Sean Azim is our President here at LLI. As the head of school, he embodies the mission of the school and works tirelessly to maintain and develop the traditions, relationships, and practices that determine LLI’s unique learning environment and culture.

Sean is responsible for the overall management of the school in accordance with the board’s policies. He is also the spokesperson for the school with its internal and external constituencies including students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and neighbors, His is also the point of contact for the local business community, governmental agencies, and local, state, regional and national educational organizations and accrediting agencies. Sean has overall responsibility for curriculum and instruction, student life, business affairs, admission and advancement.

Sean says his main skillset is leadership. He believes that being able to negotiate solutions when perspectives are far apart is critical. Through leadership and an holistic overview, Sean’s goal is to grow LLI to its full potential, and in turn to ensure as many students as possible around the world get the skills they need to reach their goals.

Outside of work, Sean loves spending time with his boys and teaching them things!

Shabnam is the Director of Learning Languages Institute, and Managing Partner and Founder of Akrami & Associates.

Shabnam completed her Law Degree and a further Post Graduate Diploma at the University of London UK. She also graduated from York University where she received both her Bachelor in Criminology and Masters in Socio-Legal Studies.

Shabnam is passionate about helping young people succeed and exceed their potential through education. As Director of LLI, she aims to help students from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures to learn English to the highest levels, whether online or in person. She is determined to increase the accessibility of LLI courses so more international student can go on to study at major English-speaking universities in Canada, the US and worldwide.

She is also passionate about helping young people develop their own personal skills, such as leadership, teamwork and innovation, whilst studying at LLI.

Prior to opening her own firm, Shabnam gained extensive experience in corporate immigration law; specializing in work permits, temporary resident permits and rehabilitation cases. She has in-depth and hands-on experience in all Canadian Immigration and Citizenship matters, including: preparation and submission of applications for permanent residence, work permits, NAFTA applications, labour market opinions, temporary resident permits, sponsorships, and business investors.

In her spare time, Shabnam likes to spend time with family and friends. She very much enjoys travelling to experience new cultures and lifestyle, and hopefully meet fellow educators looking to improve the opportunities for their own students. Shabnam’s hobbies are swimming and watching superhero movies – when she gets time.

Deborah Goedhart is the director of East Village, an English school located in the heart of Sousas, São Paulo, Brazil.

Since 2018, Deborah has been an agent for LLI in Brazil. She describes her partnership with LLI as “a great experience and an amazing exchange between our cultures”. Deborah is keen to have the best team to support students, help them achieve their goals and make their dreams come true. Deborah prides herself on “being there” for all students who come to LLI in Canada from Brazil, and also to those who study online.

J.P. was born in Colombia, and he has been in Canada since 2000. J.P. is an ESL Instructor, our Coordinator for the Summer Program, and direct supervisor for all instructors teaching Beginner level to level 3 curriculum. J.P. is the point of contact for international students that only speak Spanish or French and are looking to study English at Learning Languages Institute.

J.P. graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts, specializing in French Studies and Business French, and completing his third year of studies in Nice, France. J.P. worked in the banking industry for 7 years before realizing his passion lies in learning and teaching languages.

J.P. completed his TESOL Certificate, TESOL Diploma, Advanced Grammar for English Teachers as well as Teaching Culture and English for Specific Purposes.

As a former ESL student and a current ESL instructor, J.P. understands the difficulties and challenges students and newcomers face. He also recognizes the power that is in our hands to make these obstacles as seamless as possible.

J.P. always puts the needs of the students first, and successfully communicate with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Wanda has been an ESL instructor at LLI since 2013, and an ACE TESOL instructor and practicum supervisor since 2018. Wanda successfully completed the ACE Diploma course in 2015. She is member of TESL Ontario, and a current member of the Ontario College of Teachers.

Wanda has over 5 years of teaching experience in South Korea and New Zealand. Wanda loves to say that she is fluent in two languages, English and sarcasm! She will often incorporate humor into her lessons to help students feel relaxed and less stressed about the learning process.

Through her experience of living in other countries, Wanda knows what it is like for the students in her class who are experiencing culture shock. She does her best to explain English grammar, but also tries to help her students navigate any of the challenges they may experience while living in Canada.

Wanda always has a shopping or restaurant recommendation for the students and loves hearing about what they think of the places she has recommended in London

Rosemary  is passionate about language and has been tutoring and teaching English in the classroom and online since she was a student herself. She has studied English at university level and graduated with honors.

Additionally, she has read hundreds of books in several different languages and has even had a little of her own writing published. She holds four TESOL certificates, including the ACE TESOL certificate, attained at LLI in 2017.

Rosemary values conversation and communication in the classroom. She is open to each student’s individual perspective and experience, and encourages students to express themselves authentically. She makes an effort to learn about each student’s personal motivations in order to meet individual needs and help achieve individual goals.

