In January of 1968, I stepped into a classroom at the Ecole Berlitz in Paris for my first teaching assignment. I had my Elementary Teaching Certificate from the State of Michigan, yet at that time, I was searching for wider horizons for my life. Five years later, I was back in the States with the richness of the experience of teaching EFL at the Ecole Berlitz in France, the British School of Milan, Italy, and the first grade at the International School of Milan.
Having returned to the United States, I was soon teaching 4th grade in an innovative parochial school. From there I moved to a multi-level Italian Bilingual Program, where I taught all ages from Nursery school to 6th grade. Finally, I taught ESL at Northern Essex Community College for 32 years. The time there included a sabbatical as an Interim Academic Director at the Peruvian-North American Institute in Trujillo, Peru and summer-camp teaching at the Suzhou International Foreign Language School in China. All these wonderful years rounded out my ESL career.
Now that I am retired, the English Language Specialist Program has given me the opportunity to train teachers in Togo, survey EFL language teaching in Benin, and develop curriculum and do teacher training in Djibouti. I feel I am continuing on in the great adventure of being a teacher of English.