has published widely on the cultural history of dreams and nightmares in the early modern period. Her book – Dreams in Early Modern England – was published by Routledge in June 2017.

John McGaughey has been teaching English for academic purposes (EAP) for over 15 years at universities in Canada and in South Korea.  His research interests include Vygotskian sociocultural theory and activity theory in understanding second language teaching/learning, teacher and learner identity and the first-year international ESL student experience; language policy and planning as well as translanguaging in EAP classes.

Kerstin Sandstrom has been an ESL professional for more than 20 years. She began her focus on EAP in 2008, and has been teaching at the University of Toronto for the last nine years. Kerstin is currently the Lead Instructor for Academic Listening and Speaking with the University of Toronto’s IFP program. In this role, she has developed a focus on curriculum and assessment design, as well as invigorating the speaking elements of the course by introducing vocabulary for production, speaking mechanics, and Academic Listening Circles.

Alexandra Guerson has been teaching world history in the IFP since 2010, where she gets to combine both her expertise in history with her past experience as an international student. At New College, she also coordinates New One: Learning without Borders.

After teaching EFL and American Drama in Japanese universities, Ai has been teaching EAP in Canada for 10 years. She is particularly interested in student growth, self-reflection, and wellness. Pursing ever more possibilities for creative classroom environments, she has been implementing sustained silent reading and self-reflective writing times in her classes. When not teaching, she is an avid piano player and a passionate theatre-goer.

Alice has taught EAP for over ten years in universities in Canada and the Middle East, primarily within academic reading and writing.  Her area of interest is critical pedagogy and the sociocultural, political and educational contexts of students that impact learning in the classroom.  She is also interested in teacher development and contributes to this as a board member of TESL Toronto. She has helped to organize conferences such as T4T and TOSCON with the board.  Her other teaching experiences include business English, IELTS prep, and general English to newcomers and refugees in Canada and overseas. She is a language learner of Korean and Arabic.

Arlene has been an instructor of Academic Listening and Speaking for many years.  In her quest to develop listener autonomy, she strives to assist her students with the deep metacognitive processes of listening whereby they might notice where they normally would not and then looking at evidence of that learning in their speaking and writing.  Arlene has taught ESL to Newcomer adults and Business Communications in the college system. In the corporate sector, she has facilitated courses in socio-cultural communication as well as Occupation Specific Language Training for Accounting and Finance, harnessing from her many years with IBM Canada, Ltd.

Çağrı develops outcome-based, student-centred curricula taught at his direction, using the latest online teaching tools. His interests span theoretical, applied and computational linguistics. His research focuses on syntax, first and second language acquisition, and language documentation. He has been teaching EAP and ESL for more than a decade in Canada, Japan and China. He also works on the interplay between data science and linguistics. Çağrı strives to make sure that his courses are informed by theory, practice and technology in order to deliver a well-rounded, 21st century education to his students.

Cat teaches Critical Reading and Writing for the International Foundations Program at the University of Toronto. Her research is focused on the evaluation of online platforms and their affordances to further academic writing in higher education. Currently, Cat’s projects include exploring writer commentary on evidence and collaborating on creating an evidence-based pedagogical approach to categorize comment types.

My fascination for education started when I was a child attending innovative alternative schools in Toronto, and after twenty-odd years of teaching, my interest in effective, critical, and learner-centred pedagogy continues to grow. As a teacher I value active learning, social justice, mutual trust and respect, humor, and kindness. Of particular scholarly interest lately has been the relationship between learner and teacher identity, autonomy, and motivation. When not teaching, I enjoy singing (ok, yes, sometimes while teaching too), and designing maps of imaginary places.

Interested in learning about different cultures and acquiring new languages herself, Claire has taught EFL in a variety of countries in South America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.  For the past seven years, she has been teaching ESL and EAP for both the ELP and the IFP programs at U of T. She has also developed curricula for the Trinity College exams, the MELAB and IELTS tests. From working with foreign students from various L1 backgrounds, she is interested in how to successfully change fossilized pronunciation features.

Conttia Lai has taught Academic Reading and Writing in the IFP since 2015. Prior to teaching at New College, she taught academic and professional English to undergraduate students at the University of Hong Kong and academic writing to graduate students at the University of Toronto. She has a PhD in Language and Literacies Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. She specializes her research in academic writing practices of international students, learner motivation and autonomy, and self-directed language learning.

Fiore has been teaching English as a Second Language for over 10 years. For the last 5 years, he has been teaching EAP reading and writing courses at both the University of Toronto and Humber College. Fiore has been a TESOL practicum sponsor teacher, and he has also developed curriculum for Humber College courses for Speaking and Pronunciation, and a UofT ROTMAN Commerce preparation course. Fiore’s interests include providing individualized support for students through the Learning Support Program with the goal of helping students improve pronunciation and writing skills.

Jeannie has taught EAP for over ten years in Canadian universities. She has both developed and instructed university bridging programs for first-year economic and engineering students. Jeannie teaches academic listening and speaking with a focus on presentation, note-taking and lecture listening skills. She also teaches a business writing/communication course at York University. Jeannie has specialized training in and has tutored students with acquired brain injuries (ABI).

With 30 years of experience in public and private sector education, I am passionate about language teaching in all its forms. I am particularly focused on the way EAP intersects with cultural equity and social justice. My current interests include test design and the construction of PLNs through social media. .

Nermine Abd Elkader has a special interest in ontological dialogue as an approach to transformative education. She believes that such dialogue is needed and often overlooked in second language teaching. It is especially important in EAP which prepares students to be linguistically competent in a post secondary setting. With some of the most recent approaches-such as Plurilingualism and Critical Pedagogy- emerging in EAP, Nermine is interested to see how she can incorporate Dialogic Pedagogy into these approaches to achieve a deeper and more equitable EAP education.

Rebecca (she/her) has taught writing, research, and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at universities in the United States and Toronto for the past 20 years. She has also worked as a journalist, textbook writer, exam designer, online course designer, writing centre manager, diversity consultant, and illustrator. Her work inside and outside of the classroom informs her research interests in formative feedback, critical thinking, creativity, and equity.

Tracy specialises in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and has taught at universities in Southeast Asia and Toronto for the past 20 years.  Her main research interests include information literacy skills in EAP, specifically the ability of students to incorporate outside sources in their academic writing and the language learning/affective benefits of extensive reading in EAP programs.

Zoltan has over ten years  years of experience teaching ESL to students from a variety of cultures and countries; he has taught in Canada, Spain, Hungary and the UK. For the past eight  years he has been working as an EAP instructor in the International Foundation Program (IFP) at the University of Toronto during the September-April academic year. During the summer breaks, Zoltan  combines his love of travel and teaching by working as a pre-sessional university tutor at various UK universities. His particular  area of interest  within EAP is vocabulary  acquisition and learning strategies.