San Diego Chapter Officers 2022 - 2023
Chapter coordinator: Burcu Chatham
Burcu currently serves as a Vocational ESL instructor at the International Rescue Committee in San Diego, working with adult English learners who are resettling in the US. She graduated from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies with MA in TESOL degree in May 2022, and she also holds an MBA in Healthcare Management degree from Temple University. She volunteered as an ESL instructor for Riverside Literacy Services Program for two years and started the online conversation club sessions as the pandemic hit in 2020. Furthermore, she taught college English courses in South Korea for one academic year and tutored English learners in Turkey. She has been the Treasurer of San Diego CATESOL chapter since 2021. Burcu aims to help adult ESL students reach their life goals in the US. As an immigrant from Turkiye herself, she feels closely connected with her adult English learners and tries to help them by bringing together her academic knowledge, teaching background, and lived immigrant experience as a student, professional, wife and mother in the US.
Assistant Chapter coordinator: Amanda Simons
Amanda's interest in the English language really started in the 6th grade when she became enthralled with diagramming sentences. She continued to love insights into language, while never being very good at learning languages herself. In high school, she studied French and Latin and studied abroad in France. She promptly declared a linguistics major in undergrad, and also co-founded UC San Diego's Linguistics Undergraduate Association (LingUA, and yes: wugs were involved), studied Japanese, and studied abroad at Tsukuba University in Japan. She earned her MA TESOL at San Francisco State University in 2013. Amanda is currently a lecturer in the Linguistics Department at San Diego State University (SDSU), where she teaches general education EAP writing courses for international and immigrant students. At SDSU, she also conducts classroom research, contributes to the EAP writing program's materials and curriculums, and participates in cross-disciplinary campus-wide professional development. She has also taught in private language schools, academic IEPs, and noncredit community college settings. Amanda loves connecting with other instructors, and feels most alive when she can talk and work with her fellow pedagoges about anything related to teaching. Current interests include teacher solidarity and protections, building learner-centered inclusive classrooms, and algorithm-generated writing programs (sometimes called AI writing).
PAST CHAPTER Coordinator / Social Media Manager: Ryane Willis
Ryane started her English language teaching career in Oklahoma and taught for several years at the University of Oklahoma as a full-time instructor in the intensive English program. She completed her Masters of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Anaheim University. She taught at Q International School in downtown San Diego. As a professional development enthusiast, she loves to present at conferences, including the 2018 TESOL convention in Chicago and 2022 CATESOL State Conference in Pasadena. However, she finds the most joy being in the classroom and watching language unfold as students join the English speaking community. Her research interests include: translanguaging, motivation, reflective teaching, project-based learning, and curriculum development. Outside of school, she enjoys being a completely mediocre surfer.
Secretary/associate treasurer - Angie Gozum
Angie has been with UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies since 2016 and is the Program Manager for the TEFL Certificate Program, TEFL courses, ESL credit-bearing courses, and the Au Pair Weekend partnership. She has a Masters in TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and received her Bachelors in Sociology and Theatre Arts from the University of San Diego. Soon after completing her Masters program, she spent 4 months in India training K-5 teachers in effective ESL/EFL teaching practices. Angie was an ESL teacher for 2 years working at UC San Diego Extension's English Language Institute and other private language schools in southern California. After being in the classroom, she moved to working in international education administration and management. Before becoming a Program Manager, Angie worked as an International Student Services Advisor for Extended Studies' International Programs Office.
NEWSLETTER EDITOR & COORDINATOR: KATY BAILEY
Katy earned her BA in French and TESOL at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and her MA in Applied Linguistics at San Diego State. She has served English language learning students of all ages and in a wide variety of contexts, from middle schoolers in South Korea to elderly Chaldean refugees in the city of El Cajon to undergraduate students. Katy loves connecting with students and fellow educators in addition to writing and editing. She currently lectures at San Diego City College and MiraCosta College.
Webmaster: Celeste Coleman
Celeste has been working with English learners in some capacity for two decades. She obtained her MA TESOL from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in 2008. Her past teaching has included work with the children of migrant farmworkers, with the US Peace Corps in Ukraine and the English Language Fellow Program in Albania, and with international students at local universities. She is currently an Academic Coordinator and instructor at CSU San Marcos, where she splits her time between teacher training, teaching international students, and administrative duties. Her presentation topics have included engaging international students in service learning, running an effective short-term TESL/TEFL certificate program, and using tech tools to support students’ self-evaluation of their speaking skills. When she’s not following her passion for helping students use English to meet their goals or sharing this passion with teacher trainees, she can be found chasing her two-year-old and supporting other local organizations such as the San Diego Peace Corps Association and the San Diego Women’s Chorus.
Past coordinator: Lydia sparksworthy
If Lydia had known years ago how satisfying teaching ESL is, she would have gotten an earlier start! She received her BA in French Studies, with additional studies in Japanese, from the University of California at Santa Cruz. After many years working in the book industry she made a career change and earned her teaching credential. She has volunteered in SDCCD’s Continuing Education ESL program and is currently a part time ESL instructor at CEL (College of English Language). Her appreciation for English language learners stems from a love of people and empathy for their challenges in language acquisition and cultural understanding.
