Who is Elizabeth Claire?

I'm the ESL teacher's partner in the classroom, a veteran with 40 years experience in the field of teaching English as a Second Language. A teacher trainer as well as author of 22 ESL texts and teacher resources, I graduated from the City College with a degree in Spanish and education, and started out as a Spanish teacher. I quickly found my heart in the ESL classroom, (which was then called the Non-English class!) and got my MA in TESOL courtesy of New York University's Experienced Teacher Fellowship Program.

I've taught English, science, social studies, math, and child care to newcomers of all ages, from just about everywhere. My career started in New York City, teaching at Jr. High School 43, which is now I.S. 172 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Education Complex at 129th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. I moved from teaching 8th graders to the more sedate senior high students at Haaren High School in Manhattan, and followed that with teaching adults at Regional Occupation Centers in New York, and then elementary school in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

I've done some teacher training at Fairleigh Dickinson's ESL MAT program in Teaneck, New Jersey, and for three years was the ESL director of the Tokyo-New York YMCA summer language camp at Frost Valley, New York. I've been called on to deliver workshops and all-day training programs at schools around the country, and until i became all engrossed in Easy English NEWS I was a frequent presenter at International TESOL, New Jersey TESOL/BE, and NYSTESOL. (I've been a keynote speaker at NYSTESOL and CONTESOL conferences, and was invited by the USIS to train teachers in the Czech Republic.

Some honors from long ago include selection for Phi Beta Kappa, and graduating magna cum laude from the City College of New York and receiving the Downer Medal of Excellence in Spanish studies.

Mariko Sasaki, director of JBC Language in Edgewater, NJ, and I founded Easy English NEWS in February, 1996. I am now the publisher, editor, main writer, and chief bottle-washer for Easy English NEWS.

I left public school teaching in 1987 to devote full time to materials writing and teacher training. I've recently transplanted myself to Virginia Beach, VA. I've two grown and married sons, and four grandkids. I'm also an ordained Minister of Peace in the Church of Spiritual Humanism, and a self-declared Omi--a mystical, magical, spiritual playmate to children of all ages.