Host Participants




Maspalomas Dunes

NAME:  José Rodríguez (organiser)

INSTITUTION:

Official  Language School of Maspalomas (EOI Maspalomas)

COUNTRY:  Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÈ:

I have been teaching for twelve years so far; I began in Secondary Education in the year 2000, where I spent six years. I spent one year in the USA (Palm Beach, Florida) as a teacher of ESOL (English for Students of Other Languages). In the last years I have been teaching English within the Official Language School network. Apart from teaching, I have also been Head of Department, and at the moment I hold the post of Secretary at EOI Maspalomas. I am into European programmes: I have participated in the Comenius Programme and in two Study Visits (Norway and Turkey), and at the moment I am fully involved in our Study Visit "How to Integrate ICT and Foreign Language Teaching in Language Schools in Spain".

CONTACT:
________________________________________________________________________________



Valsequillo (centre of the island)

 NAME:  María Jesús González Márquez

INSTITUTION:

Official  Language School of Telde (EOI Telde)

COUNTRY:  Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÈ:

I have worked as an English teacher for fifteen years now. My teaching career started in 1996, when I began to work as a lecturer at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). There I taught general English as well as Pragmatics (a branch of Linguistics dealing with meaning in context) until 2004 and it was during that time span that I obtained a PhD in Linguistics. The year 2004 was a turning point in my life as I decided to switch from being a university lecturer and researcher to teaching English at Official Language Schools, where I have been employed up to now. While working at these state schools, I held the post of Head of the English Department on two ocassions, during three academic years (2005-7 and 2008-9). Over the past three years I have also been engaged in the preparation and development of two blended-learning English courses, which I have taught for three years at Advanced Levels 1 and 2 at the Official Language School of Telde, where I am currently working.

CONTACT: 

_________________________________________________________________

NAME: Miguel Ángel Suárez López

Alfredo Kraus Auditorium-Las Palmas de GC

INSTITUTION: Official Language School of Maspalomas
COUNTRY: Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÉ: I have worked as an English teacher at Official Language Schools for seven years. In 2003, after I graduated in English Studies, I was given a place as a Spanish Language assistant at King’s School in Tynemouth, UK, where I became fully engaged in the challenging career of teaching.  In 2005, I held the post of Head of English department in EOI Puerto del Rosario and two years later I took up the position of Secretary at EOI Maspalomas. Since 2009 I’ve been the headmaster of this friendly and welcoming school I’m very proud of where I also teach English to Pre-intermediate and Intermediate students.

I’ve taken part in different teacher training programmes: Teacher Development  Course (Canterbury, UK) funded by Spanish Local Education Authorities, Creative Methodology and Language Skills (London)  Grundtvig Programme and at the moment I’m preparing for two study visits, one as a guest participant in Patras (Greece) about teaching languages in formal and non-formal education and our study visit as a host participant.
CONTACT:

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME: Víctor Montesdeoca González
INSTITUTION: EOI Maspalomas
COUNTRY: Spain (host country)
SHORT RESUMÉ: I have been teaching French as a foreign language for 8 years. I have switched from Secondary Education, where I was teaching for 7 years, to Official Language Schools for adults. This is my first year working with adults and it's been a great experience so far. When I finished my studies, I was given a job as an assistant in Toulouse, France, where I taught Spanish for 7 months. After that, I have been teaching French to Spanish students and I have attended some European Comenius courses, in Paris and Montpellier. 

This year, I’m  taking part in a project in which Moodle is used to provide assistance and additional work material to students attending my classes. It is a  new way of teaching which provides a lot of interesting points of view.

CONTACT:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME: Cristina Monti 
INSTITUTION: Official Language School of Maspalomas
COUNTRY: Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÉ: I have worked as an Italian teacher at the Official Language School of Maspalomas for three years. Since 2009, I’m the only member of the department thus in charge of everything related to decision making on the subject (choice of method, definition of program objectives, choice of teaching materials, lessons, organisation of school and cultural activities, assessment process). I’ve taken part in different LLP actions (Study Visit, Grundtvig In-service training and Contact Seminar) and I’m currently coordinating the proposal for a Learning Partnership.

