Ron Belisle received his MA in TESOL from Washington State University in 1987. He has taught in Japan for 4 years at a private language program, two public high schools and at the university level. Since 1990, he has taught at Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute in Spokane as well as in summer intensive English programs at Gonzaga University and Washington State University. He has previously served as the 2011 WAESOL President, the 2011 Tri-TESOL Conference Chair, and the chair of four Spokane Regional ESL Conferences. He was also on the planning committee of the recent 2012 TESL Canada Conference. Currently he is the WAESOL TESOL Liaison. He has presented at 12 national TESOL conferences and numerous WAESOL and regional conferences on issues related to technology in education and administration.

Bevin Taylor has been working in the TESOL field for 10 years. She was born and raised in the Midwest and received her MA-TESL from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She is currently the Coordinator of the ABE/GED/ESL Department at Highline Community College, where she also enjoys teaching ESL in the college’s non-credit ESL program, serving immigrant and refugee students. She is especially interested in helping immigrant and refugee adults reach their goals of transitioning to college classes. Bevin has served as Member-at-Large on the WAESOL Board for five years, where she has been instrumental in planning the annual conference for the past several years. She looks forward to continuing to serve the organization in a leadership role.

Teresita was born in Medellín, Colombia and moved to the United States in 1986. At first, she was an ELL student at Highline Community College and received her AA degree in 1993. Her teachers at Highline encouraged her to become a teacher, so she continued her studies in languages at WWU and obtained her teaching credentials with endorsements in Spanish, ESL and French. Soon after that, she went to EWU and received a Master Ed. in French, and she is currently finishing her Bilingual and reading endorsements. She started her teaching career at Skagit Valley College in the ESL program, and also taught Spanish at that institution. She worked in Mount Vernon School district as an ESL teacher, and is presently teaching ELL at Snohomish School District. As Teresita was an ELL student first, a college teacher next, and a K-12 teacher now, she truly understands the struggles and the opportunities that students face when coming to America. Her passion is to make sure that other ELL students, like her, have a chance to make it in this country because “si se puede” anyone can do it! Being part of the WAESOL’s Board has giving Teresita excellent professional development as well as inspiration to continue working with the K-12 teachers in our state. She has learned immensely from her interactions at the board throughout the years. Teresita is currently our First Vice-president and has also acted as the organization’s liaison to WAFLT (Washington Association for Language Teachers) and is also a member of TESOL and WABE (Washington Association of Bilingual Education).

Joan Johnston has been engaged in English language teaching since 1986. Since her first experience teaching in Taiwan more than 26 years ago, she has taught in a wide variety of teaching situations at all levels from kindergarten through adult literacy and academic English. Joan has taken on leadership roles in curriculum development, program coordination, and teacher training in k-12, adult literacy, and university settings.

Joan is a frequent presenter at conferences, including International TESOL, Center for Advanced Research in Language Acquisition (CARLA), and the Spokane Regional Conference.

Joan has previously served on the Spokane Regional Conference planning committee and has been serving on the WAESOL Board of Directors since June of 2011. She is currently completing her doctoral dissertation on elementary ELL interaction through Washington State University. Her passion is for working with students on the margins, especially in the refugee/immigrant communities.

Ani Derderian is a PhD Candidate at Washington State University. She worked as a research assistant (RA) in the Department of Teaching and Learning for one year and as a teaching assistant (TA) in the Chemistry Department. Currently, She is WSU Housing Coordinator, Education Graduate Organization (EG0) officer and Graduate Professional Student Association (GPSA) District III representative. Ani's previous professional experience was in Jordan where She was faculty member at the University of Jordan. She also worked in the United Nation (UNRWA) two years. She speaks five languages fluently and have diverse background. Moreover, She used to be science, biology and chemistry educator in several institutions. Ani has published in several professional journals and presented at many international conferences and workshops.

Lina Older works at Highline Community College as an ESL (English as a Second Language) / ABE (Adult Basic Education) / GED (General Education) / I-BEST (Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training) Instructor. She has been at Highline since October 2007. She also works at Kaplan International as an Intructor of Grammar, Pronunciation and Survival English. She is involved in a program at Highline called CCID (Community Colleges for International Development, Inc) where she works with students from other countries in a situation similar as being a Host family by introducing them to the American culture. She is the Faculty advisor for the newly formed club "K-Pop Dance Group" which is a Korean dance club where they practice to perform at various events on and off campus. She received her Masters in Education from Eastern Washington University. Her nationality is Korean, German and Irish. She is dedicated to working with students to help them achieve their greatest goals.