About Us

The TESL Ontario Blog Project was created because of the TESL Ontario members’ community. In 2013, members made it known that they wished to have a forum to share resources and learn from others’ experiences. Now, in 2014, we are making it happen.

Our Vision

• To provide resources for TESL Ontario members by TESL Ontario members
• To share experiences and educational tips
• To open up dialogue and enhance learning for both students and educators

Who We Are

The blog is administered by Tamsin Cobb, Nancy Van Dorp, Beth Beardall, Michael Karas, and Andrew Shedden, and contains posts from a diverse group of Guest Bloggers.

Tamsin Cobb	Hi, I’m Tamsin Cobb and I am the Blog Manager.  I love blogs: reading them, writing them, and creating them!  Blogs are great ways to share experiences, resources, and passion with people you know and people you may never know. Other nerdy facts about me include creating stationery, romanticizing about ancient and medieval history, and being a word nerd (a wannabe etymologist).
This is me, Nancy Van Dorp,  the Blog Administrator for Occasional Bloggers. I’m crazy for technology and passionate about teaching and learning. You may have seen me around an annual TESL Ontario conference, as I am a trainer and mentor on the LearnIT2Teach project. I enjoy collaborating on projects, and am thrilled that Tamsin and I have joined forces to be the first Blog Administrators that TESL Ontario has every had.My nerdy fact is that I’m hardly ever NOT working with technology. My doctor says it’s a side effect of loving what you do. Who knew?	Nancy Van Dorp
Beth Beardall	Hello fellow TESL Blog enthusiasts, my name is Beth Beardall, and I am the Blog Administrator for Guest Bloggers. I’m really excited to be a part of the TESL Ontario Blog Administrator Team and look forward to a great year. This opportunity brings together 3 of my passions: learning and getting great ideas from others, teaching or tutoring ESL and getting to know people from around the world, and, of course, copy editing and proofreading. I’ve been doing all three both on a volunteer basis and professionally for more than 15 years.In case you were wondering, my other passion is Salsa dancing. Now if only there was a way to incorporate that!
Hello, my name is Michael, and I am the Blog Administrator for Guest Bloggers.  I am currently working on my PhD in the Faculty of Education at Western University. My thesis is focused on language teacher education and teacher preparedness, but I take a general interest in many topics related to TESL, including teacher efficacy, learner silence, and others! I live and teach in Toronto, but I also make the journey to London on a weekly basis to teach at Western while I complete my degree. Before coming home to Canada in 2014, I taught EAP in China for two years. Prior to China, I worked on my Master of Education in TESOL at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. I have also taught in Korea and lived in France. I miss living and teaching abroad, but it’s great to be back home!I enjoy my two roles as a novice researcher and an English teacher and I hope to add my unique perspective to the TESL Ontario Blog.	Michael Karas
Andrew Shedden	Hi! I’m Andrew Shedden. and I’m the IT Administrator & Social Media Lead for the TESL Ontario Blog. Like most people, I fell into ESL by accident. I was preparing to apply for my Master’s in history and decided I wanted to teach in Japan beforehand as a vacation. I got a CELTA degree so I would know what this teaching thing is all about, but one thing led to another and although I never actually made it to Japan as a teacher (or applied for a Master’s program), I’ve been teaching ESL ever since! For the past 5 years, I’ve been in charge of KGIC’s EAP program. I love the focus on academic writing and English, since I can vicariously go back to university through my students. (I do miss it!)  My other professional love is computers. I’ve been obsessed with them since I was 3, and I’m always trying to learn more about how to incorporate them into my program and classes.

This blog is a project of TESL Ontario.