Meet Professor Tania Iveson (ESL)
Photo: Tania Iveson
Tania started her teaching career at the age of six, when she mastered the ability to prop up all her stuffed animals and hold classes where each furry friend had its own task. With many informal years under her belt, she started her official teaching career in Taiwan in 1990, shortly after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Psychology. She has taught ESL, as well as teacher education courses, in Canada, Spain, England, Brazil and Myanmar (Burma). She has an M.A. in TESOL from the University of Sheffield Hallam in the UK, and University of Cambridge CELTA and DELTA ESL teaching qualifications. She has been a Cambridge accredited CELTA Teacher Trainer since 1998 and a Cambridge CELTA Centre Assessor since 2001.
She has been teaching at Sheridan for four years, and was recently hired as a full-time professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She currently teaches a variety of ESL courses and loves being able to connect with people from a wide range of cultural, linguistic and national backgrounds. Her role as CELTA course and centre assessor takes her all over world, but most recently to New York, Mexico and Montreal. She finds these visits a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow teacher trainers and to exchange ideas and best practices. Her commitment to ongoing development is also evident through her roles as Communications Officer and Spring Conference Chair on the TESL Toronto Executive Board.
One of her greatest joys, in teaching and life in general, is found in the stories we share. She believes that the most profound and powerful truths are held in metaphor, myth, and the sharing of personal experience. She is in awe of great stories and would love to write one of her own one day!
Tania Iveson answers Alchemy’s Proust Questionnaire:
Favourite virtue: Authenticity.
Most overrated virtue: Selflessness.
My favourite qualities in a student: Curiosity and a willingness to sit with uncertainty.
My favourite qualities in a teacher: Depth of knowledge + Humility + Compassion.
My idea of perfect happiness: Getting lost in laughter, stories and inquiry with good friends.
My idea of complete misery: Trying to eat a delicious ice cream on a hot, windy beach.
My favourite word: Murmuration.
My least favourite word: Puce.
My favourite quotation, motto, or phrase: When Frances Harwood, anthropologist, asked a Sioux elder why people tell stories, he answered, “In order to become human beings.” She asked, “Aren’t we all human beings already?” He smiled. “Not everyone makes it.” (Laura Simms)
If I weren’t a teacher I’d be: Unfulfilled, but free on evenings and weekends!
The talent or skill I wish I had: Equanimity.
A country/place I’d like to visit: The Aran Islands.
My favourite historical, literary, or cinematic character(s): Carl Jung
My least favourite historical, literary, or cinematic character(s): The Muppets – all of them. Never been a fan of any kind of puppet.
My favourite food/meal: Anything someone else cooks.
My guilty TV/film/gaming pleasure: What Not to Wear.
