THE TEAM
Partner Schools
Carla Cortés - Chilean English Teacher
Carla is a primary school teacher originally from the town of Quillota in the 5th region of Chile. She studied elementary education at the University Andres Bello and went on to study English Pedagogy at La Catolica, in the coastal town Viña del Mar. She has been teaching English for the past 4 years and loves observing how happy and excited students become when they achieve learning goals. She chose this career because she loves languages and knows that inside the classroom positive changes can be made to build a better society. One of her biggest challenges is assessing and supervising the learning process of each child as well as teaching to their needs; with 40 students per class this is extremely difficult. She has been working with Access Inglés since March of 2015 when she started in our partner school, Presidente Eduardo Frei. She has had the chance to work with many volunteers who were very enthusiastic about sharing their language and culture. As native speakers, she believes they are the best resource to develop communication skills and global awareness. In her free time she enjoys riding her bike, listening to music and singing, all at the same time.
Josefa Bravo - Chilean English Teacher
Josefa is originally from Huerchuraba, Santiago and has been teaching English for almost 2 years. She holds a degree in English Foreign Language Pedagogy from the Metropolitan University. Josefa knew she wanted to be a teacher from a young age, and decided to teach English because it gave her a chance to explore her passions, theater, cinema, and travel. Her biggest challenge is motivating the kids to want to learn English, and then inspiring the patience and commitment necessary to do so. She is looking forward to working with AI to create a need to communicate in English in her classroom, helping her students work past the “I don’t understand” stage. In her free time, Josefa likes to read, go to the theater, and watch movies and TV. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends and loves to dance.
Felipe Alvial - Chilean English Teacher
Felipe is a charismatic teacher from a long line of educators. He has been teaching English to the 3rd through 8th grade at our partner school, Republica de Costa Rica, for the past 8 years. Originally from Peñaflor (just outside Santiago), Felipe now lives in Ñuñoa, where he loves spending time at the parks and sidewalk cafes. He studied at the “Universidad Central” in Santiago, and truly has a gift for forming relationships with his students. His biggest challenge in the classroom is getting them to believe that English is an important skill for their lives. When he’s not teaching, Felipe enjoys beekeeping and playing soccer. He is looking forward to having volunteers in his classroom to give students “authentic exposure” to the language.
Annie Valenzuela - Chilean English Teacher
Annie teaches preschool through 5th grade English at the Colegio Republica Costa Rica located in Ñuñoa’s main plaza. She is originally from the city of Temuco in southern Chile, and moved to Santiago to study. She holds a degree in English Literature from the “Universidad de Chile” and went on to study bilingual translation at the North American Chilean Institute and finally English Pedagogy at “Universidad Mayor.” Annie loves working with young children because learning is like a game for them, with lots of singing and arts and crafts. Her biggest challenge is the large class size with which she has to work. “Having volunteers,” she says, “is great because it lowers the teacher to student ratio and really motivates the kids to communicate.” Annie is looking forward to receiving volunteers in her classes this year to make them more fun and dynamic.
Access Inglés Team
Ellen Dizzia - Director
Ellen holds a master’s degree in International Education, with 9 years of experience in the field of teaching English as a foreign language, and 14 years in leadership and management. She has taught a broad range of English students, from beginners to advanced, spanning ages 4 to 65. She served as administrator and coordinator of the English Department in a network of subsidized schools of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago from 2010 to 2013, where she developed a project to improve their programs. Ellen believes strongly in the power of education for social development and the current importance of English in Chile. In June 2013, the U.S. organization World Learning awarded her an Advancing Leaders Fellowship, which helped her transform her work in Chilean schools and found the NGO Access Inglés. Ellen has lived abroad for the last 14 years in various countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.
Lindsay Garvin - Professional Development Mentor
Lindsay lived in the United States her entire life until moving to Santiago, Chile in June of 2014. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa with a double major in Spanish and Education. Lindsay taught English as a Second Language for nine years at the middle school level. In 2010, she graduated with her Master’s Degree in English as a Second Language, and then began teaching at the university level. She has taught ESL endorsement classes for three universities as well as adult ESL at a medical college. Her and her husband, Michael, have been married for ten years. In their free time they enjoy exercising, traveling, and watching American football.
Daniel Guim - Professional Development Mentor
Daniel has been teaching for over ten years. He received his Master of Arts in Teaching from Occidental College in Los Angeles and taught kindergarten, Spanish, and German in Los Angeles and San Diego. Since coming to Chile in 2010, he has taught in Chilean primary and secondary schools, individual and small group classes for adults, two CORFO courses, 3 university courses, private classes for children and teenagers, and has presented workshops for IATEFL and TESOL Chile. Daniel is passionate about sharing effective teaching methods with other teachers and helping people meet their goals in relation to English, whatever they may be.
