Profiles

Staff Profile: Dolly Desiderio

Often the first smiling face one encounters upon walking through the ELI front door is that of Dolly Desiderio. Her job is sometimes described as "receptionist," "administrative assistant" or even as "Scott's secretary," and Desiderio is all of these things and more.

Dolly Desiderio

Kunie Yamanaka, the session VI class valedictorian, described Desiderio as "my mother." This echoes the sentiments expressed by many other ELI students about someone who represents the heart and soul of ELI.

When asked why she took such a personal interest in students' welfare, Desiderio said, "If my daughter were staying in another country, I would hope someone would be looking out for her." She has invited many students to her home during holidays and semester breaks to offer them home-cooked meals and a taste of American life. Some of these students pay her back in an unusual way. They send Desiderio a little bag of dirt from their native countries after they return to their homes.

Desiderio's collection of dirt from around the world may seem strange at first, but it is actually very fitting. She is a down-to-earth person -- practical and realistic. Her job requires her to deal with hundreds of personalities from dozens of cultures. She seems to have just the right combination of toughness and friendliness needed for the task.

Like the internationally famous movie character Rocky Balboa, Desiderio is from South Philadelphia, an area known for its sense of community and its lack of artificiality. She misses some things about her old neighborhood, especially the convenience of city living and the strong sense of belonging to a community. Nevertheless, Desiderio enjoys living in Newark with her family now, and she is adjusting to small-town life.

It is fortunate for both the students and the Institute that Desiderio's face is usually the first people see when they arrive. The students encounter a kind, caring and knowledgeable person who treats them with respect regardless of the level of their English proficiency. ELI could not have chosen a better person to represent what is best about North American culture -- the value placed on hospitality and friendship.

Faculty Profile: Barbara Morris

Imagine someone who has lived through a revolution, worked as a State Department interpreter, translated a textbook and national constitution, researched a living French author in Paris and volunteered to help rid a Hawaiian state park from invasive plant species.

Barbara Morris

Barbara Morris, a native Delawarean, has been infatuated with all things foreign ever since she took a high school trip to Italy. She holds two Master's degrees, has worked in France, lived in Denmark, and studied and taught extensively in Ethiopia. Yet, if you met her at ELI, you would find her quite unassuming, probably working hard on the annual holiday newsletter now in your hands.

Morris is an accomplished writer who served as an editor of the ELI newsletter for several years before becoming its editor-in-chief in 1995. In addition, she has published numerous articles in local newspapers and contributed to the profession by editing the PennTESOL-East Newsletter from 1995 to 1997 and the TESOL Refugee Concerns Newsletter from 1991 to 1993.

As an ELI instructor, Morris has specialized in technology-based approaches and student service projects, often combining the two. Her advanced-level Desktop Publishing class has produced newsletters, yearbooks and orientation guides for new ELI students. Under her guidance, classes at the intermediate level have surprised themselves by producing videos on such student-centered topics as bicycle safety.

Morris has shared her success in these areas at national and regional TESOL conferences and encouraged her colleagues at ELI to incorporate technology into their own teaching as chair of the technology committee.

Away from work, Morris enjoys foreign movies, hiking and leisurely drives on the country roads surrounding Newark. Her daughter Liabeth completed an internship in environmental conservation in Hawaii and is majoring in biology at Wesleyan University. Morris' dreams for the future include becoming a travel writer, perhaps after retirement, combining her love of travel and writing while visiting her former students.

Tutor Profile: Dorothy Lehman

Which ELI tutor remembers the very beginning of ELI? Dorothy Lehman does. In the spring of 1979, ELI opened in Dover, and some of the staff moved there from the UD Writing Center. More help was needed at the Writing Center, so Lehman joined the center staff as a small class teacher and tutor. The close connection between ELI and the Writing Center has continued for many years, and Lehman has been involved as a tutor in both places, helping Americans and international students to improve their skills.

Dorothy Lehman

Why does Lehman like ELI students? "You can travel around the world and still be home for dinner!" she says with a smile. She keeps in touch with her students, and, with her husband Ken, once visited a Spanish student in Barcelona.

After tutoring hours are over, Lehman enjoys taking classes in conversational French, sailing and working on the family Christmas tree farm on their property. She usually cruises on the family sailboat in the summer and often visits her sisters and parents in her home state of Kentucky.

As with many parents, Lehman's three daughters' experiences have involved her in several new areas. She helped an Iranian classmate of one daughter at school and, as a result, began to learn about the field of teaching English as a second language. Another daughter at age three accidentally fell into a swimming pool but kicked to the surface as she had been taught at a YWCA swim class for toddlers. As a result, Lehman realized the value of such swimming classes for very young children, and she started helping at the YWCA class.

After a few years, when the teacher left, Lehman took over the class. Lehman's journeys have taken her to several countries, and she plans to keep traveling and learning.