Elizabeth d'Anastasio

My name is Elizabeth D’Anastasio. I was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Eastern University in 2003 with a degree in Marketing and Management. Afterwards, I worked for a non-profit organization doing accounting, fundraising, and public relations. Then I discovered a passion for teaching after coaching soccer and substitute teaching at a local public school where I taught preschool for one year. Currently I am working towards a master’s degree in multicultural education.

I have a love for other cultures and traveling. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to travel and do missions work in many areas of Central America. Passionate about the outdoors, my favorite hobbies are hiking, camping, soccer, surfing, running, and horseback riding.

Natural healing, organic foods, living a healthy lifestyle, and roasting coffee are some of my other passions! I am excited to have the opportunity to teach in Korea and experience the culture!

Hajj Bonitto

Haji A. Bonitto was born and raised in New York. Haji has worked in youth related programs since he was the age of fourteen. He started as a tutor for NYC after-school programs. Alongside tutoring, he later became a martial arts Instructor at Victory Martial Arts Academy, were he still holds the record for the second fastest person to ascend to the level of Black Belt. After finishing his Undergraduate, Haji worked in an NYC public elementary school as an Assistant Director for a Beacon After-School Program. He more recently worked as an Internship Coordinator for an NYC public high school.

Besides teaching, Haji has a passion for art and has created logos and designs for small businesses. The NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority has two training programs that use Haji’s designs for their logos.

Haji looks forward to further improving his teaching skills while at the English Village.

Andrew Borucki

Andrew Borucki prefers to be known as Alex.

Through rearing partially in Oregon, and then Arizona, Alex prefers not to be in one location for too long. While pursuing his BA in English (minor in Japanese), Alex traveled to Tokyo as an exchange student. There he developed his flirtatious relationship with the concept of travel. While obtaining a Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language, the desire to travel blossomed from “crush” to “active interest.”

Alex primarily has worked with Adult language learners within Northern Arizona University's Program in Intensive English. A consummate technophile, he hopes to bridge the realms of language learning, and diversionary technology.

Alex's interests include reading up various sociological research, and video games. Long term goals pertain to the development of Korean, Russian and French languages. Short term goals consist of the construction of a videogame corpus for various purposes.

Ivan Broida

I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised on a mountain overlooking the Caribbean sea in the southeast town of Humacao. My family is multicultural: my dad was from Akron, Ohio and my mom is from Hato Rey, the heart of San Juan. I inherited the traveling bug from my dad, and, besides visiting several states in the US, I've also been to Canada, Guatamela, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brasil, the Dominican Republic and Spain.

Traveling aside, my other passions include learning about new cultures and languages, keeping up with current events at home and around the world, reading and photography. I recently graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a Bachelor's Degree in French and I am planning to continue my studies in International Relations.

Charles Clark

My name is Charles M. Clark.  I currently live in Norwalk, California.  I’m married to Chom Sun Clark.  I have traveled to many different countries, Middle East, Italy, Iceland, Vietnam, Taipei, and South Korea.  I’m retired from the United States Air force with 26 years of service.  I have a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Chapman University, a Masters in Business Administration from Webster University and a Masters in Art –TESOL from Irvine University. 

I enjoy golf, reading, listening to R & B music, watching action movies, traveling, working out at the gym, eating, motorcycle riding, company of friends, taking pictures of places I have visited, BBQ’n on the weekends, and the simple pleasures of life.

Aiko Ewing

I was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America. I went to Parkway North High School from 1999 to 2003. I also attended a Japanese school every Saturday from 1990 to 2002. Finally I went to Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. At JSU I received my bachelors’ degree. My major is Sociology and my minor is Physiology.

I have studied Tae Kwon Do my entire life. I started soccer at the age of 12. And I can speak, read, and write Japanese Fluently. Currently I am studying Korean culture and I reside at the Daegu English village.

Jazmin Jones

Jazmin Jones is from Ewing, New Jersey.  She is a super-senior who has recently graduated from The College of New Jersey.  She majored in Elementary Education and Spanish.  Jazmin’s hobbies are travel, reading, cooking, and music.  She hopes to incorporate these hobbies into the teaching curriculum at DGEV.

Family and friends wonder why she is going to teach English in Korea after taking the time to become fluent in Spanish.  In answer, Jazmin states that “I love to travel, and this is as good a reason as any to go to Korea”.  Jazmin’s travels so far have taken her to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Spain. She is excited to have an entire year to immerse herself in the Korean culture.

Monica Sian Jones

Monica Sian Jones is a performer and scholar that seeks a greater understanding of the world, and her place in it, through international and multicultural experiences. She has a Master of Music from the Australian National University and hopes to continue her education in both music and multicultural studies.

