Gaiters Abroad – AN ACCIDENTAL TEACHER
Alumni Magazine May 2021
Nina Lauder ’90 – Seville, Spain
The summer after graduating from Bishop’s with a B.A. in Humanities, Nina Lauder ’90 took on a job as a receptionist at a small firm in Vancouver. One day, while flipping through the newspaper on her coffee break, she saw an ad that read: “Greece Needs English Teachers”, and she applied for the job. That was the beginning of the end for this accidental teacher. Thanks to that ad, two months after graduating, Nina packed her bags to move across the ocean to teach English in a small village on the island of Rhodes.
Following her teaching job in Greece, she travelled around Europe by train before settling in Seville, Spain to teach English as a private tutor. She was lucky enough to be hired as an English guide at the 1992 World’s Fair in Seville and, later that year, as a guide at the Barcelona Olympic Games. She continued to travel extensively in Europe during her time off.
Nina was ready to return to Canada after working in Greece and Spain. However, that was not to be because she returned to her apartment in Seville one day to find she had been robbed of all the savings she had accumulated. She would not be returning to Canada anytime soon, and so began the European and global adventure of Nina Lauder.
She worked odd jobs at restaurants and bars, while still tutoring. In 1994, she was hired by a language school and became the Head of Children’s Studies. Through that job, she became involved in teacher training as a pedagogical advisor. During a conference in 1998, she was approached by a publishing company to work as a consultant. This led to her writing books centred on English Language Teaching and Content and Language Integrated Learning. Her top-selling books are sold around the world.
Her books have led to her travelling to over 30 countries in South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. She has led discussions about teaching in a second language and the different methodologies employed by teachers in each region. Those presentations and discussions have informed her writing of other textbooks.
In 2008, Nina began as a guest lecturer at the Universidad de Pablo Olavide in Seville, teaching classes in the Master of Bilingual Education program. This year she will begin presenting lectures for the online university, Universidad Internacional de Andalucia.
She continues to write for educational publications about pedagogical methodologies, along with her consulting and lecturing.
Nina credits growing up in the multi-cultural milieu of Canada, along with her educational experience at Bishop’s for allowing her to have such a rich and rewarding professional life overseas.
“Bishop’s allowed me to flourish. Taking a general degree in Humanities let me touch on a variety of subjects that I’ve used in my professional life. My theatre classes gave me the confidence to make my presentations around the globe. My involvement in various clubs developed my organizational abilities. And certainly, my English courses led me down the path toward my present career. Studying at a small university like Bishop’s allowed me to develop the skills to succeed after graduation.”
Nina still lives in Seville where she is active with charity work in the city including as a mentor for the NGO Action Against Hunger, where she collaborates on job insertion programs and dealing with at-risk youth.
Nina can be reached at info@ninalauder.com or via her webpage: ninalauder.com/en
Click here to read the full Alumni Magazine from Spring 2021!