About the elc

The ELC is committed to building community while also providing quality English language education in a welcoming environment  Our teachers are qualified and experienced educators familiar with the most recent research in English language education and trauma-informed practices. 

The Tools to Succeed

OUr Methods

Classroom instruction is structured around current research in adult language acquisition and takes into account the needs of the current student population. Lessons center around topics about living in the United States and provide ample opportunities for practicing using English in realistic settings. Students also learn life skills that will prepare them for life-long learning even after the leave the ELC. 
Student levels are assessed with oral interviews before being placed in a class that caters to their specific English language acquisition needs. Our curriculum includes topics such as:
  • Basic Language
  • Community Services
  • Consumer Economics
  • Health
  • Employment
  • Transportation
  • Housing

meet our Staff

Steve Rainey

Senior ESL Instructor 

Steve has taught ESL/EFL for over 30 years, and also served as the director of an intensive English language program in Korea. He also oversaw a pilot intensive ESL program for Mexican students at BSU. Mr. Rainey has worked with refugees in Boise for over 20 years. He has a background in linguistics with a focus in language acquisition. He has served on the Intermountain TESOL board and the Refugee Concerns Interest Section board of the international TESOL organization.

Ashley Hislop

SERVICES TO OLDER REFUGEES COORDINATOR
Following a year of AmeriCorps VISTA service at the ELC, Ashley became the Services to Older Refugees Coordinator at the end of 2017. Ashley taught English in Mongolia as a Peace Corps volunteer after graduating from Boise State University with a degree in Anthropology and finished a graduate program in Crisis and Emergency Management in 2019. 
Ashley is semi-fluent in Mongolian and has dabbled in a variety of other languages; she is currently taking an online course in Norwegian. She is half-way through her dream of visiting every continent and enjoys reading, watercolor painting, writing, and studying folk-lore.

Jesse Moneyhun

Computer lab tutor
​cultural orientation facilitator 

Chelsea Jordan

Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator
​ESL Instructor

Chelsea has worked with refugees and multi-lingual students for the past 7 years. Her career started at the English Language Center as a service-learning volunteer and research assistant at Boise State before going to Northern Arizona University for her Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language. She then worked as a English instructor at a university in Ankara, Turkey for two years. She recently re-joined the ELC in the summer of 2019 and enjoys creating engaging lessons and developing the ELC's curriculum as part of her role. 
SHARON SEID
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ESL INSTRUCTOR
​Sharon began a career teaching English as a second language at Boise State in the Asia-America University program from 1992 - 1993.  She also worked several years as a counselor for high school foreign exchange students. She also ran an in-home day care center, sold encyclopedias and Tupperware.  Later, she worked for thirteen years in the West Ada School District teaching ELL students. In 2016, she began volunteering at the ELC and was hired as an instructor in 2017. She has an undergraduate degree from BYU in English, and a master’s degree from NNU in Education, specializing in Reading.  She has an eclectic taste in music ranging from country to classical. She loves to read, bake bread and play with any of her seven grandkids.

Kate Udall

Adult Education manager of Idaho

Kate spent 12 years working with multi-lingual students at Boise State and CWI before beginning in her current position of Adult Education Manager at Idaho Office for Refugees. She enjoys her role building partners across Idaho to work with in developing and supporting English programming for new Americans. She has taught English in Portugal, Korea and Mexico and has worked in higher education partner development in Asia and Latin America.

TARA BRADENBURG

ESL Instructor
​english language program specialist (IRC) 

Tara Brandenburg teaches and coordinates the ELC’s Spark Vocational English and Literacy Class located at the International Rescue Committee. Before her career with the ELC, Tara taught English in many countries including Kazakhstan, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Chile. She has also taught at Colorado State University where she earned her M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language. Tara loves teaching English because it gives her the opportunity build relationships with people from all around the world and support them in achieving their goals. Tara loves languages. She has studied Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, but every day she tries to learn new words to communicate with her students from around the worl
Jesse Moneyhun graduated with a degree in Rhetoric Studies and Japanese from Whitman College. In college he studied abroad in Japan for a year where he also taught English language classes. He later became the assistant director of the Center for Writing and Speaking at Whitman College, where he worked with ELL students and students with learning disabilities. After moving back to Boise, he became involved in many different refugee organizations and found a home at the ELC. Jesse also teaches music to kids and teens at the Boise Rock School and does project development with the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise.
BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH LANGUAGE
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