Shivani J.

Shivani is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts in Performance Studies. She also has a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology and Psychology. In the past, Shivani has worked extensively as a dance and Taekwondo instructor for younger children as well as a camp counsellor for kids aged 6-12. Shivani enjoys designing leadership and personal development curriculums for educational and non-profit institutions, specifically designed for primary junior and middle school students. She loves creating unique programs that combine education and play to encourage children to be an active participant in their education!

LAURA L.

Laura has over 10 years of teaching and tutoring experience in a variety of environments, from elementary through to high school. She has also taught ESL locally and abroad. She has experience working with students within a wide range of learning abilities, and works compassionately with students wherever they are at. Laura holds a Masters degree, and is a certified Early Childhood Educator. She is interested in learning about and participating in efforts towards social justice.

ANDREW F.

Andrew Flynn has a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from McGill University and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Carleton University. He spent 25 years as a working journalist at the Montreal Gazette, The Canadian Press, The National Post, and Business News Network. He has covered sports, entertainment, political news, world events, business, finance, and economics as a reporter and senior editor. He also spent three years as Communications Director in the financial sector. Andrew currently teaches in the Media Communications department at Humber College. On top of all of that, he is currently creator, executive producer, and head writer on a television show currently in development. He spends his (very limited) downtime playing piano and guitar and coaching minor hockey.

ELNAZ H.

Elnaz completed her Bachelor of Science degree at York University. She has completed her MCAT exam and has applied to medical schools across Ontario for the 2021 year. Elnaz has more than 7 years of private tutoring experience, as well as experience working with ESL students.

Elnaz is passionate about teaching and hopes to empower and motivate her students through active communication and mutual decision making. Elnaz believes in working collaboratively with students to improve the skills they will need to succeed in their academic and non-academic lives – such as time management, leadership, and communication skills.

Furthermore, Elnaz is an outgoing and energetic person. She likes to play piano and sing in her spare time. She is also a painter, and an aspiring cartoonist.

ALLIE C.

Allie is an Ontario Certified Teacher with a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology and Education. With over 10 years of experience in the field of education, Allie has taught Grades 1, 2 and 5 and currently teaches Grade 3 in Toronto. Alongside teaching her own class, she is also a Special Education Resource Teacher for students in kindergarten to Grade 8. Allie strongly believes that every child is capable of success. She works closely with each student to provide individualized support and active encouragement which is reinforced by establishing and maintaining close communication with families. Allie is dedicated to teaching the holistic student and creates engaging lessons that are centred around students’ interests and experiences. In her free time, Allie enjoys travelling, painting, dancing, and reading as many books as she possibly can. Though during the school year, she can usually be found on the couch with Netflix and her dog, Charlie.

IVOR H.

Ivor has taught and tutored both in America and overseas. In Bhutan, he taught English at the primary level (Early Learning Centre) and English and Creative Writing at the college level (Royal Thimphu College). In America, he has worked at The Bronxville School for the past several years and has tutored both middle school and high school students.

Ivor holds degrees from Vassar College (BA in English), Columbia University (MA in Journalism) and CUNY-Lehman College (MA in Education).

He has also written for such publications as The New York Times, BBC World Service, Medium, Time Out New York, and is the author of Life on the Ledge. His essay, “Allure of the Ledge”, appears in New York Stories: The Best of the “City Section” of The New York Times.

Abi S.

Abi is an Ontario Certified Teacher who is qualified to teach both Primary and Junior grades, and also was awarded Qualified Teacher Status in the UK. She received her Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus, with a double major in English (Co-op Program) and Sociology. After graduating in 2012, she went on to earn her Bachelor of Education with First Class Standing & Dean’s List Honours from Lakehead University’s Thunder Bay Campus, before working at Oxford Learning Centres as both a Learning Coach and the Little Readers’ Program Teacher, where she enjoyed engaging her students in a variety of ways, incorporating music and art in order to reinforce learning and foster joy during lessons. She also worked at the City of Toronto’s Fort York National Historic Site, as a Support Assistant, before moving to London, England, to work as a Primary School Teacher for three years. In the UK, she worked collaboratively with other teachers and across Year groups as she planned and delivered detailed lessons to children from 4 to 12 years of age.

Abi continually strives to be a source of positivity and aims to motivate her students to always try their best and work as hard as possible to achieve all of their dreams and goals. She hopes to instil within her students a life-long passion for learning, and inspire curiosity, as well as provide them with a sense of self-reliance and self-confidence in all areas of study and life. Her primary focus is to ensure that her students feel safe and comfortable in their learning environment, so that they feel as if they can have fun and enjoy themselves as they learn.

In addition to her commitment to her students and education, Abi enjoys reading books, watching films and tv shows, and going on long walks with her dog, River. She dearly loves spending time with her large extended family, and is known as the fun ‘aunt’ to many of her cousins’ young children. She is also an avid traveller, who has travelled to over 30 countries already, and thoroughly enjoys exploring new places and going on spontaneous adventures with friends. She loves music and art and museums, and especially castles, so she loves visiting as many art galleries and museums as possible on her travels around the world and also at home in Toronto!

COURTNEY N.

Hi my name is Courtney. I have been working in the education profession for around nine years, seven years as a French educational assistant and I am currently one of the Physical Education teacher at Amber Trails. I have a Bachelor of Physical Education with a minor in biology, however math, social studies, and French have been some of my stronger school subjects. I am fluent in French as I was in Immersion until grade 12, took a couple university level classes, and I currently keep my abilities up to date by taking night classes offered by the University of St. Boniface. I love working with children and being a teacher has always been my dream job. I am reliable, hard working, and friendly.

CHRISTOPHER G.

Christopher is a Ph.D candidate at the University of Manitoba, specializing in the medical humanities, with extensive background in English language and literature, creative writing, philosophy, history, and religious studies.

BREANNE VDB.

Breanne Van Den Breemen is a fifth year Concurrent Education student at Brock University with teachable subjects in English and history. Breanne has experience teaching at the primary, junior and intermediate levels across all subjects, with a keen interest in social sciences and English. Additionally, she has a background in music. Breanne has a passion for working with students of all ability levels and has a high degree of organizational skills. She lives on a farm that her family owns and enjoys working with the animals on the farm in her free time.