Derek Soles (PhD, MA, BA)

Department Head

Derek Soles has a PhD in English education, from the University of Victoria, and many years experience as an English professor, writing program director, and department head at several colleges and universities in Canada and the U.S., most recently at UBC.

He is the author of several textbooks, including The Essentials of Academic Writing. Derek’s teaching style is eclectic but based mainly upon his belief that learning should be fun.

Bethany Suvak (MEd, MA, BA Honours)

Instructor

Bethany Suvak completed her B.A. Honours and Master’s degree in English at Simon Fraser University (2010, 2012) where she discovered her passion for teaching as a TA for several undergraduate courses. She also has a Master’s in Education specializing in languages and diversity from the University of Calgary (2016). She has been teaching at Alexander College since 2017.

She is passionate about skills-based learning, favouring an active learning approach for her students. Bethany always strives to help her students gain confidence when approaching their English language and composition tasks, with an appreciation of how these skills are valuable and applicable both in other scholarly settings and outside of school.

Bethany is also a certified in TESL and as an Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) Facilitator.

Graeme Abernethy (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Graeme Abernethy has more than ten years of university teaching experience in Britain, Canada, and Nigeria.

He has published numerous academic articles on the politics of literary and visual representation, as well as a book, The Iconography of Malcolm X (2013).

His teaching emphasizes diversity and interdisciplinarity, drawing from literary and cultural studies and encouraging the development of a broad range of communication and critical thinking skills.

He completed his PhD (English) in 2011 at University College London.

Martin Behr (MA, BA)

Instructor

Martin Behr has been teaching Academic Writing and English Literature for over 20 years and has taught at Alexander College since 2010.

Throughout his career, he has taught at a number of post-secondary institutions in Canada and the United States.

He graduated with a MA in English from McGill University (1992) and a BA in English from Simon Fraser University (1990). He has authored a number of scholarly publications, including a book entitled Critical Moments in the Rhetoric of Kenneth Burke: Implications for Composition.

His teaching methods draw from scholarship in rhetoric and composition, genre theory, and literary studies, and focus primarily on approaching writing as a process, critical thinking, and collaborative learning. Martin’s passion for teaching makes him dedicated to the success of his students and to the rich learning environment at Alexander College.

Samuel Cutting (PhD, MA, Post Graduate Certificate in Education, BA)

Instructor

Sam has been teaching for over ten years in a variety of post-secondary institutions, including the University of Brighton in the UK. He has taught a wide variety of English courses and has written pedagogical articles for The Use of English and the English & Media Centre.

Sam’s teaching focuses on student voice and emphasizes the importance of collaboration in reading, writing and thinking.

Sam received his PhD from the University of Brighton in 2019.

Sarah Brown (MA, BA)

Instructor

Sarah Brown has taught English at Alexander College since 2019. Previously, she taught at Concordia University in Montreal, where she completed her graduate degree in English and Creative Writing. She also has experience in business writing, technical writing, and scriptwriting.

Sarah’s teaching style is influenced by cultural and gender studies, drawing connections between literature and lived experiences. She fosters a creative and collaborative learning environment for her students.

Outside the classroom, Sarah’s fiction writing has been published across Canada and nominated for the national Bronwen Wallace Award and Journey Prize.

Tamar Harris (MFA, MA, BA)

Instructor

Tamar has taught English composition and literature in Vancouver for five years, focusing on students who are not native English speakers.

Having studied and worked in five countries, she is multilingual and attuned to cultural differences. She enjoys teaching students to express themselves clearly and to experience literary art as fully as possible.

Tamar’s writing projects include fiction and creative non-fiction. In addition, she has 15 years of experience in corporate communications.Tamar earned BA and MA degrees in English Literature from Swarthmore College and Yale University. She also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.

Tomasz Michalak (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Tomasz Michalak has been teaching university writing and literature at Alexander College since 2009. He has a PhD from the English Department at UBC where he taught as an instructor and was a TA in the English, Civil Engineering, and CENES departments.

Tomasz moved permanently to Canada in 1989. He started as an international student by taking 1st year college and university courses at Langara College and SFU where he completed a BA and an MA in English.

His teaching style promotes creativity, critical thinking, and cultural integration.

Garrett Peck (MA, BA Honours)

Instructor

Garrett Peck has been teaching English for 15 years, first in Taiwan as an ESL instructor and for the past 10 years at several post-secondary institutions in Vancouver.

He has been an instructor at Alexander College since 2009 and formerly served as the English Department Coordinator.

Garrett has received both a BA and an MA in English from SFU and spent four years working on his PhD in English at UBC. Garrett is interested in Victorian literature, travel writing, and the rhetoric of science, and has published several academic articles in these research areas.

Kate O’Neill (PhD, MA, BA, Diploma of Transpersonal Counselling)

Instructor

Kate O’Neill completed her undergraduate and Master’s degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario between 1999-2006, and her PhD. at the University of Calgary, 2007-2012.
She has been teaching at Alexander College since 2013.

Her academic interests are politically and socially motivated; her teaching style is high-energy and creative. Kate’s students learn to express their original ideas with structure and confidence.

Bhuvinder Singh Vaid (PhD, MA, BA)

Instructor

Bhuvinder Singh Vaid (aka Beev) holds a PhD in Philosophy of Education from Simon Fraser University, specializing in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Higher Education contexts.

