English as a Second Language (ESL)

Academy Resource Center

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Meet the Faculty

Camille Andreacchi
Camille has an MA in Linguistics and a Master's Credential in TESOL. She has taught English and academic writing at universities in the Bay Area for over nine years. When she's not working, she likes to paint and do new media arts. Camille has exhibited her photography in the Bay Area for over a decade.

Adam AvRuskin
Adam AvRuskin has his Masters of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the School for International Training, in Brattleboro Vermont. He has taught ESL in Canada (which is his home), the US, Japan, China, and Turkey. In his spare time, Adam plays ultimate frisbee, and he enjoys traveling, learning new languages, and talking to strangers.

Joy Baker
Joy has been working at AAU since Fall 2002 as an instructor in Fashion Merchandising. She teaches a class called "Merchandising Promotional Strategies" onsite and online. She teaches the Saturday Art Experience classes and the Summer Art Experience classes in Fashion Merchandising. Joy also works with our MFA students doing Directed Studies in Fashion Merchandising and New Product Development. She also works as a support teacher for American and International students, and has study groups with them. Joy is a working artist, painting, showing and selling her art work for at least 20 years.

Alice Clay
Alice graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1991. From 1993 to 2001 she traveled the world. She taught in Athens, Greece; Moscow, Russia; Iizuka & Kanazawa, Japan. In 2001 Alice returned to the USA and started teaching ESL at Academy of Art University. Her hobbies include yoga, hiking, reading, printmaking and alligator wrestling.

Donna Dager
Donna is the Coordinator for the ARC website. She participates as an online support instructor in online classes and as an ESL Support instructor in on campus classes. She has an M.A. in Communications Arts from Vermont College and a B.S. in Education from S.U.N.Y. at Cortland, NY. She specializes in computer and video technologies and has been working with ESL students at the Academy in these areas for many years. Previously she worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in teacher training in Montego Bay, Jamaica, then moved to California from her hometown in upstate New York. She likes to read mystery novels, sing, and swim with giant sea turtles.

Alisa DePalma
Alisa has a BA from The University of California at Santa Barbara and certificates in English Language Teaching to Adults, Global Career Development Facilitation, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. She has taught in Istanbul Turkey as well as locally at the UC Berkeley and SF State Extensions. Alisa has worked at the Academy of Art University in Career Coaching, Corporate Training, and NLP. She likes hiking, travelling, softball, watching and playing Jeopardy and lately the Cash Flow game.

Beverly Edge
Bev has a B.A. in History, an M.A. in Russian Regional Studies and an M.A. in ESL. She has travelled through Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea and has taught in France and Japan. She has studied in Russia and Japan. Bev’s other interests include hiking, bird watching, going to the gym, and shopping in boutiques (she doesn’t like department stores!)

Jane Emley
Jane has a B.A. in Italian and Latin American Studies from U.C. Berkeley and an M.A. in English, from San Francisco State University. She has lived in France and Italy as an exchange student, so she has a lot of empathy for the kinds of challenges our ESL students face when they arrive in the U.S. She loves to travel and is fascinated by foreign languages and other cultures. She has travelled widely throughout Europe and has visited many countries in South and Central America in addition to Mexico and Canada. A goal that she has is to travel around the world before she’s sixty!
Jane loves to garden. She’s passionate about flowers. She reads in her spare time and enjoys hiking, biking, swimming – even rollerblading with the family dog, Blue. Most of all, she loves spending time with her daughter, Amanda, who is a constant source of wonder and joy!

Helen Fraser
Helen has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology (from Portland State University in Oregon) and a Master's Degree in Education from San Francisco State University. Her emphasis was in Adult Education and ESL. She continues to update her ESL teaching skills by taking TESL courses at UC Berkeley Extension, (where she sometimes teaches part time.) Helen has travelled all over Eastern Asia and Western Europe, and she grew up in British Columbia, Canada.
Besides traveling, Helen loves to practice yoga — she also teaches it!, bicycle — she rides hers to work everyday!, hike and camp, and for more around-the-house activities, she enjoys knitting and beading.

Janine Gluud
Janine has an M.A. in TESOL, a B.A. in French, and has been at Academy of Art University for 10 years. She has lived and worked in Mexico, Taiwan, Portugal, and Spain. She’s visited Canada, France, Italy, Egypt, Morocco, England, Scotland, Thailand, Indonesia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, and Denmark. Janine’s interests include cooking, working on the house, gardening, and hiking. She loves to see movies and read.

