ELI had another productive and successful summer session in 1996. One of the main reasons classes went so smoothly was the presence of the talented and enthusiastic summer teachers. The wealth of international teaching experience these new teachers brought with them enriched ELI classrooms.
Two of the teachers started in May. Arriving with her two children, Melody Holm-Terasaki settled into ELI very quickly. Melody, originally from PawPaw, Michigan, has taught in two Asian countries--the Philippines and Japan. Likewise, Clarissa Sayson taught ESL for Samsung Corporation in Seoul, Korea, before joining ELI's summer staff.
In early July, the rest of the summer teaching staff arrived, contributing additional international experience to the Institute. John Fleischauer, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University, has taught English in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. A resident of Portland, Oregon, Daniel Shattell taught at King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Rachel Wolfe had just finished teaching ESL in Almaty, Kazakhstan, having studied Russian since she was fourteen. Ian Palmer joined ELI with varied teaching experience in Algeria, Spain, Portugal and Yemen. Gale Barchus and Catherine Jarvis, who have both taught in Japan, brought their two sons from Austin, Texas, to live with Catherine's parents in Newark for the summer.
"Variety is the spice of life," and these teachers' overseas ESL teaching experiences certainly spiced up life at ELI in the summer of 1996.