NEW DIRECTIONS

Yvonne has always been dedicated to helping Langley become an inclusive community. At age 16, she worked with representatives of the community to establish a Youth Centre in Langley, transforming a barn into a safe community centre. The barn eventually became Langley Community Services, providing Services to youth, seniors, and newcomers to Canada. Yvonne has continued to contribute to the community, working without remuneration as President of two non-profit Societies in Langley and Aldergrove. In 1989, Yvonne established New Directions to continue her vision, maintaining a focus on disadvantaged client groups. Over 24 years, her leadership established programs such as Essential Skills in the Workplace, Women’s Bridging, YES for Youth, LINC and ELSA for Newcomers to Canada, and Parole 2000. The success of New Directions is directly related to the building of teams who share Yvonne’s commitment to ethics, innovation and accountability.

Corinne has been teaching at New Directions since 2001. She has taught ELSA Level 1 to Level 3 as well as an interactive conversation class and is currently teaching a LINC 4 class. Prior experience includes teaching the elementary grades in public schools. She has a B.Ed degree from UBC, a TESL Certificate from TWU and a B.C. College of Teachers Professional Certificate. Corinne enjoys meeting people from around the world and helping newcomers acquire English skills so they feel comfortable in their new community.

Maureen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, as well as obtaining her TESL 2 certificate from the University of the Fraser Valley. She has taught LINC levels one through five in her years at New Directions. Maureen is currently teaching a LINC 4/5 class at the Aldergrove New Directions location in which she strives to bring the highest quality our LINC program can deliver to this growing community. She enjoys working with newcomers to help them become more confident and independent in the community.

Janice Campbell achieved her B.A. (Hons) from Brock University and MCS from Regent College. She completed her TESOL Diploma from VCC. Janice has been teaching ESL for 18 years and has taught ELSA/LINC since 2013 at New Directions. She has taught classes at a variety of levels from LINC 1 to LINC 8 and recently she was teaching Stage 2 Language Instruction at the Open Learning Centre. Her classes are vibrant and full of relevance to today's world and labour market! Janice is also involved in a number of community initiatives including Working Groups for the Langley LIP; she has been an advocate for incorporating a broad range of community speakers in the LINC classroom especially online during COVID.

Melissa lived in Japan for over 10 years where she began teaching EFL at a young age. She completed a Bachelor of Arts with a split major in English and Anthropology at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. Melissa also recently completed her M.A. TESOL at Trinity Western University. She has experience working with all ages and also spent many years teaching Business English to corporate clients. Melissa loves teaching because she likes working with people and learning about different cultures!

Harvinder completed her education in the UK and immigrated to BC in 1996. After completing her TESL and BC Career Development Certificates she joined the New Directions family in 2014. She has also taught LINC for the Peoples Law School and Parenting after Separation for the Boys and Girls Club of BC. Harvinder also completed the English for the Workplace and Job Club Leadership Training.

Anita graduated with a B.A. in English from Trinity Western University in Langley. She went on to obtain her TESL Certificate from Vancouver Community College. She has taught different levels of ESL over the years, but has found her passion in working with the lower levels. Anita has been teaching LINC Pre-Lit - 2 classes since joining the New Directions team in 2016. She loves being creative in helping newcomers build confidence, form friendships and interact in the community as they acquire basic English skills.

Patti pursued teaching English as a Second Language, because she has always been interested in the stories of new comers to Canada. Further to her BA in Speech Pathology, she completed her TESOL certification in 2015 from the University of the Fraser Valley. She began working with New Directions in November of that year. While finishing her certification, she volunteered at English Studies for Life in Canada for 3 years. Interaction with her students is the highlight of her day.

Rebecca is a Teaching and Program Assistant at New Directions. She actively engages the students one on one by offering insight and encouraging participation. Rebecca has helped teach the Pre-Literacy class and finds it both challenging and enjoyable. She also takes pride in assisting with the maintenance of the school.

Kendra has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and a Certificate in TESL, both from the University of British Columbia. She’s been teaching with New Directions since 2018, and is currently teaching the LINC 5 morning class and the LINC 5/6 evening class. She really enjoys getting to know her students and is enthusiastic about helping them meet their goals.

Mike has been teaching for the Open Learning Centre at New Directions since August of 2019. He took his TESOL course in 2019 as well, and has wholeheartedly been enjoying teaching here. At the Open Learning Centre Mike teaches our stage two students at CLB levels 5-8. He hopes to continue helping newcomers in Canada with their English for many years to come.

She was born and educated in the UK. She immigrated to B.C. with her family and their cat and dog in 2006. She teaches morning and afternoon LINC 1/2 classes. She really enjoys being a teacher at New Directions because she meets many, many interesting people. She loves helping students to learn English and she really likes hearing students laughing and singing in her class. She especially likes learning from the New Directions students a she likes to learn about their cultures, families, traditions and skills. During our time of teaching online Rose has been very creative in her teaching techniques for keeping her students interested and safe.

