Organisation Chart, Board Members & Teachers

 

OrganiCAIC TESOL CE:TA ENGLISHsation Chart

Not only are our teachers fantastic teachers, they also live interesting lives. In fact, we all do. So learn a little more about our teachers, about your classmates and a little more about yourself.

Academic Staff

Arthur Chiang - Prince of Learning

Well, hello! I’m Arthur and I’ve been involved in the Education and Learning & Development industry for more than 10 years. I have a blend of practising experience in ESL, ESP and academic teaching in public and private schools, teacher education, and the full spectrum of Learning and Development, and Education Quality Assurance works.

I’ve often been described as a ‘people developer’. I enjoy grooming emerging educators into high performers – especially in the areas of classroom teaching/training, curriculum design and development. Because of my strengths in visioning and influencing, I’ve also successfully expanded business portfolios by identifying new opportunities, synergising resources and collaborating with key stakeholders. What tingles me most is my ability to overcome challenges of working with people of diverse personalities (sometimes quirky!) – getting them to put aside their differences to achieve the common end goal.

On a personal note, I’m an animal lover, with a soft spot for the homeless ‘furry kids’.  Their easy contentment with the simple things in life is something that everyone could learn from.

Hazel Westney-  Diploma in TESOL, University of Cambridge CELTA

Two years ago a Japanese student taught me the saying, “ichigo ichie,” which can be translated as “treasure every encounter.”
It isn’t easy to learn a new language, but the classroom can be a caring community, a place where we can build confidence and learn from each other. As a teacher, it is wonderful to see students use new language to share ideas, stories, traditions, experiences, and hopes with new friends from all over the world.

As a younger person, I studied music, art history, English literature, and philosophy at the City University of New York and State University of New York. After working for charitable organizations for many years (in San Francisco and New York) as an administrator, manager, writer, and editor, I earned the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (University of Cambridge) and started teaching. I have also completed the professional development courses, “Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching” (University of Southampton) and “Professional Practices for English Language Teaching” (British Council). As a lifelong musician, I particularly enjoy teaching pronunciation and natural speech. My personal interests include the performing and visual arts, hiking, gardening, and, of course, travel!!

Why not . . . open the door and enter the classroom?  “ichigo, ichie”

Linda Barnes - University of Cambridge CELTA

In previous jobs I have taught children art and ceramics, worked for the government and served a pint or two of lager. Once I started teaching English I knew I had found the perfect job, I am very lucky to enjoy what I do. What I love most about teaching are the amazing people I meet and their interesting stories. I enjoy getting to know my students and we have a lot of fun in class as that is definitely the best way to learn.

Outside of work I love travelling, art, wine and have been known to knit a thing or two. I’m South African but I have also lived in England, Australia and now Singapore.

I teach the following: Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Mimi Engstrom - BA in English, Diploma in Teaching.

I started my teaching career straight out of university moving from Florida, USA to taking up a post in Japan.  It was an incredible adventure being on my own and immersed in a new culture.  Moving to Singapore has enabled me to learn more about the diversity of people and the melting of cultures in one place.  I’ve been able to teach both children and adults over the course of the years as a teacher of English as a second language.  I gained new insights and skills after taking up the Cambridge International diploma for Teacher and Trainers in 2013.  What I enjoy most is getting to know the students. Every student, no matter what their background, comes together to gain new insight and improve their English skills.  We have fun sharing in the process.

Things I love outside of the classroom are: walking and hiking, baking, and various hand-crafts and occasionally poetry.  I have also been volunteering for a non-profit organization called Room To Read to promote global literacy since 2009.

I teach the following: Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation.

Donna Donald

I teach the following:  Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Celeste Choo – University of Cambridge CELTA; NTU Bachelors in Accountancy (Hons)

A chapter ago, I worked full-time in finance and part-time in teaching. In this current chapter, it’s flipped. I enjoy helping students acquire growth, confidence and knowledge, thereby, enriching lives in the process. Also, nothing entices me more than a challenge, which is why I enjoy creating and teaching exciting events and courses found only at CA International College.

In my spare time, I travel, dabble in photography, and mimic tunes and languages with parrot-like ease. Aside from that, I’m a qualified swim coach and my youngest students are 6-month-old babies.

