Teacher profiles
Maria Cazares
about
Maria was born and educated in California, USA. Her experience growing up in a multicultural and multi-linguistic environment led her to pursue a career in Sociology studies. A summer semester of travel and language studies in Milan, Italy, turned her interests to the broader realm of International Relations and eventually led to a long term stay in Europe. In 2008 she Franklin University in Lugano, with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations. Always interested in being active in a multicultural environment, Maria first started working at the Club in 2010 as an assistant teacher in playgroup. After gaining some experience in an international NGO she decided to go back to teaching and trained with Flying Teachers to become a CELTA certified English teacher in 2014. She rejoined the Fun-tastic team in the summer of 2014 and has been teaching our native speakers’ classes since then. In the last year, Maria has taken on a more managerial role and she welcomes the new challenge.
Fiona Anderegg-Grime was born and grew up in northwest England. She worked as an English assistant in a Lycée in Alsace, France and studied in Pamplona, Spain before gaining a BA (Hons) in European Languages and Institutions from Leeds Polytechnic. After graduating, she took part in an EU exchange to Turin, Italy and then worked for a major UK tour operator until she married and moved to Lucerne, Switzerland in 1998. At first she worked for a Swiss tour operator in Zürich while studying German at the DOZ in Zürich. In 2003 she gained CELTA certification at the Volkschule in Zürich. She has since attended many language teaching classes and seminars at the SAL in Zürich and is a member of ETAS (English Teachers Association Switzerland). She combines her love of language and working with children, with translation. Fiona has lived in Hirzel with her husband and three daughters since 2004.
Ellen Cina was born in Ohio, USA. She earned her bachelors in English literature and writing as well as a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ellen’s passion for multicultural communities began during her study abroad Semester in Rome, Italy at the John Felice Rome Center through Loyola of Chicago. Here she began to tutor English language learners. After returning to Ohio, she worked with the International Comboni Missionaries while completing her degree. Ellen moved to Switzerland in the summer of 2020 and joined the club during the spring semester of 2021 as an assistant teacher. She is excited to continue her passion for language education and multicultural communication.
Monika is originally from India, where studied and obtained her PhD in Economics. In the early stages of her teaching career, Monika served as an Economics professor for four years before moving with her family to Singapore.
Her stay in Singapore extended to a remarkable ten years, but she never stopped teaching. She continued to pursue her love for teaching, only this time, with a focus on the English language. The CELTA certification from Singapore’s British Council opened doors for her to teach English at an international college to adults with varying backgrounds within the SEA region.
Another move took Monika and her family to Malaysia, where they lived briefly before relocating to Switzerland. While there, she continued to combine her love for teaching and appreciation of the English language through volunteer work as an English teacher for young children at a UNHCR school.
Monica moved to Switzerland in 2021 and is excited to continue her teaching work, and looks forward to assisting her students on their English learning journey.