Zeigfried is from the central part of the Philippines. He is a University of Cambridge – England certified teacher of English Language to adults with more than 10 years of international ESL teaching experience. Before coming to Canada, he was a teacher of ESL for 6 years in a university in China and 4 years in Vietnam teaching Vietnamese children and adults. He loves teaching English not only because he is able to help second language learners improve their English skills but also for the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

Long has a Master of Education degree and a TESL certificate from UBC. She has various teaching experience in LINC, business English, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), and general-purpose English for more than fifteen years. Long is passionate about working with new immigrants and providing a space for creativity and experiential learning.

Everyone calls her Ruby. She has a PhD (English) from a prestigious university in India. She earned a PGCTE (Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching English) and is also TESOL Canada certified.Ruby has presented her research papers in universities in Dubai and Canada on Communication skills. She has a rich experience of around 20 years of teaching ESL in India. She is enjoying every bit of her experience teaching English to ESL learners at New Directions. Ruby believes: "A successful teacher should enjoy people, show enthusiasm and excitement in the classroom, and be positive...".

Mana has a B.A in communications. She is an educational assistant in Burnaby and Langley schools districts and she has been an ESL instructor since 2008. Mana immigrated to Canada in 2018 and obtained her Canadian certified TESOL diploma in 2019 from Language Community College in Vancouver. Her experience in teaching English internationally from toddlers to adults, and through all different levels, gave her enough knowledge of different cultures and teaching adaptations. As an immigrant and ESL herself, Mana knows the struggles of learning a new language and fitting in a new yet different environment and culture. all these being said, she knows how to contribute to her community by making a FUN, EFFECTIVE and MOTIVATING learning journey for all the newcomers who are willing to learn English here in New Directions Language school in Langley. Mana always says: “I was born a teacher and am passionate about helping people to unveil their skills and reach their goals."

Jieun was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. She came to Canada in 2020, and her family is currently living in Langley. She was responsible for teaching English to young students for more than four years in her home country. She holds her bachelor's degree in Microbiology in the United States (UT Knoxville). Recently, she completed her Master’s degree in TESOL at Trinity Western University (September 2020- April 2022). Jieun has had an excellent opportunity to teach students from various countries and backgrounds during her graduate coursework and internship. She is currently co-teaching the LINC 1/2 evening class with Zeig. She’s enjoying working with teachers at New Directions and hopes her teaching skills will help students adapt to the Canadian community.

Shari has lived in Langley since she was 3 years old. She has previously worked for Court Services and after having her two daughters she began doing after-school pick up for a local Taekwondo school. Shari started with new Directions in 2008 and is currently the Client Service Coordinator which includes looking after all administrative duties. When she is not at work she is assisting as an Assistant Coach in softball or going for walks with her dog.

Everyone knows her as Lalu. She moved to Canada from a refugee camp in Thailand in 2007. In 2018, she became a Canadian citizen. Currently, she is working at New Directions as a Program Assistant and a Wait-list Coordinator. Lalu helps students with registrations and places them in their classes. She loves working with people because, as she was a refugee herself, it is a wonderful feeling to help others who are new to the community and especially welcome other refugees.

Graciela holds a Bachelor Degree in Graphic Design from Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico. She was working for prestigious corporations in Mexico before coming to Canada. Presently, she is a Project Assistant at the OLC office where she is applying the Kaizen System through out the organization. Graciela enjoys a team-work environment, sharing tasks and assignments in a highly efficient manner. She continually strives to improve her own skills while delivering customer satisfaction to our students.

Jing grew up in a small town in South-East China and moved to Canada with her family in 2014. She started to work at New Directions in January 2019 as our Program Assistant. Jing is helping clients with class registrations, as well as doing a general office work. As a newcomer, she really enjoys life here and is willing to help other newcomers to settle and learn about culture.

Margaret graduated as an adult student from the University of Fraser Valley with a Bachelor degree in Sociology and History. Subsequently, she completed a TESL Certificate program which gave her the opportunity to work as an ESL Tutor for adults. Having grown up in an immigrant family and speaking German as her first language, Margaret enjoys working with Newcomers to Canada and can easily relate to them and understand the challenges facing families as they come to a new culture and learn a new language. As the New Directions Community Events Coordinator, her goal is to reveal the many diverse aspects of our local community to the students by inviting guest speakers to the school and planning a variety of field trips.

Growing up in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, Farah acquired a bachelor’s degree in Dentistry from the University of Baghdad. Then, while gaining much experience in Dentistry, she proceeded to practice as a Dental Surgeon for over 20 years. In November 2013, after working both in Iraq and Oman as a dentist, Farah moved to Canada where she studied at VCC and obtained a Dental Assistant Diploma. More recently, she has obtained her PBLA and CLB Bootcamp certificates. Farah has volunteered at different organizations that help Newcomers in all aspects of life to assist them in the process of integration and settlement in their new community. As a volunteer, she joined New Directions School at the beginning of 2019, helping the Arabic-speaking students in their English studies. At the end of 2019, Farah joined New Directions School as the Child Care Coordinator. She loves her work at New Directions because she gets to meet people from different countrie