Leonie Norton
Resume
Leonie Norton, BA(VisArt), BA Fine Arts (Hons) Plant & Wildlife Illustration, Graduate Diploma VET (Adult Ed) and Cert IV in Assessment & Workplace Training. She has taught various workshops and taken art tours both overseas and in Australia, for over twenty years, in conjunction with running online art courses. She exhibits regularly and her paintings can be found in many galleries globally. She is an enthusiastic tutor who enjoys imparting knowledge with direct interaction with students by class and individual tuition.Lindsay Nunez Lopez
Resume
Lindsay Nunez, Dip LIS, Diploma of Travel and Tourism, has worked in the tourism industry for over ten years and has taught at the WEA for the past three years. She has traveled to 20+ countries and more than 100 cities worldwide, where she has learned about different cultures and tourist destinations. Lindsay is an enthusiastic and outgoing teacher who enjoys preparing a variety of materials and comprehensive notes to support and encourage student independent learning. She believes that teaching is a wonderful way to continue learning.Fiona O'Beirne
Resume
Fiona O'Beirne, B. Visual Arts, a Post-Grad Dip in Professional Arts Studies and has worked and taught in the field of Art for nearly 40 years, and has taught at WEA for the last thirty years. Fiona has exhibited in such prestigious art exhibitions as the Archibald and the Portia Geach and regularly shows at the Blue Mountains Regional Art Gallery. Fiona uses a variety of teaching methods such as live demonstrations and the screening of videos and provides support materials to support and sustain student learning. Fiona believes that learning should be practical, relevant and fun if it is to be memorable and useful to students.Nahla O'Waisha
Resume
Nahla is a highly experienced Arabic teacher who has been with WEA since 2017. With over 18 years of experience teaching across a wide range of ages, she studied at the University of Damascus and she has a Masters in Arabic language. She completed a four-year Bachelors in University of AL Baath in Syria, is interested in Semitic languages and can also speak Turkish. She obtained a certificate in Language Teaching in Australia in 2015 at University of Sydney. Nahla specialises in making her lessons engaging and relevant to each student. She creates resources and activities targeted to meet the learning needs of each class. In her courses at WEA she specialises in teaching adults common Arabic words and phrases and in explaining common cultural practices found across Middle Eastern communities. Her classes are interactive and informative and provide students with a useful overview of the Arabic language and culture.Caterina Pangallo
Resume
Caterina Pangallo was born in Italy. Caterina completed a Welfare Certificate and Associate Diploma at TAFE. She obtained a Tax Agents licence and set up an accountancy practice, and ran her own business for twenty five years. During this period she completed a tertiary preparation course, and after retirement completed a BA (Hons) in Philosophy at Sydney University.
She has also taught basic English to migrants and refugees as a volunteer for the Immigration Department, and Italian literature at U3A. Caterina has travelled widely, visiting four continents and gained a working knowledge of four languages. She is interested in teaching philosophy, history, politics and culture.
James Paul
Resume
James Paul. Tutor of WEA SydneyClasses
Chris Pedersen
Resume
Chris is currently CEO of Pedersen Asset Management and Chair of Democrats Abroad in Australia. He has taught courses and presented at seminars for over 30 years including at NY University Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, The Wharton School's Securities Institute, New York Institute of Finance and the Securities Institute of Australian/Kaplan. He has managed billions of dollars in various investment programs. He has worked on the floor of the NYSE, managed a derivatives department, proprietary dealing and arbitrage departments. In addition, he has been on public company Boards such as the Sydney Futures Exchange (before ASX acquisition), and on the investment committee of the fund manager of the year in Australia. He has been used extensively by publications and television in the US and Australia. His teaching style is one that elicits student participation through real life examples.Giorgia Pempinello
Resume
Giorgia was born and raised in Milan, Italy. With a mother who teaches English and a grandmother who used to teach French, she grew up surrounded by a deep appreciation for languages. This environment sparked her passion from an early age. She attended a language high school where she studied French, Spanish, and English, and later earned a degree in Linguistic Sciences at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, graduating with highest honours with a focus on Russian and English.
After completing her studies, Giorgia moved to Australia with the goal of pursuing a Master’s degree in Teaching, a path inspired by the rewarding experiences she had as a language educator in Italy. Over the course of four years, she worked as a private language tutor, taught French at a French cultural centre, and worked in a private early childhood school where she introduced children, aged 3 to 10, to the English language. Now, Giorgia is ready to take on a new challenge: exploring the world of teaching in Australia by sharing the Italian language with Australian learners. Through her lessons, she aims to pass on not only the language but also the traditions, customs, and culture of the beautiful country where she was born and raised.