His academic background is varied, having lectured at Simon Fraser University and Kwantlen Polytechnic University on educational philosophy and sociology, transitional skills and thinking for new post-secondary students, as well as children’s literature, curriculum development, conceptual design thinking, and academic writing.

A passionate teacher, he draws deeply on his research to engage students in interactive thought experiments to further their own understanding as life-long learners.

Neha Soni Arora (MEd, MA, BA Honors)

Instructor

Neha has been working around the English language for more than ten years, supporting diverse learner groups, including corporate sectors and young learners. She has been facilitating academic skills classrooms at Alexander College for three years and started working with short fiction about a year ago.

She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in education and completed her Master’s in Education specializing in Teaching English as an Additional Language (TEAL), both from SFU. Additionally, Neha holds master’s degrees in Literature, Linguistics and History, respectively from India. Neha is also a certified TESL instructor.

Neha believes teaching is a meaning-making, interactive process where the facilitator and learners participate equally to pose questions, seek answers and take action. Her teaching philosophy involves supporting the learners through love, care, mutual trust and knowledge, facilitating activities that encourage interaction and respectful participation. Her facilitating methods focus on approaching learning as a process, drawing from knowledge not just from books but from the diversity carried by people and cultures.

Simon Binder (MA, MEd, BA, TESL)

Instructor

Simon Binder has been teaching English internationally and domestically for over ten years. He received his undergraduate degree and TESL certification from the University of the Fraser Valley in 2011, and has since taught in Japan, Korea, India, Germany, and of course, Canada. Simon completed his graduate work at UBC (MEd) and abroad in Germany at the University of Freiburg (MA), with a focus on student engagement and the student-centered classroom, and postcolonialism in literature, respectively.

He is committed to the ideology of an authentically intersectional and multicultural educational community, as well as the necessity of anti-racist / anti-sexist / anti-colonial / community-based educational practices. He also strongly believes in the importance of lifelong learning, critical thinking, ongoing research into and adoption of Indigenous educational principles, and ecological narratives in the classroom and beyond.

Gerry Tillman (MATESOL, TESOL, BA)

Associate Head

Gerry Tillman received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario.

He has been teaching ESL in the lower mainland since 1999. He joined Alexander College in 2008 as an instructor of 098 and 099 in the EAP program.

Since joining Alexander College Gerry has established himself as a direct and interactive instructor. He has a traditional yet innovative style in the classroom.

Gregg Starr (MA, BA)

EAP Instructor

Greg has been teaching English for almost thirty years, as a classroom instructor and tutor. Before joining the EAP department at Alexander College in 2015 and the English department in 2021, Greg taught at Vancouver Community College for four years. He also taught workplace writing skills to the staff of various UN agencies including the UN High Commission for Refugees, the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.

Greg received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English Literature from York University, and his Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. Greg is interested in African American, Indigenous and post-colonial literature and he uses an interactive, student-centered teaching approach.

Jordana Peters (MA, BA)

Instructor

Jordana Peters completed a B.A. in English and History at Simon Fraser University and her M.A. in English, also at SFU.

Jordana has been working with students in various capacities for years. She worked in Lithuania at the Summer Language Institute with international students from over 50 countries. She also worked for two years as a Teaching Assistant at SFU, where she further developed her love of teaching and her philosophy of education.

Her teaching style is student oriented and holistic with a focus on connecting students to the material and its real-world implications.

Neha Soni Arora (MEd, MA, BA Honors)

Instructor

Neha has been working around the English language for more than ten years, supporting diverse learner groups, including corporate sectors and young learners. She has been facilitating academic skills classrooms at Alexander College for three years and started working with short fiction about a year ago.

She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in education and completed her Master’s in Education specializing in Teaching English as an Additional Language (TEAL), both from SFU. Additionally, Neha holds master’s degrees in Literature, Linguistics and History, respectively from India. Neha is also a certified TESL instructor.

Neha believes teaching is a meaning-making, interactive process where the facilitator and learners participate equally to pose questions, seek answers and take action. Her teaching philosophy involves supporting the learners through love, care, mutual trust and knowledge, facilitating activities that encourage interaction and respectful participation. Her facilitating methods focus on approaching learning as a process, drawing from knowledge not just from books but from the diversity carried by people and cultures.

Simon Binder (MA, MEd, BA, TESL)

Instructor

Simon Binder has been teaching English internationally and domestically for over ten years. He received his undergraduate degree and TESL certification from the University of the Fraser Valley in 2011, and has since taught in Japan, Korea, India, Germany, and of course, Canada. Simon completed his graduate work at UBC (MEd) and abroad in Germany at the University of Freiburg (MA), with a focus on student engagement and the student-centered classroom, and postcolonialism in literature, respectively.

He is committed to the ideology of an authentically intersectional and multicultural educational community, as well as the necessity of anti-racist / anti-sexist / anti-colonial / community-based educational practices. He also strongly believes in the importance of lifelong learning, critical thinking, ongoing research into and adoption of Indigenous educational principles, and ecological narratives in the classroom and beyond.

Cheryl Materi (MATESOL, TESOL, BA)

Instructor

Cheryl Materi studied Contemporary English Literature at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. She began teaching English in China in 2008 then returned to Canada to complete the MATESOL program at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. After teaching again in China, Cheryl returned to Canada and moved to Vancouver where she has been teaching at various institutions since 2015. Cheryl has been at Alexander College since 2020, teaching EASL, UPRE, and tutoring in the WLC.