Nancy Mitchell - Reflective Practice Leader
Nancy holds a Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Educational Linguistics) and has had the privilege of working with learners of all ages and needs on 4 continents. She has always been interested in opportunities for intercultural exchange and has actively engaged in such educational opportunities since her time as an undergraduate resident advisor in the International Living and Learning Center at the University of Kentucky. She then began teaching English in Northern Portugal in 2000 and has since taught in the US, France, and Vietnam. She has lived in Chile since 2012 and is currently training future teachers of English at Universidad Diego Portales.
Dr. Paula Charbonneau-Gowdy - Research & Professional Dialogues
Paula is a Canadian and has been an assistant professor of English as a Foreign Language in teacher training at the Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile since January 2012. She has been involved in education for over 35 years – teaching at all levels of the education system, managing teachers, designing programs and researching. She worked formerly as Senior Advisor in Learning and Technology to the Government of Canada and internationally in the Czech Republic. She has published extensively in learning and technology and presents regularly at national and international conferences. She sees great hope for educational development in Chile, as she has seen elsewhere, through pushing the pedagogical boundaries of social-based technologies to support effective and democratic teaching and learning practices.
Laura Bodien - Volunteer Coordinator
Currently an English professor at La Universidad Catolica, Laura began her time here in Chile working as a “profesora” in a school in Calera de Tango. She arrived to Chile after completing an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Theology and a Master’s in Education. Over the past several years Laura has developed a passion for teaching as a vehicle to inspire students and change lives. She is a firm believer in dynamic, innovative approaches to education that motivate students to love learning. Her latest projects include heading the process of gleaning "best practices" in primary and secondary school English programs in the effort to offer sustainable solutions for long-term program improvement.
Joseph VanderZee - Volunteer Support
Joseph fell in love with Latin America through opportunities to study history in Lima and Mexico City during his undergraduate years. After pursuing his interest in teaching with Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education, he worked with a small education technology consulting firm in his hometown of Grand Rapids, MI (USA). He is excited to combine the lessons learned from all of those opportunities to promote modern learning and 21st century skills in Chile, especially in the context of English language learning. He is currently developing an innovative English Experience Hub for students and teachers at the Colegios Padre Hurtado y Juanita de los Andes.
Susan Mackert - Website Administrator
Susan (Susie) is a certified English teacher and Social Worker from Washington, D.C. She earned her master's degree in Social Work and bachelor's in Psychology, and likes to understand people and help others learn and grow. This project is important to her as she greatly values quality education and opportunity for all students, regardless of socioeconomic background. Susie enjoys traveling with family and friends, games, movies and music, cute animals, practicing Spanish, and playing soccer and tennis. After residing in Santiago for a few months, she returned to her hometown and started working as a Bilingual Therapist, primarily for children and families.
NGO Board of Directors
President: Ellen Dizzia
Ellen holds a master’s degree in International Education, with 9 years of experience in the field of teaching English as a foreign language, and 14 years in leadership and management. She has taught a broad range of English students, from beginners to advanced, spanning ages 4 to 65. She served as administrator and coordinator of the English Department in a network of subsidized schools of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago from 2010 to 2013, where she developed a project to improve their programs. Ellen believes strongly in the power of education for social development and the current importance of English in Chile. In June 2013, the U.S. organization World Learning awarded her an Advancing Leaders Fellowship, which helped her transform her work in Chilean schools and found the NGO Access Inglés. Ellen has lived abroad for the last 14 years in various countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.
Vice President: Rodrigo Castro
Rodrigo is a lawyer with four years of experience. He has worked in various companies, primarily developing projects linked to the legal field and the advising on contract management, study regulations, trademark inscription and registration, and labor negotiations, among others. He is self-taught in English, a process which led him to understand the difference that exists in the lives of those who master the English language and those who do not. Rodrigo thinks that education in general is the key to positive change in his country, and that English is an especially valuable tool in this process as it allows people to communicate, connect, and expand their limits in all spheres of life.
Secretary: Nick Knight
Nick is originally from England, however he spent most of his childhood in Latin America and Asia. He has called Chile home for nearly 15 years. Since becoming certified in teaching English to adults (CELTA) in Barcelona in 2000, Nick now runs his own language teaching and translation business in Santiago, and is dedicated to English language skill building in the Chilean community. The success of his classes results from his passion for teaching, concern for his clients’ progress, and personalized service, which begins with a detailed analysis of needs before the training begins. His clients over the last two years have included major players from the Banking, Education, Retail, Construction, Aviation, Medicine, Agriculture, IT, and media industries. He has also worked in photography for nearly 20 years, and when he’s not teaching English he is likely snapping photos in and around Santiago.
Treasurer: Daniela Herrera
Daniela has her degree in education and is a K-8 teacher specializing in language. She has worked in schools and other educational centers over the past three years, but has participated in the education system all her life, first as a student, then as a teacher. Her attraction to teaching is to help build a society that is more equitable and with more opportunities, so that children and adolescents are provided with the tools they need to achieve their dreams. Daniela believes in the importance of Access Inglés, because it enables educators to help students learn to communicate in a second language, to expand their dreams and professional development both nationally and internationally.