A Texan by birth,  Monica Sian hails from Colorado Springs, Colorado. She’s worked as a volunteer literature teacher for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Saturday School, an English tutor for Math Science Upward Bound,  and as an Instructional Paraprofessional at a public elementary school. Her interests in music and world cultures have taken her to Germany, Mexico, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. She’s had the pleasure of singing operatic arias for the Governor-General of Australia, performing at the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival, and singing at Coventry Cathedral.

Monica Sian looks forward to living and working in the Daegu English Village. She believes that the greatest understanding of culture and  language comes from direct interaction and that the  Daegu English Village is the perfect place to achieve such understanding.

Mary Koepp

Mary Koepp, known as “Drama Mary” by the Korean staff, has been on campus both as a teacher and a consultant in the drama curriculum for the summer program and in residence photographer. She now thinks of Korea as her second home and returns to the Village whenever possible. Mary taught English and Social Studies and was a drama coach in middle schools before completing 32 years as an Army officer where many of her assignments involved teaching both young soldiers and hardened veterans. She came to UCCS through the Troops to Teachers Program.

Mary is very active in her home town of Fountain, CO where she sits as vice-chair of the Parks and Recreation Board, and as Board member of Live-well Fountain. She is director of drama and a Sunday School teacher at her church. She is currently balancing her responsibilities as president of the Colorado Springs Symphonic Guild with her desire to be on-site at English Village.

As the most seasoned member of the teaching staff, she feels blessed to be working with such creative teachers and learning new teaching methods and skills.

Courtney Lloyd

I was born in Great Falls, Virginia and have lived there my whole life, except for my college years.  I went to Langley High School in Mclean, Virginia.  My favorite class in high school was band.  I was a part of the Music Honors Society and graduated with a good standing at my high school. 

After high school, I went to college at Virginia Commonwealth University.  At college I studied music education and took many classes on music theory, music history, psychology classes, and elementary education.  I also took standard academic classes, like English, math, American History, and literature.  My primary instrument at school was clarinet with my secondary being in trombone and piano.  I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in May of 2006 with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Musical Studies.

Throughout high school and college, I have held a few jobs in order to earn money and learn responsibility.  I worked for a few restaurants (Starbucks, Olive Garden, California Pizza Kitchen) and learned a lot about customer service.  I am a people person and enjoyed helping people with their needs.

I want to teach the children in South Korea the importance of knowing English.  By teaching them math, science, history and more in English, they will have a better understanding of how the language works.  Teaching the students and getting to know them has been a great experience for me.  I am thrilled to be teaching at the Daegu English Village. 

Steven Lloyd

Steven Lloyd was born and raised in Pocatello Idaho, and graduated from Pocatello Senior High School in 1966, and later, with BS in training, from Idaho State University. He graduated with MEd, 1995, from ISU. He served as an officer, 2LT in the Idaho National Guard and left the service for 11 years, returning in 1988. He spent the following 14 years in military intelligence, as a French linguist, in various units of the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade, Draper (Salt Lake City) Utah, headquarters facility. His military intelligence work provided him the opportunity to work in many French foreign cultures, as well as Japan, South Korea, and Okinawa.

He is divorced and is the father of four older children. Dan, 29, married, who presented him with his first granddaughter, Analea. Joshua, 28, earned bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Idaho, Moscow ID, and is now working in Sacramento CA. Christopher, 23, will complete undergraduate work in 2009 at Idaho State University. Serena, 21, recently married, is a student at Idaho State University.

The English Village provides all of us with a scintillating opportunity to meet many students and encourage them in their pursuit of English improvement skills.

Lenora Majors

The life of Lenora Majors has been a journey characterized by education and travel. Born in West Virginia, she began her first traveling experiences during child hood after her military father received and fulfilled assignments in Japan and several other US cities. She received her first multicultural experiences by attending a DOD school in a military base near Tokyo. After the military, her family settled in Los Angeles, California where she attended Los Angeles City College and subsequently graduated from UCLA with a BA and MA in Spanish and a teaching certificate in education. She attended the University of Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico and the Instituto de San Jose El Viejo in Antigua, Guatemala for further study in Spanish Conversation. After beginning her teaching career at University High School In Los Angeles, she continued to teach Spanish and ESL to middle and adult school students in the Inglewood Unified School District in California.

