International language advisors

Coming soon.

Programs and resources

• Confucius Institute in Edmonton
• Chinese language learning brochure

Contact the Chinese language 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

• Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen (ZfA)
• PASCH – Iniciative
• German language learning brochure

Contact the German language 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

• Japan Foundation - Toronto
• Teacher training programs in Canada
• Teacher training programs in Japan
• Japan Foundation Japanese e-Learning Minato
• Marugoto Plus Japanese learning
• Irodori Japanese for Life in Japan
• Nihongo Portal for Learning Japanese
• Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)
• Japanese language learning brochure

Contact the Japanese language advisor

Spanish Language Resource Centre

• The North American Language and Culture Assistants Program
• RedELE
• Instituto Cervantes
• DELE examinations
• Todoele.net
• Education Office at the Embassy of Spain to Canada
• Spanish language learning brochure

Contact the Spanish language 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

• Ukrainian National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) 2025 (English)
• Ukrainian National Multi-Subject Test (NMT) 2025 (Ukrainian)
• Ukrainian Language Education Centre (ULEC)
• Ukrainian language learning brochure
• Supporting Displaced Ukrainian Students and their Families

Contact the Ukrainian 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: intl.ed.sec@gov.ab.ca

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: irene.mrazek@gov.ab.ca

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: tatsuya.nakagome@gov.ab.ca

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: beatriz.vallejo-balduque@gov.ab.ca

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: nataliia.naiavko@gov.ab.ca

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: intl.ed.sec@gov.ab.ca

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