At the ESL Open Learning Centre, we offer free English language support for any registered students enrolled in the ESL program, and all other academic undergraduate or graduate degree programs at York University.
Our trained team members are here to discuss and suggest effective measures to help you improve your language skills by assisting with reading comprehension, academic presentation, vocabulary building, grammar awareness, academic writing, critical thinking and research skills. Browse below to get acquainted with our facilitators, and use our system to schedule an appointment.
Olga Makinina
ESL OLC Director
olcdir@yorku.ca
Olga Makinina is an Associate Professor at the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics (DLLL) and Director of the Open Learning Center at York University, Canada. In the context of EAP teaching, she is particularly interested in formulaic language acquisition, second/additional language writing in the context of peer review and genre-based pedagogies, multimodalities-enhanced and technology-mediated learning, and multiliteracies practices.
Marlon Valencia
Glendon ESL OLC Director
mvalen@glendon.yorku.ca
Marlon Valencia is the Director of the Glendon ESL Open Learning Centre and an assistant professor of the Department of English at Glendon College. His research interests include language learners' and teachers' identities, autoethnography, visual ethnography, critical multiliteracies, and the role of imagination in teaching and learning.
Brenda McComb
ESL OLC Writing Instructor
Brenda McComb has taught in York's departments of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics (ESL), Humanities and Writing for over 30 years. She has worked extensively in one-on-one tutoring in both the Writing Centre and ESL Open Learning Centre. In her research and practice, she has a particular focus on the roles academic discourse plays in our scholarly, personal, professional and cultural lives, and how domestic and international students can develop skills needed to further engage and contribute in all these areas.
Gillian Beresford
ESL OLC Writing Instructor
Gillian Beresford is an adjunct professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics with interests in language, music, and science. She has published in the field of language planning and worked with university students at all levels at all stages of the writing process.
Mansour Safdari
ESL OLC Writing Instructor
Mansour Safdari has more than 10 years of experience teaching ESL and communication courses at the college and university level. He has also been a curriculum developer and a teacher trainer in Canada and oversees. Mansour holds an MA in applied linguistics from York University and a BA in English from Iran. He has two teaching certificates—Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Trinity College, London, England, and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) from Toronto, Canada. Mansour is passionate about other cultures and languages, so outside academic life, he rides his bicycle around the world to get a first-hand glimpse of different cultures and languages.