In an effort to extend her educational, multicultural, and traveling experiences, she joined Delta Airlines and became an international flight attendant /in-flight trainer. She flew on routes throughout the Caribbean, North and South America, Europe, and Asia from the base cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and finally her home base of Atlanta. Additionally, she participated in Delta Airlines’ code share agreements with both Swiss Air and VarigBrazilian Airlines. Both programs required advanced training and in-flight participation between Zurich/Geneva , Switzerland , Rio de Janeiro/ Sao Paulo, Brazil and New York’s JFK airport. As an instruction designer/trainer for Delta, she designed training programs that helped other flight attendants meet FAA standards for European and Asian routes on wide-bodied aircraft.

She is a lifelong learner and committed educator who received a Ph.D. in Education: School Library and Media Studies at Georgia State University In Atlanta. In addition to tutoring in ESL, she taught Spanish, and Instructional Design at Benedict College, Columbia South Carolina, Troy University and Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Anastasia Maxwell

Anastasia has a passion for teaching, traveling, languages, language acquisition research, music, and yoga.  She graduated from The Florida State University with a BA in Music and Spanish in 2003 and a Masters degree in Multilingual/Multicultural Education in 2007.  She began her PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics also at Florida State and plans to transfer to a university overseas or in the northeastern US next year. 

She began her teaching career in elementary and high school and after completing her masters, taught at Florida State at Center for Intensive English Studies and for the Spanish department.  She has traveled though most of Western Europe and most recently has returned from a brief teaching stint at an English institute in Peru where she served as the Academic Director.  While she loves and misses the culture and life of South America, she is excited to explore a completely new culture, language, and experience in South Korea. 

She speaks Spanish, is a student in Italian, can speak a little French and hopes to acquire German.  Of course while living in Korea, she is excited to try and add Korean to her list of languages to learn.  While at the village, Anastasia hopes to research language acquisition of different scripts and gather further information of how they are stored in the brain.

Jo-Ellen Mesa

Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, Jo-Ellen has lived in Colorado since the great year of 1984, where she lived in the Rocky Mountains and worked in the ski industry for 12 years. She has lived in Colorado Springs for the past 12 years and worked the past 20 years within the domestic and international tourism/hospitality industries. She has over 20 years experience in international business, sales, marketing and public relations, to include participation in organizing three World Cup sporting competitions.

Being a "true vagabond" in her heart and a linguist major at college, she has lived several years in Belgium, Germany and Guatemala and has a passion for international cultures, languages, people and geography. Jo-Ellen played 4 years of professional basketball in Europe, where her teams won the Championship of Germany and Championship of Belgium.

Having taught German, sports and dance in the past, she is looking forward to returning to teaching, learning the Korean language and meeting its wonderful people!

Donald Moreno

Donald (Don) E. Moreno is a former musician and logistician who recently accepted retirement after serving 27 years in an active duty status with the United States Army and North Carolina Army National Guard. During this time, he completed assignments with the 82nd Airborne Division Band at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 2nd Infantry Division Band in South Korea and the 440th Army Band at Morrisville, North Carolina. While serving with these distinguished musical organizations, he performed concerts across the continental United States to include Texas, New York, Florida, South Carolina and Alabama. Subsequent musical tours included good will performances in Casablanca, Kingdom of Morocco in Africa and the nation of Costa Rica in the Caribbean. Born on March 20, 1956, Donald and his four brothers and one sister, grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina in Cumberland County.  His mother and stepfather have long worked in various industries in the Fayetteville-Fort Bragg area and have entered retirement themselves recently.

He attended public elementary school in the Cumberland County school district and began his college career at the private Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. After studying music privately for two years at Methodist University, he auditioned for and was accepted into the Army Band Program. Performance venues included various community festivals, institutions and audiences as assignments were given to include public schools, colleges and civic auditoriums as concert schedules permitted.

While assigned to the Republic of South Korea, he began study in the humanities through the University of Maryland.  Here he began study in the cultural heritage of the Korean people and their subsequent struggles to establish and maintain cultural identity through the difficulties of war and oppression imposed by larger and wealthier neighbors. He determined that much of the success was not only through the determination of the Korean people but supported by vigorous institutions including the educational institutions. The importance of the educational institutions to the support and maintenance of society and culture became clearer.  His study included work with faculty members from the University of Seoul. During this time his passion for learning was nourished.  Further, insight into cultural differences and potential pathways to cooperation was gained and the similarities of the educational processes and pedagogy in an international environment were examined.

In addition to a passion for education and learning, his interest in instrumental and vocal music is maintained through performing in community groups and personal enjoyment. His performances in the community venue have included concerts with the Triangle Clarinet Choir, Fayetteville Community Band and the Cumberland County and Fayetteville Community Choruses.  He believes that through empowering and activating the imagination, along with providing appropriate resources, knowledge construction is enabled and realized. As well, the love, desire and need for learning is recognized. He acknowledges the necessity and responsibility to transmit acquired knowledge to subsequent generations.

