Nancy Lorenz-Vega was volunteering as an academic coach when she discovered how much she enjoyed teaching. This led her to leave her career in the corporate world and go back to school.

She’s been a teacher for 14 years now.

“I always thought I’d be a good teacher but didn’t decide to pursue it until I went back to school as an adult,” Nancy said.

Today, she teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) both online and in person at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California. Her students are mainly at the intermediate level, but she also teaches students in the VESL Health Care certificate program who are hoping to work in medicine.

"I try to bring my background into the lessons, utilizing my experience in the business world where we learn language for the workplace, as well as my early training in the arts where I teach students to speak well with good pronunciation, expression, intonation, and a wealth of vocabulary for different situations,” Nancy explained.

Nancy Lorenz-Vega is pictured here.

How Nancy uses Ellii to overcome the challenges of teaching

For Nancy, the most challenging part about being a teacher is tending to the needs of students at different levels within the same class.

“Ellii helps me to do this, as I can adjust the level of some activities," she said. "For instance, I can choose a topic and there may be a high-intermediate level as well as a low-intermediate or beginner version of the same article.”

One of her favorite Ellii lessons is our Subject–Verb Agreement lesson from our Grammar Practice Worksheets section.

“There are about 17 pages of worksheets, vocabulary, rules, etc. All of the grammar lessons are wonderful and full of content,” she said. 

Nancy also likes our English Globalization lesson from our Mini-Debates section, calling it "a great discussion starter" for her ESL students.

Despite the challenges that come with the job, Nancy loves being an educator and making a difference.

“I'm so lucky to teach my ESL students,” she said. “They want to learn! The students are adults who want to get ahead or learn English better to bring their skills to the workplace. It's so rewarding to be able to teach and have students so interested in the material!”

Her advice for aspiring teachers?

“Every class is different. Get to know your students individually but also as a class. What is the chemistry of the class? What do they want to learn?” 

Want the chance to be featured in our Teacher Feature series? Visit our 20th Anniversary Giveaway blog post to tell us why you love Ellii and how you use the platform in your classroom.