Douglas Masiroff  new_releases

My professional experience began by teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) for adult learners and teaching Spanish to middle school and high school students. I've taught immigrants and refugees from many different countries and cultures. I've also taught American citizenship courses. I have nearly 20 years of experience in successful nonprofit management, as well as strong project management skills. In my role as Adult Education Specialist with Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (now Literacy Pittsburgh), I was a site supervisor for AmeriCorps, in addition to managing a $50,000 annual budget to purchase textbooks and other curricular materials. Using a combination of standardized assessments (i.e., BEST, BEST Plus, SLEP, TABE tests) and informal assessments, I crafted Individualized Education Plans for both one-on-one tutoring and small group instruction. In addition, I prepared and delivered training workshops for adult education teachers and volunteer tutors. In 2014, I obtained my certification as a Spanish interpreter from Health Federation of Philadelphia. Following this, I was hired as the director of a new project in Pittsburgh to promote Language Access in the city and surrounding area. Over the next five years, I grew our Pittsburgh Language Access Network (foreign language interpretation) from three immigrant languages to twenty-four—recruiting, training, and supervising 120 interpreters and translators. Alongside my other duties there, I supervised two scheduling workers and managed the interpreters' monthly time sheets and our departmental payroll. My ongoing leadership in civic engagement and community development includes: Language Access Committee, Co-Chair, via the Allegheny County Department of Human Services' Advisory Council for Immigrants and Internationals, from 2012 to 2019. Additionally, I was a founding member of the Board of Directors for another non-profit social service agency in Pittsburgh—Casa San José—2014 to 2017. In 2020, I began teaching Spanish at a private school in Erie, Pennsylvania, and I currently reside in Northwestern Pennsylvania, where I freelance as a Spanish interpreter and design K-12 instructional materials for local schools. I've lived abroad and traveled extensively in parts of Europe (France, Spain) and Latin America (Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru). I speak fluent English and Spanish, conversational French, and a little bit of German. I'm learning Brazilian Portuguese.