Executive BoardNNETESOL’s executive board officers are President, President-Elect, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Publishers’ Liaison, Webmaster, and six Regional Representatives: two representing each state of the tri-state association. The Executive Board is a group of volunteers (most of whom serve from 1 to 3 years) that meet several times a year to implement policy matters, conduct the daily business of the association, produce conferences and oversee its work. 2022 – 2023 Executive Board President (term 2022-2023) Kathleen Rose McGovern serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Southern Maine. Her scholarship focuses on arts-based research and pedagogies in second language education, particularly the use of drama to teach English as a Second Language with newly arrived adult immigrants in the US. Kathleen has worked as a language educator, teacher educator, and theatre artist for over a decade in New England and beyond. She won the Book Award for Academic Excellence in Applied Linguistics for her Master’ work on drama and second language education at The University of Massachusetts Boston, and has served as an English Language Teaching Specialist for the U.S. Department of State. She has taught ESL/EFL to children and adults in a variety of contexts in Morocco and the U.S. Her book, "Enlivening Instruction with Drama and Improv: A Guide for Second Language and World Language Teachers," was published by Routledge in 2021.
President Elect (term 2022-2023) Claudia's bio is coming soon!
Past President (term 2022-2023) Nicole Decoteau is the ESOL and First-Year Writing Program Director at New England College, a small private college in scenic Henniker, NH. Her journey to NEC began in South Korea in 2008. She had no desire to be a language teacher, or to study linguistics, but a job offer from a friend forever changed her life. Her career began as a means to travel and developed into a passion. She has traveled to over 20 countries and lived on four continents: North America, Australia, Asia, and Africa. Her goal is to live on each continent, but Antarctica is proving to be troublesome–a visit may need to suffice. Nicole specializes in curriculum and materials development and has been involved in multiple projects throughout South Korea and New England. Her most recent project included the creation of a graded reading series targeting middle school students from South Korea. She hopes to continue to develop original materials that allow older learners to improve their reading skills with age appropriate texts and topics. You can find Nicole browsing the internet for funny memes, informative articles, and puzzle games, which she claims is for NNETESOL’s social media, but really she’s just a bit addicted and procrastinating on her dissertation.
Treasurer (no term limit) Meghan started teaching in 2006 after graduating from Saint Michael’s College with a BA in English and Secondary Education. She began her career as a high school English teacher in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. She then moved to Limerick, Ireland and received her MA in English Language Teaching (now MA in TESOL) from the University of Limerick. While living in Ireland, she taught grade school students, high school students, college students, and adults. She then took a break from education for a year to work as a Project Manager & Copywriter for an ad agency, as well as a weekly columnist for a newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2011, after another stint living in Ireland, she returned to New England and has been teaching ESL in Massachusetts public schools ever since, both middle and high school. She has served on the MATSOL Publications Committee for several years and was involved with the SLIFE Working Group in Massachusetts. She is interested in advocacy, SEI instructional coaching, and sociolinguistics. She is incredibly honored to be a member of the NNETESOL Board, and excited to learn and grow with fellow ESL teachers in the tri-state area.
Secretary (no term limit) Ilka Kostka began her teaching career as a German language instructor in the United States before teaching English. She is currently an associate teaching professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where she teaches English language courses to undergraduate and graduate international students. She also contributes to curriculum and program development, supports faculty development initiatives, and publishes and presents regularly in the field of TESOL. Her scholarly interests include flipped learning in academic English language instruction, second language writing, and technology-facilitated language learning. In her spare time, she enjoys reading non-fiction, cooking, taking long walks, learning new languages, and enjoying the arts.
Webmaster (no term limit) Tim is a native Mainer, born in Germany, who is currently teaching social studies at King Middle School in Portland, Maine. Tim’s philosophy of teaching is focused on having students engage with people in the real-world, in real-world formats. Students are capable of making real-world changes and should frequently find ways to apply their school learning on effecting positive changes in their community. Tim has degrees in philosophy and teaching English to speakers of other languages, both from St. Michael’s College in Vermont. He has always taught drums and piano in his spare time, and has always been an active participant in local musical ensembles. He was a board member in Vermont for the Green Mountain Chorus where he was the music and performance vice president and unofficial webmaster. He is excited to be a part of the NNETESOL as a webmaster and find effective, simple ways to connect all the NNETESOL teachers (and add more teachers!)
