Embassy of the United States

English Language Office Programs

English Language Fellows in Russia

St. Petersburg – John Scafidi

John Scafidi is from New Jersey and earned a MA in TESOL from Hunter College, City University of New York.  He taught in various ESL programs in the New York City area and was involved in teacher training at several New Jersey universities.  Mr. Scafidi has also taught in EFL programs in South Korea and the Philippines where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer.  From 2006-2008, he served as Senior English Language Fellow in Georgia. His professional interests lie in the area of Academic Writing, Listening Skills, and English for Business Purposes.  Among his personal interests are watching foreign movies, international dining, and travel.

Rostov-on-Don – Sarah Klinghammer

Sarah J. Klinghammer, Ph.D. has been active in the field of ESL/ EFL for over 30 years, primarily at institutes of higher education, including the University of Oregon, Bilkent University (Turkey), Charles University (Prague), Oregon State University, and the University of Hawaii. Most recently, she has been director of and instructor for an MA in Linguistics, Language Teaching Specialization program, U Oregon. She has twice received Fulbright scholar grants (Czechoslovakia and Turkey) and has an on-going involvement in teacher training and program accreditation/evaluation of both English language institutes and public school programs. She is co-author, with Leslie Opp-Beckman, of the video series: (2006) Shaping the Way We Teach English: Successful practices around the world, Teachers’ Manual.

Ekaterinburg – Vino Reardon

Vino Reardon is committed to the field of TESOL, particularly as it relates to assessment.  Her Ph.D. is in the area of Education/TESL, and she has been involved in teaching and research for many years.  More recently, she worked on a project that involved developing a test for English Language Learners in response to the ‘No Child Left Behind’ program in the state of Kansas.  She served as a Senior English Language Fellow in Samara 2007-2008 and is looking forward to working in Yekaterinburg this academic year, 2008-2009.  She loves to travel, read, listen to music, and cook.

Novosibirsk – Todd Vidamour

Todd Vidamour has his roots in the American West but called Chicago "home" for more than 2 decades.  He began his own training as a foreign language teacher in Vienna, Austria in 1990 and taught German and English as foreign languages for the next few years while finishing his education.  He completed his MA in Applied Linguistics in Chicago in 1994 and has since been involved in language education in countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Central America.  In addition to classroom language instruction, he has been a program/course curriculum developer and administrator; however, he has been involved primarily in teacher-training over the past 5 years, doing projects for the School for International Training (SIT), Oxford Seminars, and most recently, the English Language Fellowship Program.  He truly enjoys working with teachers and is always interested in exploring ways for learning to be maximized both in and out of the classroom.  He is an avid traveler with a passion for cultures and languages.

Vladivostok – Allyson Kellum

Allyson Kellum is from Montana and earned a B.A. in Anthropology and Russian from the University of Montana and a M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of New England.  She taught in a language school in Tokyo, Japan and in a public elementary school in Seoul, Korea.  Ms. Kellum has been in the English Language Fellow Program for two years, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and in Managua, Nicaragua.  Ms. Kellum's professional interests include materials development, pronunciation, critical thinking skills, and culture.  Personal interests include studying mythology, exploring different experiences and views of life, and doing all kinds of puzzles.