Teachers and Staff

Nasser Alikhani

Nasser, the founder and president of ALMA English Institute, is a veteran ESL/EFL educator with over twenty five years of experience in different capacities. He has taught thousands of students of all levels and ages in both Canada and overseas. In addition to a master’s degree in TEFL/Applied Linguistics, he has had extensive experience in curriculum development, teacher training and research in ESL teaching and testing. He is a firm believer in ongoing professional development for ESL teachers. Nasser also speaks Farsi and some French and enjoys traveling, hiking and learning about different cultures.

Todd Langmuir

Todd has a B.A. Degree from UBC, two decades of experience teaching ESL and teaches TOEFL iBT and LPI preparation courses at ALMA.  He has divided his life between living in Vancouver and Taipei. Todd's teaching experience stretches from owning his own school in Taiwan to instructing in community and career colleges. He takes great pleasure in the methods and strategies that one can apply to TOEFL teaching. He would like to invite you to improve your testing score with him.
Todd's philosophy of life can be summed up in this saying by Abraham Lincoln that,  “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Sarah James

Sarah grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and she is a native speaker of both French and English. She has a BA from Concordia University in History and Professional Writing, a TESOL certificate, as well as a variety of teaching experience. After graduating university, Sarah moved to Japan for one year, where she taught conversational English, grammar, writing, ESL, and TOEFL preparation to children and adults. She has also tutored university students in England and volunteered to teach children in Vietnam and Egypt. Sarah is an experienced journalist, business writer, editor, and copy editor. Sarah likes to cater her lessons to each student’s needs. She believes every lesson should be exciting and educational. She sees the classroom as an open environment where students should feel free to ask questions and contribute to class material.

Malvina Lewandowska

Malvina grew up in Vancouver and has completed an Associate of Arts Degree from Langara College and a B.A. in Political Science from Simon Fraser University. Malvina is also a certified ESL teacher and has over 3 years of teaching experience in Canada and Brazil. She has taught English in different parts of Brazil to all age groups. Malvina has been teaching in Vancouver for over a year and has been with ALMA for more than a year. She is fluent in Polish and English and well versed in Portuguese. She takes pleasure in connecting with her students and learning from them about their different cultural backgrounds. Malvina enjoys dancing, reading for relaxation, and outdoor water sports for some fun and adventure.

Farzad Zellipour

Farzad has 12 years of experience as a full-time ESL teacher. He currently teaches evening and weekend courses at ALMA. He has a Bachelor of Science and is a CELTA Certified TESL trainer with experience in TOEFL-iBT exam preparation. He has taught both children and adults in Vancouver and Tehran. Farzad is also fluent in French, Arabic, and Farsi. He is a creative, patient, and lively teacher who always develops a good rapport with his students. Having lived in or traveled to 22 countries, Farzad can relate to students from all cultural backgrounds. He enjoys reading, traveling, swimming, hiking, and camping.

Melanie Rejano

Melanie has lived in Vancouver most of her life. She received a TESOL certificate in 2003. In that same year she went to China to teach English for four years. She lived in Guangdong province, where she also studied Chinese and learned a lot about the culture. In 2007, Melanie returned to Canada to further pursue her teaching career. She started teaching at ALMA and began studying toward a teacher instructor diploma at VCC (Vancouver Community College).  Melanie loves teaching and learning from her students. She enjoys reading, traveling and meeting people from different countries. Melanie enjoys school outings and exploring British Columbia’s vast countryside. Melanie also speaks Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines

Brian O’Neill

Brian is a graduate of Queen’s University where he studied film and international development and has also studied at the University of Havana in Cuba, the Sorbonne in Paris, France and the University of British Columbia. He received his Certificate for Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL/TEFL) in 2004 and was a teacher in Shanghai, China for one year. Having lived in countries with different languages and being mostly fluent in French with basic Mandarin and Spanish skills, Brian can appreciate the challenges that are faced by many of his students. In addition to teaching, Brian enjoys travelling, film, literature and being conscious of what is happening in the world.

Yumi Iwashita

Yumi is the registrar and Japanese counselor at ALMA. She is usually the first of ALMA's team to welcome you and is always happy to help you with anything you might need. Yumi has an Associate’s Degree in International and Intercultural studies from Douglas College in Vancouver. After finishing her degree, Yumi decided to stay in Canada. She loves living in Vancouver and enjoys going to different restaurants, going to the beach and traveling on the weekends and holidays.

Benson Hsu

Benson is ALMA’s IT support provider and the man that brings smiles to faces, when he shows up and takes care of the computer related problems. Benson has a BA degree and Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Certification. He speaks Mandarin and Taiwanese and enjoys video games and fishing in the Fraser River.