President's Welcome
On behalf of KY International Academy’s faculty, welcome and thank you choosing our online classes. KY International Academy’s vision is to offer high quality, global, and convenient education to kids throughout the world through online technologies.
KYI is convenient because right at home, students can choose to enroll in our small classes or one-on-one tutoring.
Our classes focus on quality instruction through the most updated textbooks and resources that are commonly used in U.S. schools taught by experienced American teachers.
KYI offers global education because of the diverse backgrounds of our students, teachers, and topics studied in class.
With English classes for smaller kids, we focus on developing kids’ academic language, communicative skills, content and world knowledge, and literacy in different types of texts: from stories to scientific articles. Students will find that our classes offer an encouraging environment for them to use English more extensively and meaningfully.
We are happy to welcome many students to our academy and accompany them throughout their educational journey.
Sincerely,
Mary Chen
President
Meet Our Teachers
Jeffrey Hyams
I have been a director of educational programs and ESL programs for a non-profit social services agency in Pittsburgh. I have been teaching English to more than 700 Chinese students online for more than seven years.
Mary Chen
President & CEO
Mary Chen has a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and a Master’s degree in English Literature. She has been an K-12 educator in China and the U.S. more than 15 years.
Andi Lassor
Andi Lassor holds a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and teaching certificates from the states of Pennsylvania and Illinois. She has experience teaching in primary schools for nearly 10 years.
Angie Komninos
Angie Komninos holds a Bachelors’ degree in English and has extensive experience teaching ESL in the Europe. and the U.S. She has served as ESOL examiner for British Council and taught test preparation courses, including Cambridge ESOL exams, IELTS and TOEFL.
Douglas Penhallegon
Douglas Penhallegon has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and two Master’s degrees, one in history and one in liberal studies. He has over 10 years of teaching experience especially with high school students, SAT preparation, and ESL.
Gita Dowlatshashi
Gita Dowlatshashi has a Master’s degree in elementary education and ESL certification in both Pennsylvania and Florida. She has more than 15 years of experience teaching ESL and other subjects.
Patricia Decker
Patricia Decker has a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Spanish and a Master's degree in Professional Writing. She has taught English classes in Paraguay, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the U.S.
Nicole Schier
Nicole Schier has a BS in Elementary Education. She has been teaching ESL and other subjects for over 10 years.
Ying Zhang
Dr. Ying Zhang has a BA, an MA, and a PhD in Education as well as a Teacher Certificate in ESL. She has taught English and trained teachers to teach English for over 15 years.
Matthew Scott Elam
English major in 2014. Master Degree major : MFA writing and popular Fiction in 2017. He currently teaches English in a private university in Pittsburgh.
Rosa Ortiz
PhD degree in Inter American University of Puerto Rico. she has been working with children for over 10 years, helping them learn and study. She has been teaching English to Chinese children for the past 3 years, and she enjoys working with them as they develop their English language skills.
Ashley Munshower
In 2015, she graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education. She has been teaching first grade for four years.
