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Luis Patrocinio

By Ján Ranostaj

A passionate teacher with all his heart and soul able to tune his students to a positive vibe even after a tough day.

He has a degree in theatre studies and art. He has worked as a Cambridge-certified English teacher in Brazil and Slovakia, teaching adults, teenagers and children.

Luis comes from Brazil and has been a teacher at The Bridge since 2020.

What he values the most about teaching is “being able to share my knowledge with my students, that is what fulfills me. Building relationships, teaching, constantly learning and growing, sharing the joy and the good with the world”.

He has Polish-Ukrainian-Portuguese-Spanish-Indian-African roots. Loves nature and singing, which he has trained under Jeanie LoVetri and has a range of 3.5 octaves.

Mary Clarke

By kurzy

Mary is a nice lecturer from the UK, she has been working in Slovakia since 2018. She is well travelled, having lived and worked in the Netherlands, Argentina and the UK. She has worked in various spheres, e.g. as a relationship manager, project manager for theatre and for 5 years as a court clerk. In addition to teaching English, she is also involved in arts projects, which has been her lifelong passion.

She is communicative, empathetic with strongly developed interpersonal skills. She is systematic, consistently prepares for lessons and under her guidance and motivation, students make rapid progress in the language. Students appreciate her preparedness, energy and well-chosen approach. She specializes in business English, preferring to work with adults.

In her spare time, she enjoys the aforementioned culture and arts, loves food and spending time in nature.

Maria Laura Cabada

By Klaudia Bednárová

Maria Laura Cabada is from Argentina. She studied English at the University of Cordoba and came to Slovakia in August 2015.

In September 2017, she moved from Banská Bystrica to Bratislava where she started working for the Bridge language centre. Laura loves foreign languages and studied Russian and modern Greek, and also speaks a little Slovak. She is a pedagogy graduate and has experience in teaching adults, children and teenagers.

Laura also loves travelling, she has travelled throughout Europe and always looks forward to discovering new places. In her free time she enjoys movies, meeting friends and reading history,  philosophy and poetry. She has an interest in following  politics both here in Slovakia and in the wider world.

 

Ondrej Koščík

By Klaudia Bednárová

Ondrej has been an English teacher and translator since 2011. He graduated from the University of Prešov where he majored in English and American studies. During his university studies he spent 6 months in Rezszow studying English and linguistics and also completed an internship in London and attended a summer school on contemporary literature in Edinburgh.

Teaching English is Ondrej`s passion, proof of which can be found in his dedication to preparing and delivering his lessons.

Another of Ondrej`s passions is photography. He spends much of his free time taking photos while  attending  conferences, festivals and concerts. He loves working with people and is fascinated by their stories.

Sam Patre

By Ján Ranostaj

If Sam hadn’t become a passionate teacher, she would have been a comedy actress. A mature optimist that will always make you feel welcome.

She has gained a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from India and TEFL, TESOL and TEYL certificates from Thailand.

What he values the most about teaching is “the privilege to help spread knowledge. It is a feeling that cannot be compared to anything in the world. By being a teacher I can learn something new every day and it helps me in becoming a better person”.

Sam comes from India and has been a teacher at The Bridge since 2019.

She has outstanding communication skills. Her enthusiasm is infectious and can inspire students of all ages. She is patient, responsible and speaks multiple languages.

Sam is a philanthropist and loves cooking, especially for others. While she looks like the embodiment of an extrovert, on the inside she is quite the opposite. She often finds calm and relax in solitude.

Mario Rinvolucri

By Ján Ranostaj

Mario is a founding member of the world-renown PILGRIMS Teacher Training Centre. He served as a teacher trainer at PILGRIMS from 1974 to 2019, and for many years he has also acted as a trainer and mentor for language teachers at the annual University of Oxford summer school.

Mario has had a significant impact on the methodology of teaching English. He is the main advocate of humanism in language education, lecturing and training at conferences and educational events for teachers worldwide. He has co-authored numerous books, most famously including Grammar games, Once upon a time, Vocabulary, Creative Writing and Humanising Your Course Book.

Here at The Bridge, Mario has helped us to design a feedback system and consulted our teaching methodology. We are currently collaborating on the HLT.digital project, an online teacher training platform.

Sandra Weigl

By Ján Ranostaj

Organised, level-headed and calm yoga lover with excellent communication and people skills.

Following her studies she had worked in tourism, but later decided on a career change. Completing her CELTA course in Edinburgh, she has started teaching English.

Sandra comes from Germany, from a small town not far from Munich.

What he values the most about teaching is “the love and the joy in the teaching profession”. She finds teaching to be a hobby that gives her an opportunity to help her students grow.

In the last 8 years, she has lived in Spain, England, Scotland and China. She loves learning about new languages and cultures. Sandra is conscientious, responsible, reliable and reasonable. She loves travelling, yoga, dance, spending time in nature and enjoys music and movies.

Mike Shreeve

By kurzy

Mike Shreeve served as a school director and an HR manager. His management experience became useful in his current professional training role, where he acts as a coach and a mentor to managers and HR professionals. He has designed the NLP and Coaching Skills, and the Teaching Students with Special Needs and Inclusive Learning courses at the Pilgrims teacher training centre.

He is an active relationship coach as well as a certified instructor at the European Mentoring & Coaching Council. Other than business coaching and mentoring, Mike is also involved in coaching children with learning disabilities.

Some of his most recent projects include a teacher training programme in Ethiopia aimed at improving coaching skills and feedback, together with a programme for our teachers here at The Bridge aimed at using coaching skills in teaching English.

Philip Kerr

By Ján Ranostaj

Philip Kerr lives in Vienna, where he trains teachers and authors professional publications, methodological guides and English textbooks. His latest textbooks include Evolve (Cambridge University Press), Studio (Helbling), Straightforward (Macmillan) and Inside Out (Macmillan). He has significantly contributed to the research on using one’s native language in teaching foreign languages and has authored the prestigious award-winning book Translation and Own-Language Activities (Cambridge University Press). He was involved in the development of several language learning (predominantly vocabulary) mobile apps, regularly publishes in professional journals and writes a blog on technology in language learning at https://adaptivelearninginelt.wordpress.com/. He inspires us to keep getting better.

Rakesh Bhanot

By Ján Ranostaj

Rakesh Bhanot has been teaching English, training teachers and lecturing at conferences aimed at teaching English worldwide since 1972. He has been active as a teacher trainer all over the world, mainly however in the UK, Russia, Germany and Italy. He spent a large part of his career at a university …… and as an inspector of a language school network in Germany.

Today, Rakesh volunteers as an English teacher and mentor to other teachers at state schools – in central Europe and Greece. He publishes extensively and is a member of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language IATEFL Publications Committee. Rakesh is one of the founding editors of several professional journals, including Language Issues – the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages to Adults’ (NATECLA) journal.