OUR INSTRUCTORS
Ada Xiao
Chinese Instructor
Being Chinese by birth and Kiwi by choice, Ada knows China and New Zealand well. She…
Adam Nachowitz
Junior Lecturer
Adam Nachowitz is a twenty-year-old student based in Wellington and is delighted to be a part of our…
Dr Alexander Maxwell, PhD,
History Instructor
Dr Alexander Maxwell, PhD is an Associate Professor of History at Victoria University in Wellington, where he teaches among other things, a course on Soviet history. He is …
Amondi Ouko-Mowbry
Swahili Instructor
Amondi Ouko-Mowbray teaches our Swahili language courses and our Teacher Training Professional Deve…
Anne Cao, MA
Chinese Instructor
Anne is originally from Beijing. She has worked in a wide range of industries, particularly education, media …
Dr Ann McEwan, PhD
Architecture
Ann studied art and architectural history at the University of Canterbury and lectured at the University of…
Benjamin Tobias, LLB, LLM
Hebrew Instructor
Benny teaches EarthDiverse’s Hebrew courses. He was born in Israel and was raised as fluent Hebrew …
Briar Taylor-Smith, PhD
Restoration Ecologist
Briar is an experienced terrestrial ecologist with a broad range of skills and experience. Since …
Carola Arriagada
Spanish Instructor
Carola was born and raised in Chile. She has been passionate about learning new skills since …
Cristina Schumacher, MA
Portuguese Instructor
Cristina is a Brazilian linguist based in New Zealand and an expert in language learning and …
Dayana Carmona
Spanish Instructor
My name is Dayana Carmona, I am from Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, a great…
Dr Dennis Green, PhD
Hebrew/Jewish/Archaeology …
Dennis holds a PhD from the University of Waikato and is a graduate of the Oxford Center for Postgraduate …
Esraa AbdelMaksoud
Arabic Instructor
My name is Esraa. I was born and raised in Egypt, and I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in pharmaceutic…
Ganga Sudhan, MED
Tamil Instructor
Ganga teaches our Tamil language courses along with Halimah. Ganga has decades of experience in …
Grace Aislabie
Junior Lecturer
Grace is a third-year student at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, working towards…
Hein Laaper
German Instructor
I was born in Utrecht, Netherlands, but have lived most of my life in New Zealand. I graduated from …
Hidekazu Oka
Junior Lecturer
Hidekazu Oka is a 24-year-old originally born in Tokyo, Japan. Before he settled in New Zealand seven years …
Ifat Vayner- Itzkovitc
Puppeteer-in-Residence, Puppet Education Specialist, Hebrew Instructor
Shalom! שלום ! My name is Ifat Vayner-Itzkovitch, and I have been living in New Zealand for …
Ingrid Chavez
Spanish Instructor
Hola a todos! I am Ingrid Chavez, I come from Chile, South America. I have been living in New Zealand for…
Jeroen(Jay) Van Der Most, Ma
Dutch Instructor
Jeroen (Jay) van der Most holds a Master’s degree in Sovietology from the …
Jillene Bydder
Instructor
Jillene Bydder’s long-term interest is in spy thrillers and what they can tell us about ourselves. An …
Kalai Krishnan
Tamil Instructor
Kalai was born and raised in Teluk Intan, Perak in Malaysia until I was 17. Studied my early education in an all …
Kikey Mendoza
Spanish Instructor
Kikey Mendoza is a well-being worker. She comes from Mexico and is passionate about the Spanish langua…
Machima (Mac) Aksonnit
Thai Instructor
Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Mac has lived in Hamilton for the past 12 years. He has studied multiple languages such as Fre…
Maxine Fraser, BA, Dip. Tchg, Dip. LIS
Instructor
After growing up on a King Country farm, Maxine studied at Auckland University and enjoyed tramping in New Zealand…
Mayssaa Sheik Al Ard, MA
Arabic Instructor
Mayssaa Sheik Al Ard, our Introductory Arabic instructor, was born to a Syrian father and Egyptian mother and raised in the…
Meg Barlow-Rolleston
Junior Lecturer
Meg Barlow-Rolleston is a sixteen-year-old of Māori and Irish descent, who is extremely passionate about her …
Michael Burton-Smith
Junior Lecturer
Michael Burton-Smith is a nineteen-year-old student based in New Zealand’s windy capital city and our first…
Monica Salerno, PhD
Portuguese Instructor
Hello! My name is Mônica Senna Salerno and I’m a Brazilian scientist born in Rio de Janeiro. I hold an MSc from Brazil and a PhD from Australia. I’m a native Portuguese …
Nathan Smith
Director Titoki
Nathan has more than 25 years of experience in ecological restoration and consulting. He moved to New Zealand from his native …
Dr Norman Franke, PhD
Instructor
Norman is a Hamilton-based poet, scholar, artist and filmmaker (MA, Hamburg University; PhD. Humboldt Univer…
Pam Chiles
Mindfulness Meditation Instructor
Pam is a mindfulness meditation instructor in the Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition and has spent many years …
Pepa Torre, MA
Spanish instructor
Pepa comes from Andalucia, in the south of Spain, once the domain of Islam and referred to as Al-Andalus. She is the Chair of the…
Peter Dornauf, MA, DIP TCHG
Instructor
Peter has taught in secondary schools, Wintec and Waikato University collectively for over 25 years. He is a well …
Dr Saadia Arif
Urdu Instructor
Dr Saadia Arif, our new Urdu language instructor, is originally from Pakistan and Urdu is her mother tongue. She was...
Shifra Gassner, MS Sci Edu
Instructor
For the last five years, Shifra has been teaching a class called Earth Space Science to high school students in Iowa, USA. During…
Flicky Cunliffe
Junior Lecturer
Flicky is a full-time first-year student at Victoria University of Wellington and will teach her first course forEarthDiverse. She currently …
Dr Todd Nachowitz, PhD
Hindi / Urdu Instructor
Todd is the Founder and Executive Director of EarthDiverse. He previously taught Religious Studies at the University of Waikato …
Yecenia Atencio
Spanish Instructor
My name is Yecenia Atencio, I am from Colombia, a beautiful country in South America. I came to live in New Zealand a year …
Yurika Arai
Japanese Instructor
Yurika Arai is our Japanese instructor. She was born in Japan and has been living in Hamilton for nearly 30 years. She has both an M Phil …