In addition to teaching, Rosemary loves travelling and meeting new people. Her favourite cities are Victoria, B.C. and Edinburgh, Scotland. When she is not travelling the world, Rosemary spends her time hiking, running, practising yoga, reading, and caring for houseplants.

Matt has been a member of the LLI team since 2000.

After his post-secondary education and working at a variety of jobs, Matt decided to take several TESOL courses including the ACE program. He discovered the satisfaction that comes from teaching foreign students and helping them to achieve their goals.

Matt also finds it rewarding to learn about the many cultures of the students who pass through the doors at LLI, as well as sharing his own Canadian culture.

Matt’s philosophy is to provide students with a strong foundation in the fundamentals of English. He promotes a strong work ethic that will serve LLI students well in all future endeavours in Canada. As Matt says, it is their effort that ultimately will help them succeed within the confines of a pleasant, welcoming environment at LLI.

Matt looks forward to many years of sharing and helping make the experiences of LLI students memorable and unique.

Lori is an Ontario Certified English Language Teacher (OCELT) with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Western University and an Adult Learning Certificate from St. Francis Xavier University. In addition, Lori holds the ACE TESOL Certification and the ACE TESOL Diploma.

Before teaching English as a second language, Lori worked in the financial industry for more than 20 years in training, learning and development and communication. This gave her the opportunity to work with many different people with a variety of diverse backgrounds.

Lori was born and raised in Canada, with my parents immigrating to Canada from Italy before she was born. One of the reasons Lori decided to teach ESL was seeing the challenges her parents faced coming to a country where they didn’t know the language and/or the culture.

When Lori is not working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. She loves to travel and is working on getting dual citizenship, in the hope of teaching abroad in the future. Lori loves to be active so you can usually find her walking my dog, playing soccer or some sort of physical activity.

Jessica Ali is an Ontario Certified English Language Teacher (OCELT). She holds a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree with a Specialization in Psychology from the Western University. In addition, Jessica holds the ACE TESOL Certification, the ACE TESOL Diploma, and is the Membership Chair for TESOL LONDON.

Jessica have been teaching English as a second language since 2016. She has taught students in the classroom, one on one tutoring, and online to newcomers to Canada and International students.

Jessica says: ”I love teaching ESL because I value education. Teaching at LLI allows me to help others to improve themselves both personally and professionally. Whether a students’ goal is for academic purposes, obtaining or maintaining a job or for general interest, I feel like I am doing some good in the world by being an educator.”

Jessica was born and raised in Canada, and comes from a background of mixed cultures – her father is Iraqi, her mother is Romanian, her stepfather is Portuguese, and her husband is Peruvian. This diversity helps me Jessica connect with all her students and to build rapport. Jessica also speak Romanian and Spanish fluently.

Jessica’s teaching philosophy is simple: practice makes perfect!

Renata’s passion for education can be traced back to her pre-professional days as a religious education teacher for children in her teens. Renata followed her passion to become an undergraduate educator and a scholarship holder in “Escola da Família”, an Estadual Program in Brazil. Renata has been working in Educational Institutions for more than a decade. She finds the knowledge that her work helps people develop themselves and achieve their goals in life very fulfilling, and says that she cannot live without it.

Renata has a Master’s degree in Business and Digital Marketing, and a B.Sc. in Business and Human Resources. She also has over 12 years of experience in Education Management, Finance, Human Resources, School Operations, Academic Operations, and Sales

Outside of the office, Renata is committed to education on social media, whether showing how she achieves her goals investing in education, or showing the possibilities so people can do the same. Her professional communication skills include a native level of Portuguese, a fluent level of English, an advanced level of Spanish, and she has a goal of learning French soon.

Hi there, my name is Kyle and I have been an ESL teacher since 2014. After graduating from McMaster University with a degree in English & Cultural Studies, I started my career In Xi’an, China. I lived in Xi’an from 2015 – 2020 and taught everything from conversational English, IELTS, to business English for software companies. I have a worldly view and enjoy learning about different cultures and languages. I believe that language is the key to understanding and being able to enjoy what the world has to offer. This stems from my drive to learn as much as possible when I travel in order to avoid the discomfort and confusion of not knowing what is happening or being said around you! During my free time I really enjoy taking photos using old 35mm cameras as well as watching films from around the world. At LLI, I am always willing to help our students and create a fun learning environment where students don’t feel shy to express themselves and share their feelings. My job is to help you succeed in your English education journey!

Bart is a senior back-end developer who specializes in mentoring junior developers. As the lead instructor on the LLI Software Development and Entrepreneurship progrm, Bart primarily teaches full stack development.

Bart attended Fanshawe College and graduated from the University of Western Ontario (Western) with a degree in Software Engineering in 2011. He has over a decade of experience in web development which includes being an entrepreneur, a freelancer and former employee of multinational companies.

In the software development and entrepreneurship program, Bart prepares students for success in the tech industry by working on the code and concepts first as an instructor, then in groups before students work as individuals under his guidance. As Bart says, in his class there are no dumb questions and he will make every effort to help students understand!