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Part of International education

International language advisors

Learn how special language advisors from various countries support K to 12 education programs in Alberta.

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International education

Overview

Our Memorandums of Understandings (MOUs) with China, Germany, Japan, Spain and Ukraine include posting a special language advisor to Alberta.

Language advisors help:

  • support and develop language and cultural programs
  • advise teachers and schools on a variety of topics related to language and cultural programs
  • organize, plan and support professional development sessions, educational exchanges and school partnerships
  • support departmental missions between Alberta and the country they are from

Some advisors also administer language proficiency exams, such as the German Deutsches Sprachdiplom.

Language advisors

Chinese advisor

Coming soon.

Programs and resources

Contact the Chinese language advisor

German advisor

Irene Mrazek is the newly appointed German Special Language Advisor at Alberta Education. She oversees German language proficiency exams (Deutsches Sprachdiplom) and supports German language programs in Western Canada. Her position is co-sponsored by the Central Agency for Schools Abroad (Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen, ZfA) in Bonn, Germany.

Irene has over 35 years of experience in teaching languages. She comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany where she also worked as a teacher of German and English at a high school in Wuppertal and supervised education students completing their teaching practicums through the Bergische University. Her last posting as a German Advisor was to Denver, Colorado where she had responsibility for 5 of the Midwest states and supported over 100 schools, their teachers and students.

Programs and resources

Contact the German language advisor

Japanese advisor

Tatsuya Nakagome is the new Japanese Special Language Advisor posted by the Japan Foundation to Alberta Education. He received an M.Ed. T.E.F.L/T.ES.L from the University of Stirling in the United Kingdom. Prior to his placement in Alberta, Tatsuya has worked as a lecturer as well as an advisor in Japan, Malaysia, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines and the United Kingdom for over 35 years. In England he worked together with teachers to promote Japanese language education for primary: Ready Steady Nihon Go.

Over the last 7 years, he has worked for a program called “Nihongo partners” which dispatches Japanese citizens as NIHONGO Partners mainly to secondary schools in Asia. Tatsuya’s area of interest is visualization, of and within, language and culture studies.

Programs and resources

Contact the Japanese language advisor

Spanish advisor

Beatriz Vallejo Balduque is the new Spanish Special Language Advisor in Alberta – also known as Asesor Técnico in Spain. She is posted to Alberta Education by the Government of Spain and is responsible for Alberta and Western Canada. Beatriz has a BA in English Philology from the University of Zaragoza and a PhD in Didactics of the Language and the Literature from the University of Barcelona.

She has worked in the education field for the last 25 years as an EFL and SFL teacher, Department Chair and Assistant Principal. She has also taught and participated in research teams in the University of Barcelona and the Open University of Catalonia.

Programs and resources

Contact the Spanish language advisor

Ukrainian advisor

Nataliia Naiavko has been the Special Language Advisor for Ukrainian language and culture at Alberta Education since August 2017 and has been a second language teacher in Ukraine for over 20 years. She was a methodologist at the Town Educational Department and a teacher trainer of second language acquisition since 2007. Nataliia has previously studied at George Mason University and University of Maryland.

She was the national winner of Eurasia/South Asia Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program in 2008 and helped develop the new Ukrainian state school curriculum.

Nataliia is an ambassador of the eTwinning Plus Program and coordinates international educational and exchange projects.

Programs and resources

Contact the Ukrainian language advisor

Contact

Chinese language advisor

Connect with the Chinese language advisor:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-2035
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

German language advisor

Connect with the German language advisor:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-422-0536
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Japanese language advisor

Connect with the Japanese language advisor:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-415-6165
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Spanish language advisor

Connect with the Spanish language advisor:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-422-0664
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Ukrainian language advisor

Connect with the Ukrainian language advisor:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-422-3245
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

International Education Services

Connect with the International Education Services:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-2035
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Address:
Main Floor, 44 Capital Boulevard
10044 108 Street
Edmonton, Alberta  T5J 5E6

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