Regional Coordinators (RCs)
Baden
Caroline Rickli
Caroline hails from Johannesburg, South Africa and moved to Zurich with her husband in 2001. After working commercially in Zurich she started teaching in 2004. She has been living in a quieter village on the edge of a forest in the Baden area since 2012 and loves it. Caroline holds a master's degree in TESOL from a university in the UK and her main interests are teaching writing, writing feedback and educational psychology. A lot of her teaching time is taken up with teaching the Cambridge exam suite and she works for vocational schools and in-company.
Basel
Guadalupe Salazar
Guadalupe grew up in sunny California where she studied Anthropology and taught the subject at San José State University. She to Switzerland with her Swiss family in 2015 and took her CELTA in Basel in 2016. She now manages the English team at a private school in Basel and continues to teach.
Bern/Neuchâtel
Ben Hoyt
While there have been many stops along the way (Dallas, Phoenix, Chicago, San Francisco, Dublin and Geneva), Ben finally feels at home in Bern. His first career was in computer animation and video games but now he prefers telling stories and engaging imaginations in the classroom. He's been teaching ESL and EFL since 2008 and received an MA TESOL in 2015. After many years working independently and for private schools, he now teaches at the tertiary level. He co-organises a monthly teacher discussion group for teachers in and around Bern to get together and discuss issues that impact their work, their careers and their students: ELT Springboard.
Central Switzerland
Vacant
Geneva
Rachael Harris
Rachael comes from Nottingham, England. She has taught English as a foreign language for over twenty years, after starting with business and ESP classes and she now teaches young learners and teens in a French speaking secondary and primary school where she has produced the SEN policy statement as well as being external examinations and Advanced English coordinator. Rachael enjoys publishing articles for various EFL publication and giving workshops at EFL conferences.
@fabenglishteach
www.fabenglishideas.wordpress.com
Karen Greaney
Karen is originally from Ireland and has been teaching English for over 16 years. She has recently started working as a CELTA tutor and is a Cambridge examiner. She specialises in teaching business and general English in International Organisations.
Graubünden
Vacant
Olten/Solothurn
Vacant
St. Gallen
Vacant
Ticino
Nicole Jaks
Nicole Jaks was born in Chicago, Illinois but grew up in Delaware, Connecticut, Texas, California, Arizona and São Paulo, Brazil. After graduating from UCLA with a BA in Geography and Environmental Science, she moved to Switzerland where she married a Swiss-Czech and settled in the sunny region of Ticino. In 2012, she completed a MEd in International Education with an ESL specialization. She is currently working towards her teaching certificate for Swiss vocational schools at the EHB/ IUFFP (Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training). Nicole has been teaching English since 1997 and has experience in teaching Geography in Italian at public middle schools in Ticino as well as "Chat and Cook" classes to English language learners. She currently teaches EFL at SPSE Tenero (Commercial Professional School for Élite Athletes), CPC Lugano (Commercial Professional School), and adult classes for the Canton. She has been an active member of ETAS since 2006 where she has held the position as regional coordinator for Ticino. In her freetime, she is a full-time hockey mom for her two sons, Aleksander (1999) and Krystian (2002).
Valais
Vacant
Vaud
Sharon Acton
Sharon hails from Los Angeles. After completing a BA in French and a Masters in International Management, she switched gears from business to teaching. She taught high school French and Life Sciences in California before moving to Switzerland in 2001. Once here, teaching EFL was a logical transition. Beginning with a stint in various Yverdon-les-Bains secondary schools, Sharon moved on in 2006 to her current position at the University of Lausanne’s Language Center. She finished her MA TESOL from University of London in 2013. All in all, she’s been a teacher for 25 years, with over 15 years dedicated to EFL. Her teaching focuses are Academic skills, Business English, and TOEFL exam preparation, and special interests include CALL, writing skills, and classroom dynamics.
Sonia Spenlehauer
A graduate of the Pedagogical University of Foreign Languages in Armenia, Sonia has had a varied work history in many fast-paced international environments. With experience in the fields of education, public relations, travel, administration, governmental organizations, and NGOs, Sonia identifies her true passion as teaching. In 2013, she founded her private language center, “VSchool,” in Moudon (VD), which offers English instruction for all levels from Beginners to Post-Proficiency; designs courses for specific professional purposes such as Business and Medicine; and is an official trainer for Cambridge examinations. Sonia's interests also extend to helping humanitarian organizations. See http://www.my-vschool.ch/ for information on her language center.
Zürich/Winterthur
Angela Mercado
Angela was born in Patagonia, Argentina where she studied to become an English teacher. In 2011 she moved to Switzerland and continued teaching Spanish and English. To broaden her teaching skills, she took CELTA and is now busy with DELTA. Her professional interests include Business English, English for Specific Purposes and professional development.
Eric Berthoud-Jury
After volunteer teaching English on the side led to a M.Ed. in LSLS. Eric moved to Switzerland in 2017 and began teaching English full-time. He currently works for a private language school based in Zürich.