Hilary loves working with students from all around the world, helping them to get comfortable in their new home. She has spent her whole life connecting with people from other cultures, whether as a nurse, traveler or teacher. She lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for two years and speaks Spanish. She enjoys helping students find volunteer placements in Ithaca so that they can practice their English and make new friends! She has a Masters degree in Primary Care Nursing. hboyer.ode@gmail.com 

Liz loves teaching English! She started teaching as a substitute and summer teacher, which led her to pursue a Masters in Education (English as a Second Langauge) from SUNY Cortland (where she studied with Sasha). She enjoys meeting students from all over the world, and is humbled and inspired by her students’ cheerful perseverance through the difficulties of learning a new language, and kindness they share with her and their classmates. Liz enjoys helping students connect to the Ithaca community through guest speakers and field trips, and finding fun ways to practice English in class. esusmann.ode@gmail.com

Juanita (Nita) fell in love with teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages while teaching in the Migrant Education Program in Homestead, Florida. Her degree in TESOL and her  Masters in Reading Education strengthen her passions for adult literacy, pronunciation, and communication in a new language. She also loves helping ESL students learn what they need (math, history, science, and English reading and writing) to complete their High School Equivalency. jwebershirk.ode@gmail.com 

Mary found her dream job of teaching ESL four years ago. She loves meeting students from around the world and learning about their cultures and their lives. She has done many other jobs in her life. She has been an activist, an apple picker, a writer, and a farmer. She led over 50 workshops about conflict resolution, some in Ithaca and some in New York State prisons. She is committed to justice in all forms. She brings these themes into her classroom and especially loves teaching about the lives of famous US activists for justice. When she is not teaching, she is gardening, sewing or hiking in the beautiful Finger Lakes. mloehr.ode@gmail.com 

Donna was looking for a way to support herself while living in a different culture.  She moved to China for 2 years in her 20’s and discovered many new worlds, among them the fabulous job of teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.  She has a Masters in Nutrition Education from Cornell and an ESOL certificate from CELTA. She enjoys seeing students’ worlds open up as they gain language skills and cultural awareness and go out and enrich their communities.  She loves learning much from students and their stories and going on field trips. dstauffer.ode@gmail.com 

Sasha fell in love with teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages while working at a school in Guayaquil, Ecuador, strengthening her practice with a Masters in Education (Secondary Education) from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Education (English as a Second Language) from SUNY Cortland.  Her passions include connecting students to resources and experiences in the community that will help them reach their goals, and helping students navigate new personal and cultural experiences that they encounter in a new country. sendo.ode@gmail.com 

Evvie’s first experiences in ESOL classrooms were as a volunteer and substitute teacher. She loved working with students and these experiences led her to teach at Open Doors. Evvie enjoys creating new materials in many formats to fit her students’ needs and helping students find resources in and connections with the Ithaca community. ehalpert.ode@gmail.com 

Joshua has been teaching English off and on for the past 15 years, across four continents, to speakers of many different languages.  He has a Trinity College certified TESOL from the UK, speaks English, Chinese, French, and Swahili, and is a constant student himself as well as a teacher.  In his private life he is an artist, and he aims to create lessons that are student-driven, dynamic and participatory, covering a wide variety of topics that are not only educational, but also interesting and engaging.  He thinks language learning is great fun (what a nerd!), and tries every day to spread that enthusiasm to his students. jorkin.ode@gmail.com 

Rachel moved to Ithaca from Florida in 2020, and trained as an ESL teacher during the pandemic. Her first teaching assignment with Open Doors English was in the summer of 2022. Rachel has had a life full of variety. She has been a church musician, a community mediator, a conflict-resolution trainer in prisons, an archaeology field tech, a paralegal, and a dog trainer. She loves teaching English to adults, and brings a natural warmth and enthusiasm to the classroom. She’s very grateful to be part of the Open Doors English family. rwilson.ode@gmail.com 

Melissa is an artist who had been teaching art in Brooklyn when she moved to Ithaca in 2006.  She volunteered with ODE at the start of 2023 and developed a quick attachment to the warm community of staff and students, prompting her to make a leap from teaching art to teaching English.  She brings a love of experimentation and creativity to the classroom and makes it her goal to help students find satisfying ways to express themselves, their experiences, and their individual perspectives.  Combining her two enthusiasms, Melissa has recently received a grant from Cornell to start a new class at ODE where students experiment with making art while simultaneously developing their English Language skills.

 mzarem.ode@gmail.com