Instructors

Jean Daugherty received her B.A. in History with a Minor in Spanish with an emphasis on Native and Latin American History from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. During that time, she also lived in the Canary Islands for over a year and was able immerse herself in the Spanish culture and language. After graduating, she spent a year as a teaching assistant in a high school ESL program, and...

Jasmine Newell received her B.A. in English at Metropolitan State University of Denver and her M.A. in English with an emphasis on Rhetoric and the Teaching of Writing from the University of Colorado at Denver. She is a Colorado native with a passion for teaching and writing. Jasmine has been teaching composition courses for four years and has been a part of the ESL Academy team for one year. She...

Veronica Jayne received a B.A. from The Evergreen State College in Washington, where she studied Bilingual Education and Teaching as well as Arab-African Postcolonial Literature. Following this, she earned an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Toledo, Ohio, where she focused on ESL Composition. She also studied Spanish and Portuguese in South America, then taught English in South Korea and China during this time...

​Steve Copley received his B.S. from Georgetown University and his M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction, Teaching English as a Second Language from George Mason University in Virginia. For more than 30 years he has enjoyed working with ESL learners, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, and teachers from around the globe. He has presented at many conferences, written for Voice of America radio, developed an ESL TV series, lived...

Tim Samuelson holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Spanish from Colorado State University, as well as a TEFL Certificate from TT Madrid. With over two decades of experience in academic English, ESL program management, and English language assessment, Tim brings both expertise and a deep commitment to supporting learners and educators. Tim joined the ESL Academy in November 2024 and enjoys helping students achieve their goals...

Mary Seeber graduated from CU Boulder, double majoring in English and Humanities. As an undergraduate student, she traveled around the world by ship on a life-changing program called Semester at Sea, and after backpacking around the world for six months, finally landed in Kyushu, Japan, to teach EFL for two years at Kyushu Teiko Junior College. She later obtained a Master of Arts in Teaching with an emphasis in TESOL...

Ryan has been involved in education for many years, having taught after-school Spanish in elementary schools, to being a full-time second-grade teacher in a bilingual classroom, to teaching adult learners through Community College of Denver, the Metropolitan State University Family Literacy Program, and in the UCD ESL Academy. He studied at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian, Spain while attaining his degree in Spanish literature ultimately from...

Olivia graduated summa cum laude from CU Boulder, receiving a BA in Linguistics with an emphasis in TESOL and a minor in Spanish. She also received a Bachelor's of Music (BM) in French Horn Performance. Always an enthusiastic researcher and explorer, she has been granted diverse opportunities to contribute to practical research initiatives in not only language studies, but also psychology, information systems, & music. Her most recent contributions include...

Erik Wennermark holds a B.A. in Individualized Study (Fine Arts and Literature) from New York University’s Gallatin School and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Alabama, where he taught English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing. In 2011, he earned his CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) at ILA Vietnam and has specialized in EFL/ESL instruction ever since. In addition to Vietnam and the U.S., Erik...

Laura Paciorek earned her B.S. and M.S. in child development at San Diego State University and worked in early childhood education and higher education simultaneously for over a decade. After moving to Colorado, she returned to school to study English Writing, Rhetoric, and Technology with a minor in Digital Media Design for Learning. She enjoys taking her higher education teaching and learning experiences and applying them to her work at...