Lex Reis

Lex Reis began his career as an Assistant Scooper at Lippert's Ice Cream Parlor in Walnut Creek, California. Since then, he has acquired more than 30 years' experience in journalism, public relations and ESL teaching. As Washington, D.C. correspondent for a major group broadcaster, and later as Principal Writer for ABC News's Washignton, D.C., bureau, Lex interviewed U.S. Presidents and other leaders, and covered The White House, The Pentagon, and Capitol Hill.

Later, he formed his own public relations and crisis management consulting firm in Seattle, Washington, where he advised senior executives of some of the nation's largest corporations. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from California State University, a Cambridge CELTA Certificate from International House, Madrid, Spain, and an Advanced TOEFL Certificate from CETPRO, Arequipa, Peru. He has taught ESL in Spain, The Russian Federation, and Peru, and has travelled to more than 30 countries.

A private pilot and SCUBA diver, Lex enjoys the cuisine of many nations, but has most recently acquired a taste for barbequed guinea pig, a Peruvian delicacy.

Amy Roberts

My most recent accomplishment is a Ph.D. in Underwater Basket Weaving from the University of Atlantis.  I don’t want to sound like education is my only passion in life; my hobbies include singing, opera, skydiving, practicing wind sprints, and I am an avid rare coin collector.  A friend and I are working on starting an old-fashioned matchmaking service, which will take me away from my side business as a professional poker player. 

Did that get your attention?  That is the false side of Amy Roberts written by some of my whacky friends.  The real Amy has B.A.’s in Spanish & Communications and recently completed her M.A. in Education with a focus on TESOL.  Huzzah!!!  I enjoy swing, Latin, ballroom dancing, practical jokes, flamingos, coffee, and a good book.  I also enjoy studying Spanish and Portuguese… now I get to add Korean.  I expect to enjoy some wonderful times learning about Korean food and the culture; the first thing I packed was my hiking boots since South Korea is a great place to hike.

I love to go visit places, and I love tramping around ruins in Central America in the heat and humidity.  Hopefully, exploring Korea will be just as much fun, and a great way to lose weight.

An anchor for me is my involvement in church and the strength that faith brings.  Additionally I am a cosmetologist. I love classic movies from the 1940’s & 50’s, and I love jewelry, particularly platinum, and my favorite board game is Loaded Questions. 

Martha Straw

Martha Straw was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and has lived in Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Colorado.

Her first experience living abroad was in Valladolid, Spain with The Experiment in International Living in 1974. During her studies at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, she attended the University of Madrid for her junior year, and then graduated with a B.A. in Spanish in 1978.  After fulfilling her teaching requirements at Minot State University, she taught high school Spanish for a year before starting her own Spanish teaching business.

TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling®) is her favorite language acquisition methodology.

She enjoys exploring cultures.  She is eager to experience life in Korea, especially the music, food, and language.  Her spare time has been spent visiting with family and friends, reading, traveling, and trying many activities at least once.  Past adventures include running a marathon, training and racing sled-dogs, fire walking, and doing a ropes course challenge.

While teaching at the Daegu English Village and living in Korea she hopes to foster mutual cultural understanding through personal interactions with students, colleagues, and new friends.

Alexis Terrell

Alexis Terrell originally hails from McKinney, Texas, but most recently lived in Vail, Colorado. Some Vail locals said she was taking up space in this mountain-resort town because she didn't ski. What she did do was practice her Spanish on a regular basis, teaching English to recent immigrants. While in Colorado, she taught mostly high school to Latino youths and was a dedicated volunteer with The Literacy Project.

She and her husband moved to Colorado for newspaper jobs after Alexis earned her master's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois. She also has a bachelor's degree in English from Midwestern State University and is working toward another master's in linguistically diverse education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Alexis loves teaching students from around the world as it gives her the chance to learn about other cultures while sharing her own.

Matt Terrell

Matt Terrell is a former crime reporter, music columnist and obituary writer from Wichita Falls, Texas. His life was surrounded by death, blood and mayhem until he moved to Vail, Colorado, a place where snow covers all evil, the locals told him. He covered education, environment and local town government until he and his wife, Alexis, decided they needed a change of scenery and moved to South Korea.

His wife, Alexis, also teaches at the Daegu English Village, and Matt often gets a funny feeling when she watches him teach. In his free time, he enjoys reading all the books they forgot to make him read in college and hiking during the summer. He also obsesses over music, as long as it doesn't involve a harpsichord.