Publisher’s Liaison (no term limit) Kimberly currently teaches ESOL at Brunswick Junior High School, and tutors online. She has worked with English language learners at all grade levels. Born in Kentucky, Kimberly was a military spouse for more than twenty years. She has lived around the world, including Sicily and on the island of Oahu. She earned her B.A. in Social Work & Counseling. She has been a licensed social worker in child and family services and adults with disabilities. While living in Hawaii, she obtained her M.Ed. in Elementary Education, and has worked in Head Start, Title I, and Special Education. Throughout her career, Kimberly has dedicated herself to empowering and educating others. Her fondest projects include implementing language materials that provided healthcare information to patients and creating a reading program that encouraged students to “read around the world, one page at a time.”
Social Media Coordinator (no term limit)
Veteran Board Member at Large (term 2022-2023) Lorraine Meyette has been a teacher of English to international students for over 25 years. She received her Masters degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio in Bicultural-Bilingual Studies with a concentration in English as a Second Language in 1994. She taught English to students of many nations, cultures, ages, and languages in Texas, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Germany. During her time as a teacher she has enjoyed her interactions with students and while being a teacher to them, they have also taught her much about the world. As a traveler and having lived in Germany she has had many adventures and experiences. She has been a New Hampshire representative to NNETESOL for several years and now is the veteran representative on the board. She eagerly looks forward to helping ESL/ESOL/ELL teachers in Northern New England enhance their knowledge and methods in working with international learners of English.
Maine Regional Representative (term 2020-2023) Michelle Perry has a MAT in TESOL and an MS in Adult and Higher Education. She is the Program Coordinator and an instructor in the English for Speakers of Other Languages Department at the University of Southern Maine. She has taught English as a Second Language for over 20 years in both public and private schools on the west coast and east coast of the United States, as well as in Italy, Costa Rica and Mexico. She specializes in program and curriculum design, technology integration, cross-cultural exploration, and advanced writing for multilingual students.
Maine Regional Representative (term 2021-2024) Andrea Mercado has made a career of assisting linguistically diverse populations and their families with their adjustment to new communities and lifestyles in the US. She has acquired over 15 years of public education teaching experience working with early childhood to adult. In addition to dedicating her life educating in a formal setting, she extends her talents and experience to volunteer in various organizations. As a Spanish speaking bilingual of Colombian heritage, she contributes to various organizations by offering her personal and professional experiences to assist others with interests in assisting those learning English and working to navigate the world of US culture.
New Hampshire Representative (term 2021-2024) Carmel Collins is an ESL teacher at Central High in Manchester, NH. She recently relocated to Manchester from Maine where she felt she could be more of service in the city where the needs and demands of ELLs are higher. She earned her MA in Education from Lesley University in Boston and continued her graduate studies in Educational Leadership at St. Joseph’s College, Windham, and English as a Second Language at the University of Southern Maine. She earned her undergraduate studies at Leeds University, England. Carmel has served on several boards, strongly advocating for access and equitable education for all and student advocacy. Service includes; Maine Arts Commission, Maine Alliance for Arts Education, Maine Consortium for Student Advocacy, Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, National Core Arts Standards Committee, and the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative. Carmel loves to travel, explore new languages, art and culture, and dance, as well as an avid trail runner and mountain biker.
New Hampshire Representative (term 2020-2023) Rita Naughton is an Assistant Professor of TESOL in the Institute for Language Education at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). She holds a Ph.D. Intercultural Education. She is a versatile and effective English language educator with over 20 years in academia, contributing to powerful learning opportunities in higher education to both domestic and international language learners. At SNHU she teaches in the Intensive English language Program, Undergraduate Bridge Program, and the MA TESOL Program. Her research interests include Second Language Reading and Writing Strategies, Classroom Management Techniques Second Language Assessment, Vocabulary Techniques and Metacognition in Second Language Teaching.
Vermont Representative (term 2020-2023) SBH is the Education Services Coordinator for Out-of-School Youth in the Vermont Migrant Education Program. They go by their initials or the nickname “Esbey,” and use they/them and she/her pronouns. They have a BA in Spanish Literature and an MA in TESOL, and have worked as an educator for adults for more than 10 years, including the full range basic skills and GED instruction in English and Spanish. While their academic pursuits focused on second language writing and semantics, their recent work is all about student-centered workplace English in the dairy industry, and strategies for non-teacher volunteers to support learners’ English language development. Their current interests include biliteracy, building metalinguistic awareness, and transferable skills instruction. When not teaching or thinking about language, SBH enjoys speculative fiction, music and dancing, beekeeping, and the great outdoors.
Vermont Representative (2022-2025) Kelly's bio is coming soon! |
