Committee 2022

Michelle Kremser,Chair

Michelle did her BA in Spanish in Chicago before moving to Seville, Spain, where she lived for 13 years working for 6 as a medical research translator for international publications. After doing a postgraduate certification in Translation at the University of Seville in 2006, Michelle turned her sights to teaching. She taught in private schools and did an intern scholarship in Teaching, while completing her master’s degree in secondary education English language teaching, also at the University of Seville in 2010. Michelle has been a self-employed teacher in private companies in Germany since 2014, as well as at the VHS in Ludwigsburg, and the Dual Hochschule Baden-Württemberg – Stuttgart. Her specialties include business, technical and medical English. She currently teaches and translates in several multinational companies in the Stuttgart area. Michelle became interested in ELTAS to maintain her own professional development, and to share experience and knowledge within the teaching community.

Karin Scheffold-Mokler, Events Manager. Deputy Chair

Karin Scheffold-Mokler studied English and German at the University of Tübingen. She works as a translator and English teacher for industrial companies and teaches at the VHS Ludwigsburg. Having worked in an export department for many years, Karin is specialized in commercial and technical English (French and Spanish). She enjoys being a member of Eltas and the committee because of the high competence of all its members as well as the exchange of information in the workshops/lectures – and last but not least because of the friendly atmosphere at Eltas.

Koi Burkhart, Treasurer & Membership Secretary

Koi Burkart comes from Kenya and has a Bsc & an Msc in Agricultural Economics from University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA. Koi teaches at companies and schools. Koi also supports the Events Team. She enjoys regularly attending Eltas workshops and networking with ELTAS members.

Agata Nagel, Secretary

Agata Nagel comes from Poland. She studied Applied Linguistics (English and Russian) at Warsaw University and worked for 20 years as a translator and interpreter for English and Polish. In 2011 she started teaching Business English. Since 2015 she has been living in Germany and working as an in-company trainer for English and Polish in the Stuttgart area. Having translated lots of contracts and financial documents in the past, she specialises in legal and financial English. She enjoys being a member of ELTAS which is a great place to network, grow and keep up to date with the latest trends in foreign language teaching.

Cate Jakzta, Blog

Cate did a BA in Japanese Studies at the university of Durham. Following this, she spent 11 years working as an English teacher in Japan, including teaching business English to a wide range of clients, such as Mitsubishi and Daikin. Having relocated to Germany in 2018, she currently works as an InCorporate Trainer with Target Training GmBH. She is CELTA qualified and is working towards her DELTA. She enjoys being a member of ELTAS because of the opportunity it provides to be part of and learn from a wider community of like-minded professionals, as well as to make new friends. She is looking forward to being on the committee this year and sharing what’s going on in ELTAS through social media and the blog.

Andy Yarahmadi, Advertising Manager

Andy was born in Brooklyn, NYC – USA from a Persian father and a Canadian/ American mom. He graduated from the City University of New York ( CUNY ) in Linguistics and Language Teaching. After working as a language teacher and cultural facilitator at the New York Intercultural Center, he decided it was time for a change and applied for the Masters program at the University of Stuttgart. He is also enjoying teaching business English at various companies and universities in the Stuttgart area. Teamwork and constant support of one another is what ties Andy to Eltas. He simply believes in the saying “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” He hopes to be a small flint which together with Eltas makes a huge blast in aiding teachers to be more conscientious in the field.