Michele Hament
Michele was born in New York, and went to Tufts University / Boston Museum School where she received a BFA in painting. Since then, she’s done many different things. She has worked in the field of psychology, worked at a winery, and for many years designed and sold baskets. Eventually she returned to school to get her ESL teaching credential. She has taught ESL in many different places, but her most unusual job was teaching English to Japanese students in a French-speaking village in Switzerland! She likes to garden, travel, cook, see movies (especially foreign films), and make art.

Sheila Hancock-Sheridan
Sheila has an MA in TESOL from the University of Nevada-Reno and an MA in East/West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her BA is in English Literature. Sheila has been teaching ESL since 1988 and has worked in university, community college, and language schools; she has been at the Academy since 2003. She lived in England, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates and has travelled in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Her hobbies are writing, reading, watching films (especially depressing ones), and cooking.

Matt Holbrook
Matt graduated from the College of William and Mary in Virginia with a degree in East Asian Studies. After studying at the National Cheng Chi University in Taiwan and the Beijing Normal University in mainland China, he returned to study Teaching Foreign Languages-Chinese at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Matt has travelled to 25 countries, lived in 3 countries and taught English or Chinese in 3. He is also in the Navy Reserve.
When he’s not working, Matt is playing with his kids or enjoying his wife's company. He spends his scant free time practicing Tai Chi, hunting, fishing, scuba diving, watching movies or working around the house. He is also constantly studying new things: computers, languages, beer making, wine tasting, and boating.

Penny Hondrogen
Penny has a B.A. in Communication from the University of New Hampshire, and an M.A. in TOEFL from S.F.S.U. She has lived in San Francisco for the past 17 years. Penny spent 5 months on a Eurail pass traveling through Europe as well as two months of travel in Turkey and Greece. She has also spent a month in the Greek Islands. Having recently bought a house, most of her spare time is spent on fixing up her new home and garden. She also enjoys spending time with her daughter, Melina.

Alex Hosmer
Alex graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor’s degree in English Language Studies and a Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. He has volunteered with Refugee Transitions, an organization which offers ESL tutoring to recent immigrants to San Francisco. He has taught ESL at U.C. Berkeley’s Extension in San Francisco, and he has taught ESL at the Academy of Art University since 1999. He has traveled to China with his wife on two separate occasions in order to adopt two beautiful baby girls. He enjoys dancing with his wife, especially the Argentine tango and Salsa Rueda. Doing any kind of dance with his daughters makes his day!

Lisa Hsu
Lisa was born in Taiwan but immigrated to the SF Bay Area when she was eight years old. She has a B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language and a Certificate in Teaching Composition from San Francisco State University (SFSU). She has been involved in education on many fronts, from teaching ESL in Bay Area colleges and the SFSU American Language Institute to tutoring to serving in AmeriCorps National Service. Her goal as an educator is to build bridges—by equipping students with the skills they need to get from where they are to where they want to be. Lisa thoroughly enjoys swimming and international traveling. Her favorite quote is "Do one thing every day that scares you." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Richard La Rose
Richard La Rose received his M.A. from the University of San Francisco in TESOL and has taught at several Bay Area universities. He lived in Spain for many years where he taught ESL and Communication Skills at universities and in the official state-run language school system. He is originally from New Orleans and in his free time enjoys reading, cooking, classical music and gardening.

Bob McDonald, ESL Department Director
Bob studied American Literature at Boston U. and U.C. Santa Cruz as an undergraduate. While trying to figure out who he was, he attended The California Culinary Academy. Upon graduation, Bob never cooked professionally again. He then went on to receive an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from San Francisco State.
Bob has travelled extensively through Asia, Europe and Latin America, with the most recent trips being to Cuba. He settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina for two years to teach English. Bob’s hobbies include basketball, jogging, reading good novels, and playing poker.

Laura Messina
Laura has a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine (Social Ecology) and an M.A. from San Francisco State University (TESOL). Prior to working at the Academy of Art University, she worked at the American Language Institute teaching reading and writing to international students. She also taught reading and composition in the ESL Department at San Francisco State University. Laura lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for many years, and speaks Spanish fluently. She has travelled to London, Paris, and all over the United States. She loves to travel and wishes she could do more of it. Laura enjoys eating foods from different cultures. During her free time she enjoys gardening, reading, cooking, hiking, and traveling.

Crystal Miller
Crystal has degrees from San Francisco State University, King’s College England, and the Academy of Art University. She is an ESL instructor and support instructor. Originally from Compton California, Crystal has recently worked at Lucasfilm Ltd. and has taught for three years in the English and Reading Departments at San Francisco State University. In her spare time she likes to direct and edit music videos, work out, take hip hop dance class, cruise her custom lowrider, visit her family and friends, and shop.

