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.

Manning Glicksohn

Manning brings a wealth of experience into the classroom every time he conducts an ESL lesson. His background is in teaching, counseling and communication and he has worked in all these fields in Canada and England for over 30 years. He has traveled extensively and has a wide understanding of many different cultures and ways of being. He has been passionately interested in people ever since his first teaching experience for Toronto Board of Education. Some of his other lifelong interests are cinema, music, sports and personal growth and development. He is proud to be one of a fine team of effective professionals who will welcome you to ALMA.

Carol Isaza

Carol was born in Toronto and is a first generation Canadian and bilingual in both English and Spanish. Her parents are from South America and she is  and understands the difficulties of learning a language. She is currently taking her Masters in International and Intercultural Communication. She is also a certified ESL instructor and has taught English in Thailand for 3 years and Vancouver for 4 years.  Carol loves teaching and learning from her students. She has extensive traveling experiences and is a culture lover who is intrigued by foreign customs and traditions. She enjoys reading and absorbing all mediums of art and her health is maintained by a mixture of outdoor sports.

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.”

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.

Kaori Miyake

Kaori is the registrar and Japanese counsellor 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. Kaori has an Associate Degree in Tourism. She has studied in Australia and the United States. She loves living in Vancouver and enjoys movies, shopping, 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.