Sue Brody

Sue has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and a BA in English from Mount Holyoke College. She has worked at the International Tutoring Center since September 2012. She has also had a number of short plays produced throughout the country, and she still writes short plays. She regularly ushers for local and regional theater companies, and then she gets to see the play for free. Sue currently lives in Boston. She has lived for one year in Florida, has traveled to Paris, London, Scotland, and Wales. In her spare time, she reads a lot of magazines like The New Yorker, listens to music, especially jazz and country, and watches Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, and other cable channels. She also loves to take long walks outside; she usually walks at least 5 miles every day.

Robert Davis

Robert has been teaching ESL for over ten years. He was the former director of a highly regarded TEFL Certificate Program in Boston. In addition to the TEFL Certificate Program, he was the lead instructor for an English for Foreign-Born Professionals Program and co-lead instructor of an MBA Preparation Program for International Students, a prerequisite at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He also provides private instruction and curriculum development to companies, business executives, doctors, university professors, and graduate students. Prior to teaching English, he owned a photography business, which served an international clientele in the profit and nonprofit sectors. He is also an avid traveler, tasty but healthy food enthusiast, and frequent exerciser.

Blanca Hernando

Blanca received her Masters in TESOL from West Virginia University and has a Bachelors in English Philology from the University of Valladolid in Spain. She worked as an EFL teacher at the Language Center of the University of Valladolid for 15 years. While as an EFL teacher, Blanca coordinated an academic English program which integrated computer-assisted learning and personalized instruction with tutorial lessons and successfully prepared students for the TOEFL, TOEIC, and Cambridge English Exams. She was also involved in organizing conversational activities to foster language interaction between Spanish and international students on campus.

Since moving to Boston in 2012, she has continued teaching as a freelance tutor specializing in TOEFL preparation and teaching multilingual speakers who need reinforcement in English for professional, academic, or personal reasons. Her experience in teaching groups and individuals with diverse educational and cultural backgrounds has enabled her to develop effective teaching techniques that instill confidence and create a positive learning environment for the students. She loves history and exploring nature and combines them with her passion for travel.

Jimmy Liu

Jimmy graduated from Boston University with a BA in East Asian Studies and recently earned a MA in Political Science concentrating in international relations from Northeastern University. He has taught and tutored in various local and international schools and institutions. His research interests are issues in human security, international development, and infrastructure resilience in developing countries. Jimmy is bilingual, he is a native speaker of both English and Cantonese. Jimmy currently lives in Boston, and he has worked in China. In his spare time, Jimmy loves watching TV shows, playing games with friends, and ice skating.

Laura Adrien

Laura holds an MA in Applied Linguistics from UMass Boston and a BA in English and Spanish Literature from Emmanuel College. She’s supported international student populations throughout her career, and has worked a Writing Specialist at her alma matter, as both a student services advisor and a co-op advisor here at Northeastern’s College of Engineering, and has taught career management and US workplace cultural competence to international graduate students. She currently works with PhD students at Khoury College of Computer Sciences as an Assistant Director on their Graduate Student Services team. Laura speaks English as a native language and Spanish as a second language, and enjoys hiking, biking, and gardening throughout New England.

Paul Babin

Paul earned his PhD in English from Northeastern University. His dissertation, “The Drama of Cartography: Plotting Global, National, and Urban Map Spaces in Early Modern History, Tragedy, and Comedy,” explores the spatial poetics of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century cartography and representations of space in early modern drama. He holds a BA in English from Wheaton College and an MA in English from Clark University. He has also taught First-Year Writing, Advanced Writing, literature and composition courses at Northeastern, Clark, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Paul loves baseball, reading books, and watching movies directed by Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick.

Jeff Yu

Jeff earned his Master of Education, Higher Education – student affairs at Merrimack College. He is a project manager at a local city government. Jeff is also a NU alumnus and served in a professional role supporting domestic and international students on both onboard and transition for over a decade. In addition, Jeff has a great deal of experience helping international students to overcome their social awkwardness and to boost their confidence in speaking. He is excited to meet and help with international students at the ITC.

Cynthia Liu

Cynthia has a Master of Education from Harvard University, as well as a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia. She holds a TESOL certificate and has extensive experience in teaching and designing curricula for ESL and international students across both private and public educational institutions in North America. In addition to her teaching roles, she has served as a mentor to international students from different parts of the world. Her experience studying in China, Canada, and the U.S. enables her to adapt her teaching to support students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Cynthia’s research projects focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in K-16 education. In her spare time, she loves watching TV shows, baking, and traveling.