Teachers and Staff

Brandon helps students and teachers with classes, books, testing, and grades. Brandon has Master of Arts degrees in history and education. He has visited eight countries, plays the piano, builds LEGO, and enjoys science fiction and fantasy!

Diane has a Master of Arts degree in linguistics with a specialization in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She has taught in West Africa, Michigan, and Colorado. She is married and has two children. She and her family enjoy visiting beautiful places in Oregon and camping at national parks in the US.

Miwako was raised in Kumamoto, Japan. She has master’s degree in TESOL and has taught ESL classes. She has a passion for the field of international education and worked as the Assistant Director of the Office of International Students at The University of Texas at San Antonio before moving to Oregon in 2015. She loves reading, crocheting, and walking with her dog.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Sarah Shoemaker has taught English and French for over 25 years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in French, and a Magistère in French language, literature, and civilization from the Sorbonne in Paris. She has traveled extensively, usually for work or study. She has taught English in Switzerland and West Africa and French in US high schools and colleges. Her interests include playing the piano and singing in a university choir.

Lily has a Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Colorado Boulder. She grew up in Portland but lived in and traveled to many other places before moving back to Oregon in 2017. She is married and has three kids. Lily enjoys traveling, camping, and hiking with her family.

Abigail is a teacher for the core English classes as well as for Service Learning. She has a Master of Arts degree in TESOL from Portland State University and enjoys speaking Spanish and a little Hebrew and Chinook Wawa. Abigail loves to learn new languages.

Steve has a Master of Arts degree in TESOL as well as a Bachelor of Arts in history. He lived for several years in Japan teaching English and greatly enjoys spending time with international students. Among his favorite activities are reading, travel, discussing ideas, and collecting good stories.

Sonya has a Master of Arts degree in TESOL from Portland State University and has taught English in Thailand, Estonia, and the U.S. She enjoys exploring other cultures and languages. She likes to sing and is learning to play the cello. Twice a week she can be found paddling up and down the Willamette River with her dragon boat team.

Jessica did her undergraduate degree at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. She studied Japanese and Chinese and later used those languages when living and traveling in Taiwan and Japan. She did her Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2014. She has taught overseas in Taiwan, Qatar, and Vietnam to children and adults. In her free time, she teaches pole fitness and dance and competes in pole sport.