Meet Our NY Teachers

Maura Cevoli

For Maura Cevoli, teaching English is a family affair. Maura's mother as well as Maura's husband, who she met teaching in Spain, are both ESL teachers. Maura, who teaches all levels, from beginner to advanced, loves "to see students improve" when they are in her class. "I like to help them and to feel I've given them practical skills they can go away with and apply to everyday life, skills that will enable them to grow and progress," she says.

Maura's favorite teaching method is Task Based Learning , which she explains is "basically an approach where a real life practical task is modeled to the students. For example, at very low level I will talk to them about my hometown and will play an authentic recording of friends talking about their hometowns," she explains. "The next stage is to give students help with the necessary vocabulary and to ask them to give presentations about their own hometowns."

During the practice stage of the presentations Maura monitors students for fluency and accuracy. "Students make notes and practice several times before giving the final presentation," she says. "This helps them build confidence as well as accuracy. After this task, learners would be given the tape script and asked to focus on or notice particular language points: collocations, grammatical structures, vocabulary, etc. This type of learning is very individualistic. Students can learn at their own pace."

Maura, who graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Arts in German and European Studies from the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, also holds a Cambridge diploma in teaching ESL. She currently serves as director of the SIT TESOL Certificate Program at Rennert.

"What I really like about Rennert is that we've got an amazing team of teachers and staff," she says. "Everybody is very open and warm, upbeat and there's a relaxed atmosphere in the school."