TEFL Certificate Program Trainers

Agnieszka "Aggie" Goldsmith, TEFL Director

Agnieszka "Aggie" Goldsmith is a Senior TEFL Trainer and Academic Coordinator at The Boston Academy of English. She has been teaching English since 1996, both in Europe and the United States. She holds undergraduate degrees in ESL and language teaching/learning from schools in Poland and the USA, as well as a Master's degree from Lesley University in the psychology of language and culture. Aggie has a great passion for teaching English and about English. She believes nothing is impossible-- which she has been proving by teaching English, her second language, to students from all over the world. Her favorite people (next to her students and co-workers) are her two daughters and husband, Dennis whom she assists in teaching Tae Kwon Do in Cambridge, MA. where they currently reside. Although Aggie has known she wanted to be a teacher since she was five years old, she is honored and extremely excited to help those who decide a little later in life to make teaching their own calling.

Cora Higgins

Cora Higgins has been teaching ESL since receiving certification in 2000 and has enjoyed every day of it. She currently teaches ESL at BAE in addition to being a TEFL trainer and has also tutored in Italy, worked as a volunteer in Mexico and taught at Nihon University, Japan. Cora also enjoyed instructing for the engineering department of Posco Steel Corporation in South Korea via the Internet. Her private teaching experience in the U.S. includes Analysis Group, Citizens Bank, Harvard University, OK! Organics, Deloitte & Touche and UNAIDS. She wrote the ESL curriculum for the humanitarian organization SEDAC in Ixmiquilpan, Mexico and is currently participating in curriculum revision for the Boston Academy of English. She hopes to publish ‘the ultimate ESL activity book’ in the future. Despite all of this, Cora remembers being ‘absolutely terrified’ when she first started teaching, so she highly encourages anyone curious about teaching ESL to give it a try.In her spare time, Miss Higgins practices tae-kwon do, belly dancing and occasionally trapeze.

Brooke Posatko

Brooke became a BAE TEFL trainer in 2010. She has experience teaching ESL in the U.S. and abroad. From 2002 to 2003, Brooke taught at a private English conversation school for adults and children in Tsu City, Japan. She currently teaches ESL classes at BAE in the school’s full and part-time programs. She also enjoys teaching private students studying English for business and law. Brooke graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in psychology. She worked for two years in the outreach education department of a social services agency specializing in crime victim counseling. She moved from her hometown of Dallas, Pennsylvania to Boston to attend law school and became a member of the Massachusetts Bar in 2009. Brooke enjoys teaching ESL because it allows her to meet amazing people from all over the world and learn about their cultures.

Amalia Sarafim

Amalia Serafim became a TEFL trainer at BAE in the spring of 2010. She is, in fact, a graduate of the BAE TEFL program in the fall of 2008, where she grew to love teaching and became determined to find a second career in this field. A fluent speaker of Greek and English, her academic background is in international relations with a joint degree in International Relations and International Economics from Tufts University in 2000. She did her graduate work at the Georgetown University Law Center, earning her law degree in International Public Interest Law in 2004. Following her graduation, she worked for the City of Boston Elderly Commission, founding a Food Stamp program for low-income elderly, with an emphasis on non-English speaking seniors. More recently, she worked with refugees and asylees, from around the world, at Boston’s Jewish Vocational Service, helping them attain public benefits and employment. Currently, Amalia teaches ESOL classes at both Kaplan Aspect Harvard Square and BAE.