Meet the Ticino regional ambassador Nicole Jaks

I 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, I moved to Switzerland, settled in the sunny region of Ticino and completed an MEd in International Education with an ESL specialization in 2012. Besides teaching English since 1997, I’ve also taught Geography in Italian at public middle schools in Ticino as well as “Chat and Cook” classes to English language learners. Currently I’m working towards my teaching certificate for Swiss vocational schools at the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (EHB/IUFFP), and am teaching EFL at SPSE Tenero (Commercial Professional School for Elite Athletes) and adult classes for the canton. An active member of ETAS since 2006, I’ve held the Regional Coordinator position for Ticino. In my free time, I’m a full-time hockey mom for my two sons, Aleksander (1999) and Krystian (2002).