Jenny Ginger

Hello! My name is Jenny and I am new to the San Diego area.  I grew up in Portland, Oregon and got my Master's Degree in Education at the University of Oregon in Eugene.  I spent last year teaching English in Seoul, Korea and traveling to many wonderful countries in Asia.  Currently, I work part-time in the mornings here at IAE and for an after-school elementary science program called Mad Science.  My favorite activities include hiking, reading, and going to see live music.  I am happy to be exploring southern California and continuing to work with the great students at IAE.

Aaron Howard

Aaron was born and raised in San Diego.  After receiving a B.A. in English from San Diego State University, he taught in San Diego for a year.  In 2006, he moved to Chile to teach English in Santiago where he also trained other teachers.  After a year in South America, Aaron is back in San Diego teaching at IAE in the evenings.  His interests include the beach, nutrition, music and Eastern philosophy.

Randy Perkins

Perhaps as a result of being born and raised in Bakersfield, California, Randy caught the travel bug early and hasn't slowed down since.  Stopping briefly for Bachelor's degrees in English & German (San Diego State University) and a Masters in TESOL (San Francisco State University), he has since worked with ES/FL students and teachers in California, Rwanda, Egypt, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland.  Another primary passion is stone sculpting, a pursuit he actively shares with his wife at their downtown art school and gallery: Studio Michelangelo.  Oh, and he really likes coffee - a lot.

Nick Sacco

Nick was born in the far northern part of California. He moved to San Diego in 2000 to attend University of California in San Diego, where he received his bachelor's degree in 2002. Nick taught English in Tijuana, Baja California in 2002 and 2003, and then moved to Brazil to teach English in January 2005. He returned to San Diego in September of 2005. Nick loves playing foosball and watching American football on Sundays. He's always happy to teach those confusing rules to anyone who is curious about his favorite sport!

Denise West

Denise is a native Californian from the Bay Area and has moved to San Diego to attend SDSU for her MA in Educational Technology.  She graduated with a BA in Sociology from UC Berkeley and also received a TEFL certificate.  For the past 10 years, she has been living, teaching and learning about other cultures throughout the United States (Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle), England and Argentina.  In her free time, she enjoys walking through the water at the beach with her 50 lb. Argentine Dachshund and watching all kinds of movies.  She is also trying to improve her Spanish fluency.

David Cohen

David Cohen earned his BA in American Literature from Syracuse University in 1971 and did postgraduate work in Comparative Literature and Religious Studies at San Diego State. Also known as an actor on San Diego stages, in the mid-90s he co-wrote and taught on-camera in the web-based English course American English. He has taught English to non-native speakers in San Diego for many years.

Gwendolyn Threatt

Gwendolyn grew up on Long Island in New York. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Abilene Christian University in Texas where she made many friends among students from Thailand and other Asian countries. In 1982 she went to Japan as an Air Force photographer. From 1986 onward she taught ESL in Tokyo at private colleges, public junior high schools and private English schools, to name a few! For 10 years, back in the ?90s she had her own private English school on the outskirts of Tokyo. As a Japanese to English translator she also taught a professional translator training course for 5 years. She moved to San Diego at the end of 2005 with her daughter, who is now in college. She is happy to finally settle down here with her partner, 4 dogs, 2 fire-bellied toads and a frog in beautiful City Heights where she enjoys gardening on her days off. She has been teaching at IAE since March 2008 and looks forward to offering many a challenging and thought-provoking lesson to her students.

Mike Roos

Mike Roos was born in the small city of Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1983 where he lived until he graduated from high school at the age of 18. A short time later he went on a mission to Brazil where he tough religion for 2 years. He then moved back to the USA and studied Business at Brigham Young University, Idaho. In 2005 Mike went to Ecuador as a volunteer working in orphanages around the capital city of Quito. A short time later he returned to the USA for a few months and then moved to Brazil and started teaching English. He started an English school in MG, Brazil in December 2006 where he worked for the next year. In December of 2007 he, his wife, and newborn son moved back to the USA, where a short time later, he began teaching English at IAE!