I teach the following: Certificate in General and Conversational English, Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English, and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Zee Ryan

Fresh out of university, I decided to take on an English teaching job in Istanbul, Turkey to give myself a chance to experience living outside Singapore for a few years. Never did I realise I would enjoy teaching English as a Foreign Language to adults so much that I couldn’t find the same pleasure in any of the other jobs I had tried upon returning to Singapore.

So here I am – almost 10 years of teaching later. I love helping students learn useful language skills that they could use in their daily lives. My favourite courses to teach include Conversation and Grammar.

I teach the following:  Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Ruth Li - BA Psychology, CELTA

I started my teaching career after several years of being a homemaker and serving in various volunteer positions. I moved to Singapore in 2008 with my Chinese American husband and have been raising two bilingual and bicultural kids here.

On this journey of motherhood, I have also become conversationally fluent in Mandarin myself, and as a result had the opportunity to get to know many amazing educators and friends who I never would have known if I didn’t learn their language. I love connecting with people from different backgrounds, learning about different cultures, and learning about different ways that people see the world. Now that my children are a little older, becoming an English teacher was a natural career choice for me.

Outside of teaching I also love reading, writing, sewing, and the great outdoors.

I teach the following:  Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Richard Rowe - BA in Philosophy , University of Cambridge CELTA

Although I’ve spent most of the last 20 years working as a consultant in the Telecommunications industry, my educational background is quite a bit different. I have a Bachelors degree in Philosophy from one of the oldest universities in the US. I spent much of my youth studying selections from the spectrum of eastern and western philosophy. Logic led to computers; which led to networks, which led to telecommunications.

A couple of years ago, I earned my(CELTA) with an eye towards an active retirement. When the time came, I planned to spend my days teaching English to students somewhere in Indonesia. I took up teaching evenings while consulting full time as a way to get valuable classroom experience. Teaching has never been exhausting in the way that corporate consulting was. Even after the longest day consulting, I always felt energized by interacting with students. I have since given up on the corporate world to focus on teaching – its much more satisfying and I can’t imagine going back.

In my free time, I’m refitting a sailing yacht which I one day, hope to sail around the Indonesian archipelago. The specialized language employed on a sailboat harks back to an earlier age and it has fascinated me since I was a teenager. I also spend time tutoring and entertaining my two young children Isaac and Asha.

I teach the following:  Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Shamus Choy - MA in Applied Linguistics, BA in Liberal Arts, CELTA, ACTA

Before entering the teaching profession, I worked as a copywriter for 15 years, producing marketing and corporate communication materials in English and Chinese. Most often, I lent my writing skills to creative agencies, crafting contents for brochures, magazines, commemorative books, annual reports, websites, electronic mailer, corporate videos and various other communication tools. Occasionally, I also did translation work between English and Chinese.

For a considerable amount of time, I pondered over the idea that I could put my language skills to better use. I was more interested in helping individuals grow and be more confident of themselves, than slaving away as an accomplice in perpetuating marketing myths for big corporations. Finally, I decided that I should teach. So here I am.

I teach the following:  Certificate in General and Conversational English. Certificate in Conversational English and Pronunciation, Certificate in Workplace English and the Certificate in Pronunciation and Presentation.

Sales and Student Support

Maya - Teacher and Corporate Training Support
Sunny - Korean Student Support
Momoko - Japanese Student Support
Amy - Chinese Student Support

Academic & Examination Board Members

Dr Amy Rashap

Coming soon

Mr Chong Kok Jong

Coming soon

Mr Arthur Elfin Chiang

Coming soon

Directors

Mr Zak Salleh-Chew

Director of Direction

I believe an education centre needs to create an environment where making mistakes is OK.  Just don’t make the same mistakes!

I started this business from basically, my bedroom back in 2007. Within 3 years, I was running a CELTA centre, and taking on the biggest English teaching organisation in Singapore.

I am extremely proud of the journey of the school and most of all the involvement of our  employees in shaping things.  The future of the organisation is exciting with plans to include online teaching and competency based assessment. Culturally, we have and will include our employees in determining more facets of the business that are traditionally done by “senior management”. I do believe in work hard and go home.

All schools claim to be the best. Best teachers, best prices blah blah blah. Are we the best school in Singapore?  I’ll leave it to our students to judge. What I do know is we try our best and we are DEFINITELY different.