Nila Gopaul is the Editor and Publisher of The Westcoast Reader. Her background is in Communications, Education, and Leadership and Management. Nila holds two teaching certificates and a Master’s Degree in Education (Curriculum Development and Instruction).
She has taught at several post-secondary institutions in Canada. In the U.S. she was a valued faculty member at Harvard University Institute for English Language Programs. Her international teaching experience includes contracts in Qatar, The UAE, China and Japan.
For over 10 years, Nila operated her own English language school and tutoring service. She enjoyed working with high school students and adults and misses being in the classroom. She is a news and fitness junkie, loves traveling, movies and reading books.
Nancy Carson is a retired B.C. teacher with 35 years experience at the elementary, secondary and college levels. She has spent a total of three years in volunteer positions in Western Kenya, East Africa. There she worked for organizations giving scholarships to needy students and she still supports some boys and girls at school. In 2011 and 2012, she spent four months in Kenya helping with Tembo-Kenya’s new program Read for the Top. As well, she co-facilitated seminars on reading, writing and oral language strategies for teachers of children whose third language is English.
In Canada, Nancy volunteers for Seniors organizations and coaches ESL students. She is Vice-President of Tembo-Kenya, a Canadian charitable organization which specializes in education and community projects. www.tembokenya.org
After spending eight months writing articles for thewestcoastreader.com, Nancy will now be available in a consultative capacity so she can have more time for her volunteer work both in Vancouver and abroad.
Wendy Granade is an administrative professional with over 25 years experience. She has held a variety of administrative positions throughout her career. Wendy is responsible for formatting and posting The Westcoast Reader blog stories.
Away from work, Wendy enjoys spending time with her fiancé, friends and family. She enjoys cooking, wine touring, movies and music. One of her guilty pleasures is reality TV. She says, “I know it’s not good TV and probably bad for my mind, but it makes me laugh!”
Ana-Maria Gheorghiu is a freelance writer. She has a background in Translations and Journalism and she immigrated from Romania three years ago. In 2011, she obtained a TESOL certificate, which helped her understand some of the challenges of teaching ESL.
Ana-Maria is responsible for building and maintaining the Westcoast Reader website and for managing the social media aspect. When she is not working for The Westcoast Reader, she holds an office job and takes on freelance writing projects. Her favourite pastimes are reading, blogging and baking.
Patti-Lea Ryan is the Assistant to the Editor of The Westcoast Reader. Patti brings 25 years administrative experience in British Columbia Post Secondary institutions to the team. She runs the day-to-day operations of The Westcoast Reader.
She has a diploma in Children’s Literature. However, she has always been a bit of a news hound. Starting in grade eight, she would run home from school at lunch to watch Elwood Glover on CBC. What a geek!
Her favourite thing to do is to spend time with her children and granddaughter. In the warmer months, you might find her outdoors, puttering around in the garden. During the “rainy season”, she enjoys doing things that stretch her creativity, such as stamping and designing nature collages from items she beach-combed during summer. Look for her occasional submissions in The Westcoast Reader.