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Teachers & Staff
All Agape teachers are well-trained and experienced in teaching English as a second language. More importantly they are friendly, personable, and concerned about your special needs as a newcomer to our country.
Administrative Staff
- Dr. Raj Aluri (President)
- John Lawrence (Program/Greenville Director)
- Brett Varner (Columbia Director)
- Kassidee Cuffey (Columbia Assistant)
- Rebeca Hornor (Greenville Assistant)
Teaching Staff
Columbia
Greenville
- Chris DuBose
- Merideth Hoagland
- Rebeca Hornor
- Melissa Jantz
- David Koonts
- John Lawrence
- Rebekah Lawrence
- Carrie Pait
Beginning in high school I discovered that I love learning other languages. I started with Spanish. My friends spoke Spanish. I read books in Spanish. I listened to the radio in Spanish. And I attended a Spanish-speaking church. During high school I traveled to the Dominican Republic and Mexico. I also studied German and French in high school and university. In university I also studied two ancient languages – Greek and Hebrew. In 2005, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities.
When my wife and I returned to the U.S. in 2008, I resumed my work at Agape, this time as the director of the school in Greenville. In addition to teaching classes like Reading and Pronunciation, my goal is to ensure that our students and teachers have the best experience possible. My primary desire for our students at Agape is that they learn – as much and as quickly as possible! I also work with marketing and admissions.
In 2001, some of my friends talked me into going to Haiti with them for a week to help open a medical clinic. It was a wonderful adventure, and since then I have been traveling. I've been to several countries in Europe and South America. I decided to teach myself Spanish several years ago. It was then that I realized that I had a knack for understanding languages and teaching them. I began to teach ESL and basic Spanish as a volunteer while living in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 2007 I moved to Guadalajara for year where I received a certificate at International Teacher Training Organization to teach English as a second language. I taught in Mexico for a year. I then discovered Agape in Columbia, and decided to move here to be closer to family. Teaching at Agape has been a great experience. There is such a positive attitude among teachers and students which makes a Agape a pleasant place to teach and learn.
Veronica Palmer is right at home in Columbia, SC. She grew up here and attended Dutch Fork High School. After graduation, she attended college at Charleston Southern University and received a Bachelor's degree. Her studies included Spanish and Religion with a minor in Business Administration. She kept busy by participating in intramural sports, Spanish club, and Psi Delta Phi sorority.
She currently lives in West Columbia with three roommates. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends. When she’s not in the classroom you can find her on the frisbee field. She plays ultimate frisbee with several groups in the Columbia area. She also likes to travel. She has visited the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, and Colombia, as well as various states in the U.S. She also enjoys running, knitting, cooking, traveling, and swing dancing.
I began working at Agape in August of 2007. In 1983, I graduated from Clemson University with a degree in Economics, after which I completed a Masters degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from Georgia State University. I taught English in Japan for three years, before graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS with a Masters degree in Biblical Studies. While in Mississippi, I taught English at Mississippi College in Clinton. In 1991, I married Curtis DuBose, and after graduation we moved to Africa. I taught English in Malawi and Uganda while my husband taught in seminaries there. In 2006, we returned to the USA, where Curtis is a pastor and I am a teacher of English. We have two sons and two daughters.
I have been teaching at Agape since January of 2009; I also taught at Agape in the spring of 2006. I received both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English from Bob Jones University. During my post-graduate studies (2002-04), I was a teaching assistant in two university courses—Composition & Grammar and Composition & Rhetoric. At university I also studied Spanish and Russian, and twice had the great privilege of taking summer choir tours throughout Europe. It was during these trips that my love for cross-cultural communication really blossomed. Following graduation I tutored international professionals—including students from Germany, France, and Mexico—and was a private cello instructor.
In the fall of 2006 I moved to northeast China, where I taught English speaking, writing, and culture to more than two hundred college and post-college students. In China I also conducted English Clubs in storytelling and music. I returned to the States in 2008. I hope to be a life-long student of world cultures and of ultimate truth.
I began teaching at Agape in the fall of 2008. I work as a teacher and recruiter of international students. I was born in Barcelona, Spain and moved to the U.S. to enroll in university. I completed my B.A. in 2006 and M.A. in 2008. I started tutoring students in ESL when I was in Spain. While earning my M.A., I taught at the university for two years, when I realized how much I enjoy teaching. Being from another country and having experienced what it is like to learn a new language really helps me understand what students go through when they come here.
My husband, Paul, and I have been married since 2008. My interests are traveling, visiting new places, and learning about other countries.
I earned a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Linguistics with a focus on second language acquisition and TESOL. I have taught English as a second language in many different settings, both abroad and in the U.S. I have traveled around the U.S., parts of Western Europe and across China. I’m originally from Atlanta, Georgia, but I now live in Greenville with my husband and two children. I love to teach internationals and look forward to meeting and working with new students from all over the globe.
David Koonts is originally from North Carolina, but attended university in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He later received his masters in TESOL from Azus
a-Pacific University in Los Angeles. David spent ten years teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at three universities in China. Seven of those years were spent at Qufu Normal University in Qufu, Shandong, China. This 3,000 year old city is most famous as the birthplace of Confucius. Now living in Greenville, David has taught as adjunct professor at Greenville Technical College. Currently he teaches culture and language to business professionals from many different countries who are currently working in the Greenville area. He has traveled to over a dozen countries and has been teaching at Agape since 2008. In his free time he works on remodeling his home in Taylors, South Carolina.
Education: B.A. In English from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, USA. TEFL Certificate from the Caledonian School in Prague, Czech Repbulic.
Cross Cultural Living Experiences: My husband and I lived and taught in Prague, Czech Republic. While we were there my first child was born. It was an interesting cultural experience giving birth in a foreign country! In Spring 2008, we hosted a homestay student from Japan. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about another culture.
In 2001, I graduated with my bachelor's degree in history. After getting my master's degree in history education, I taught high school history for 3 years. I taught World History, U.S. Government, and Economics on video which was then broadcasted to students taking the classes by satellite. In 2005, I moved to China to teach English to college freshmen. I spent two years doing that before moving back to Greenville, SC. On April 11, 2009, I was married to a wonderful man, Garrett.| © 2010 Agape English Language Institute | Other Languages: EN | ES | JP | KR | CN | RU |