James J. O'Hara
Jim was born in New York and spent the first 17 years of his life in Schenectady, where he attended public school before moving to New England for college. During the next five years at Brown University, he also hitchhiked across the U.S. and spent a year as an exchange student in Germany. Two years later, he joined the Peace Corps and later worked as a teacher trainer in both Indonesia and Thailand. Jim returned to the U.S. in 1988, worked for a year in the Minnesota public schools, and then moved to the Bay Area, where he received his M.A. from U.C. Berkeley in 1992. His experience includes several years as an ESL teacher at the Academy of Art University, Golden Gate University, and the adult schools and community colleges of the East Bay and San Francisco. He is married and has a daughter and a son, two dogs, and numerous other "exotic" pets.

Jyoti Paintel
Jyoti is a Bay Area native. She received her B.A. in Political Science/Art History from San Diego State University and her M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language with an emphasis in Educational Technology from the University of San Francisco. In her free time she loves to travel and experience life in other cultures. She also likes to spend time in the ocean as long as it’s warm water!

Amy Parker
Amy has been an ESL teacher for almost 20 years with experience overseas and here in San Francisco. She started teaching as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco and received a master's in Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language from San Francisco State University when she came back home. She loves to travel and has been to Europe, Mexico and Japan so far. She loves meeting people, reading, watching movies, cooking, working out and hanging out with friends!

Michael Schuller
Michael has a B.S. degree in English, an M.A. in English Literature, and a TESL Certificate in Applied Linguistics. He has taught at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris and has travelled to France, Italy, Spain, Central and South America, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
Michael’s other interests include reading, music, movies (especially foreign cinema) and photography.

George Schupp
George has an M.A. in English from San Francisco State University. His teaching experiences in the last decade have included being a substitute teacher in high school and elementary school, teaching disabled adults, and teaching English as a Second Language in Japan and at the Academy of Art University. Currently, George teaches an ESL class, coordinates the Writing Lab, tutors students in writing, and provides language support for students at AAU. His spare-time activities include backpacking, photography, playing the guitar, and gardening.

Simone Scott
Simone Scott received her MA in English: Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and has taught ESL to adults in San Francisco and kids in the Dominican Republic, where she lived for a year and often returns. In addition to teaching writing and ESL at Academy of Art, she teaches literature and composition at San Quentin State Prison. Her short stories have appeared in the Tampa Review and Zyzzyva. When not reading, writing, traveling in the Caribbean and avoiding being eaten alive by the stacks of papers in her room, Simone goes to the ocean to be surrounded by the color blue and watch her dog roll around in things that smell bad.

Amy Shipley
Amy has been teaching for 10 years. She has a Master's degree in English (TESOL) from San Francisco State University. She has a Bachelor's in Rhetoric and Communication and Cultural Anthropology from University California at Davis. She has travelled extensively throughout the world since she was a teenager. Also, she has taught English to Tibetan refugees in Northern India, to students in Japan and adults in Peru.
Amy is extremely active and enjoys physical activities like running, cycling, weight lifting, and martial arts (especially Aikido). She also enjoys artistic endeavors such as writing, beading, and photography.

David Skolnick
David has a Master's Degree in TESOL and a Composition Certificate from SFSU. He also has a Teaching Certificate from George Mason University and a B.A. in History from U. Mass at Amherst. David has been studying and practicing Tai Chi for about 15 years. Next to his wife and daughter, David gets his greatest joy from cooking and baking food for others, followed closely by riding his motorcycle and traveling. He has taught in Taiwan, India, Virginia, and in the Bay Area.

Robert Tindall
Robert is a writer and an inveterate traveller, who before taking up teaching at the Academy of Art spent a year living in the Amazon jungle. He studied the methods used by the shamans to heal with plants and spirits, a book-length account of which is forthcoming. Prior to that, his love of wandering inspired him to walk and publish on the Camino to Santiago, the medieval pilgrimage route across France and Spain. He holds two Master's degrees from San Francisco State University, one in English Literature and the other in ESL. Robert is trying to stay put right now long enough to raise a kitten and a garden.

Anita Walter
Anita has a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts with a double major in English and Journalism, and an M.A. from San Francisco State University in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. She has travelled to Germany, England, France, Italy, Greece, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, and Mexico. She taught ESL in both Mexico and Japan. In Japan she was a teacher trainer as well as an ESL teacher. Anita’s hobbies include hiking, kayaking, and camping, and she is a triathlete. She is also an American Council on Exercise Certified Fitness Trainer.