Phyllis Benowitz
Phyllis has been teaching ESL, coordinating programs and developing curricula for second-language learners since 1987.
For the California Rural Workplace Literacy Project, she taught winery ranch workers in the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma counties, while also serving as Coordinator for the Alta Technologia program for the Napa Valley Adult School.
In 1995 Phyllis received her CPPSC (California Private Post-Secondary Certificate) and has taught for more than 13 years at international schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and abroad. Pursuing her interests in Latin American culture and languages, she has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and has spent time in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (of the University of California at Berkeley) invited Phyllis to develop and teach a Verbal Communication Skills course for their foreign-born scientists. Phyllis specializes in accent reduction techniques and teaches workshops to foreign students, business professionals and visiting scholars. Through U.C. Berkeley she has done advanced studies in the pedagogy of ESL and applied linguistics.
Phyllis served as a 'host mother' for the Orinda Homestay Program which provides host families for English language students attending the UC Berkeley extension program. Currently, she teaches international students during the week and leads TESL courses on the weekends for i-to-i.
