Our Team
Briar Jamieson, Executive Director
Briar Jamieson, Executive Director of English
Online Inc., started as the lone staffer for English
Online in the Fall of 2008. Since then, Briar
has grown the online learning program, with the
English Online team of 4 staff, to almost 2000
learners in the past two years. As a result, English
Online has made inroads into the homes of
independent learners at home across Manitoba
and future pre-arrival newcomers still their country
of origin.
Briar completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University
of Toronto and after a decade working for a
law firm in human resources, she made a career
transition into Education having completed both
a TESL certificate and a Bachelor of Education
at the University of Toronto. She gained varied
experience, first by teaching ESL with the Toronto
Catholic District School Board and other EAL
programs. Later, she applied her language teaching
experience in Nunavut instructing Inuktitutspeaking
secondary school learners in English
Language Arts while coaching Aboriginal entrepreneurship
teams to national level competition,
and promoting indigenous language curriculum
with the Iqaluit Literacy Council.
Briar combines her passion for education and
technology, notably with EAL learners, by directing
English Online and also as Chair of the Mosaic
Family Network that provides simultaneous
EAL courses and childcare to newcomer women
in Manitoba. As a strong proponent of the not-forprofit
sector, Briar has sat as the Board Secretary
of the Manitoba Federation of Not-for-Profit Organizations
(MFNPO) and last year successfully
Chaired the MFNPO Sector Summit.
Natalia Aleko, Coordinator, Teacher Services
Natalia has been with English Online since June 2010 first as an Administrative Assistant, then as an eFacilitator. In October 2011 she was hired as a Coordinator, Teacher Services to initiate and grow the Teacher Exchange Network. She will help like-minded EAL teachers connect with each other, as well as develop best practice resources and workshops around autonomous language learning and Personal Language Learning Environments.
Before coming to English Online, Natalia worked as a part time Administrative Assistant and a Teacher Assistant at the English Skills Centre in Winnipeg. She taught EAL in Latvia for over a decade and gained a unique experience of interacting with students of various age groups and cultures.
Natalia studied English as Second /Foreign Language at the University of Latvia, graduated from Riga Teacher Training and Education Management Academy with a Teacher Diploma and a Bachelor's Degree in Pedagogy. She got her Master's Degree in the same discipline from Daugavpils University.
Iwona Gniadek, Lead Teacher, Learner Services
Iwona has been the Lead of Learner Services for English Online Inc. since May 2009 and is working on developing, implementing and supporting an online learner support system for self-directed learners. It is a huge undertaking but she enjoys feeling a part of a new, exciting and different initiative to support adult EAL learners.
Before coming to English Online she taught EAL for the Portage Learning and Literacy Centre in Portage La Prairie. She also has international teaching experience in Poland and the United Kingdom. In the UK, she gained experience in facilitating Computer-Assisted Language Learning in a blended model of delivery and support, i.e. face-2-face and online.
She holds an M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language from the University of Warsaw and is currently involved in instructional design projects in the EAL field. In spite of a very busy schedule, Iwona is an active member of the Board of Directors for MADLaT.
Pei-Jean Toews, Administrative Assistant and Website developer
Since May 2009 Pei-Jean has been the Administrative Assistant, Graphic Designer, and Website Developer for English Online. Among her important duties include helping new learners with the registration process and submitting learner status reports to English Online’s funders.
Pei-Jean worked as a professional Graphic Designer in Taipei before joining English Online. In addition to a broad portfolio of freelance work, she has done layouts for catalogues and directed photo-shoots.
She studied video editing, graphic and website design, photography, and animation at the Tainan University of Technology and Art. Pei-Jean graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication.
Ianthe Warner, eFacilitator
Joining English Online in June of 2010, Ianthe has made it her mission to facilitate learners in the pursuit of developing their English language skills in the virtual environment. Her work involves helping learners get the most out of the English Online resources while developing their abilities as self-directed online learners.
Ianthe was born and raised in Winnipeg, receiving a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Manitoba and later completing a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation. Travelling to many places throughout the world, Ianthe developed a great love of languages and the ability to communicate in French, German, sign language and pidgin.
In 2006, Ianthe was able to combine her interest in foreign languages, cultures and teaching by completing a CTESL certificate program at the University of Manitoba. Ianthe then worked in a variety of EAL programs in Winnipeg before joining the dynamic team at English Online.
Stephanie Stetefeld, eFacilitator
Stephanie joined English Online in September 2011. An immigrant herself she can relate well to the needs, hopes and feelings of our learners. She is excited to develop meaningful online material and deliver interesting Skype and Wiziq sessions for our learners. Supporting learners in their adjustment process here in Manitoba is very important for her. Stephanie loves languages, she can communicate in German, French and Spanish, and she also has learned Latin.
Stephanie was born and raised in Munich, Germany where she also received a Teaching Degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University. After teaching some years in Middle Schools, she immigrated to Winnipeg with her family. Since then teaching languages at various levels was her main focus. In 2010 she completed the CTESL program at the University of Winnipeg.
