Hello everyone,
Maestro Sersea is a nickname given by my Spanish-speaking English Learner students.
My real name is Ioan Elvis Sersea. I’m an Adult Education English as a Second Language instructor (AESL) at several community colleges in California, USA.
I’ve been in education for over 30 years as an elementary school tutor, a middle school and high school teacher, as well as a college and university adjunct instructor. I’ve taught thousands of students from all walks of life and learned a lot from my interactions with them. It’s an honor and a privilege to teach others and I consider myself lucky to be a teacher and work with amazing students.
I’ve spent quite some time increasing my knowledge and education in the United States of America. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University at Long Beach California. I’ve completed numerous credits in secondary education, English, and special education via California State University, Northridge, California University, Los Angeles, and the University of California Los Angeles Extension. A large part of my education was held online at National University, where I earned my secondary teaching credential, my Master’s in Teaching and Learning, and my Master’s in English.
Although I’m an English teacher, English was my 3rd Language, after Romanian and French. I was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania during the tough Socialist-Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. In Romania, I spoke fluent Romanian and French. I studied music at a prestigious music school for a few years, singing and playing clarinet and piano. When I moved to the United States in 1983 with my family, I began learning English in public school as a beginning English Learner. I was fortunate to have positive and welcoming English as a Second Language teachers who inspired me to become an English Teacher. Since then, I have learned conversational Spanish from my colleagues and students. I also learned minimal Turkish in the mid-1990s when I worked as Secretary to the Consul General of Turkey in Los Angeles for about two and a half years.
I currently live in South Orange County, Southern California, United States of America. I have a small family including my wife, who was also born and raised in Romania, and my 21-year-old son, who was born in California, finished high school early, and earned a Masters Degree from Western Governors University in Cyber Security and Computer Networking.
Some of my hobbies include creating educational resources for English learners such as the 7 books I published on Amazon, watching movies, cars, driving, traveling, reading, listening to music, DJing, singing karaoke, and eating. I enjoy cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway and driving long distances to other cities and states throughout the United States with my family. I love watching movies, ranging from action-adventure, romance, and avant-garde, but rarely, if ever, horror movies. I enjoy playing music for others and have been a Disc Jockey in real and virtual life. Once in a while, I sing on my Karaoke machine, so you may get to see and hear some of my music videos here soon. I’m not a picky eater, and I love eating dishes from different countries, be they from Japan, Thailand, China, Mexico, Romania, Italy, or other countries.
Life has not been easy or comfortable for me, but the difficulties faced have made me the person I am today. I lived through poverty and financial insecurity for years after moving to the USA, lost both parents to disease at an early age, and had to work both professionally and academically intensively to survive and get ahead. I value hard work, respect, and determination and try to instill as much of it as possible by motivating all my students.
Welcome aboard and thank you for joining and learning American English with me here, everyone!