Before moving to Spain and starting my career as a language teacher I’ve been working as “New Media Learning” Project Manager for 4 years in an Italian ICT company. “Sharing through communication” is the key in both experiences: I’m well aware of the role played by innovation and intercultural knowledge in the teaching process and I’m always looking for new and effective approaches to improve my students communicative competence.
CONTACT: 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

NAME:  Julia Talavera Quintana 
INSTITUTION: Official  Language School of Maspalomas
COUNTRY:  Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÈ:

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English Studies in 1990, I started teaching English in 1991. Over the past 20 years, I have been teaching at different Secondary Schools and Official Schools of Languages in Spain and in the USA (Los Angeles, California), where I worked for two years as a primary teacher (Official Bilingual Programme between Spain and USA). I held the position of secretary  in the management team of the school  at EOI Santa María de Guía , Gran Canaria in 2001 and was Head of the English Department at IES Extremadura, Mérida in 2006. In 2009, I was  coordinator of the CLIL project at IES José Zerpa, Gran Canaria. This is my third year teaching at an Official School of Languages in Spain, and my second year at EOI Maspalomas.

Among the teacher training courses and programmes I have attended, it is fitting to point out the following ones: ELT Methodology (Hastings, UK), Innovation Projects in Secondary Education (Extremadura Education Department, Spain), Teaching and ICTs (University of Extremadura, Spain). In 2000, I attained the TESOL and TEFL Certificates (UCLA, California). Some years ago I worked on the creation of a website for primary/secondary students and really enjoyed the experience. Feeling really involved in my job, I keep on teaching with deep and heartfelt enthusiasm, coordinating  innovative projects such as “Virtual Campus EOI Maspalomas” in which we use Moodle as an additional help to our classes. At present I am also collaborating on a Cultural Exchange Project between Simpson College, Iowa (USA) and our school, using the social network Facebook. I’m ready to meet all of you and share experiences and ideas!

CONTACT:
________________________________________________________________________

NAME:  Michael Lord

INSTITUTION: Official  Language School of Guía

COUNTRY:  Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÈ:

During my teaching career, I have taught in language schools in Madrid, secondary schools in England, international secondary schools in Valencia and Gran Canaria, and now at the Official School of Languages in Santa Maria de Guía, in the north of the island, where I am now Head.  Over the years, I have also taught English as a first, second, and foreign language, English Literature and Drama, and given  many workshops to teachers from primary to adult. 

________________________________________________________________________

Maspalomas Dunes

NAME: Rocío Sierra Trapiello

INSTITUTION: Official Language School of Maspalomas

COUNTRY: Spain

SHORT RESUMÉ:

I have worked as a German and English teacher both at Secondary and at Official Language Schools since 2002. Although I have got a Ph. D. in Translation and Interpreting Studies in English and German, since I started teaching at EOI Maspalomas for the first time in 2004, I realised this was the place where I wanted to be and teaching became my first priority.

Apart from teaching, I have always been actively involved in research related to Intercultural Communication. Since 2009 I hold the post of Head Teacher at EOI Maspalomas where I also teach English to Elementary and Upper-Intermediate students.

As my colleagues at EOI Maspalomas, I’ve taken part in a teacher training course in London within the Grundtvig Programme, and at the moment I’m looking forward to welcoming the participants in our study visit organised by José Rodríguez "How to Integrate ICT and Foreign Language Teaching in Language Schools in Spain", as a Host Participant.

CONTACT:

________________________________________________________________________________

NAME:  Mª Esther Pinto Vázquez

INSTITUTION: Official  Language School of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
COUNTRY:  Spain (host country)

SHORT RESUMÈ:

I started teaching English 24 years ago as a native speaker of the language. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in English studies I passed my competitive exams here in The Canary Islands in 2004. I held the post of director of studies in EOI Ingenio for three years and then moved on to EOI Las Palmas de Gran Canaria where I hold the post of deputy Headmaster.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________