2 - IREX

Santa Ana, El Salvador (Population: 245,400)
U.S. Host University: George Mason University
Benjamin Garcia has been teaching English grammar and information technology at a private K-
12 school for the last 5 years. The age of his students range form 13-18 years old, and on average
there are 25 students in his classes. Benjamin Garcia is also in charge of the website of his school
and everything related to technology. He is in charge of a group of 3 students that work on the
website during their social hours. Benjamin Garcia received a ―Profesorado en Idioma Inglés‖
from Instituto Especializado el Espirito Santo. Benjamin is married with one boy of 2 years old
and one daughter of 1 month old. Benjamin’s hobbies are playing basketball and playing the
clarinet. His primary objective in participating in TEA is to learn new methodologies and
reproduce his knowledge in his own school.
Ana Elisa Jiménez de Rivas, English Teacher
Centro Escolar Tomas Medina
Santa Ana, El Salvador (Population: 245,400)
U.S. Host University: George Mason University
Ana Jiménez has been teaching English at a public school for the past 17 years. The age of her
students range from 13-16 years old, and on average there are 40 students in each of the six
groups she works with. She also works at a university where she teaches English to young adults
and she sometimes provides training to her peers in teaching methodology. Ana has a Bachelor’s
degree in English from the University of El Salvador and took a TESOL certificate course form
the School for International Training in Costa Rica. Ana is married with three children and she
likes to listen to music. She expects the TEA program will help her to improve her teaching skills
to serve her students’ learning.
Georgia
Marina Baghaturia, English Teacher
St. Nino Public School #3
Kutaisi, Georgia (Population: 185,000)
U.S. Host University: George Mason University
Marina Baghaturia has been teaching English language at Kutaisi St. Nino Public School #3 for
the past 9 years. The age of her students range from 11-17 years old, and on average there are 50
students in her class. She is an active member of ETAG (English Teachers’ Association of
Georgia) and is the ETAG Kutaisi branch manager. She has attended several in-service training
courses on teaching methodology. She received a Master’s degree in English from Kutaisi State
University in 1993 and several certificates in teaching skills from ETAG TTC-es. She is married
with two sons and her hobbies include reading, listening to music, and playing the piano.
Marina’s primary objective for participating in TEA is to experience good educational practice
that will help her to enhance professional capabilities by introducing new ideas and systems of
classroom management and providing new curriculum materials.