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Almis is an avid traveller who has walked many of the traditional European trails. Making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain inspired Almis to write Santiago – Walking the Pilgrim Path in 1999. Since then, he has published nine other books about travel, history and folklore. His book, Macquarie’s Kingdom, explores Sydney’s colonial heritage and tells the story of Lachlan Macquarie’s 12-year rule in NSW, as well as being a guide book for Sydney locals. His e-book “Camino Journeys” is a fully illustrated guide to the two most popular sections of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. His courses are interactive and designed to give participants the practical information, inspiration and motivation to begin their own personal journeys.

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Beatrice holds a Bachelor's degree in Applied Interlinguistic Communication and a Master's Degree in Specialized Translation and Conference Interpreting (with a focus on Italian, French and English). She was born and raised in Rome where she attended both Italian and French high school, earning her high school diploma from the French institute in Rome. She is bilingual in Italian and French. After finishing high school, Beatrice began delivering French lessons. Following her Bachelor's degree she started collaborating with a language school in Trieste, consistently teaching both French and Italian. Over the years, she has taught private and group lessons in French and Italian. Her teaching approach is dynamic and interactive, focusing on grammar, speaking, and addressing the specific needs of students. Her multicultural experience has taught her to teach with an open mind to people of all ages, levels and diverse cultural backgrounds.

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Judith Sleijpen graduated from Ryde School of Horticulture with distinction in Urban Horticulture and gained experience in the retail nursery industry for several years. She now conducts her garden design and horticultural consultancy business, ‘Gardens, Balconies and Beyond’ and teaches garden design and horticulture for the Northern Beaches Community College. As a Member of the Horticultural Media Association, Judith writes a monthly gardening column for Peninsula Living and has also published articles in Landscape Contractor and Manager, Better Homes and Gardens, Gardens and Outdoor Living and The Garden Gurus. Passionate about plants and garden design, she is a Professional Garden Judge for Garden Competitions, a Member of the Australian Institute of Horticulture, a former Committee Member of the Sydney Executive Committee of Open Gardens Australia and a former member of the Speakers' Bureau of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

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Jennie Smiedt is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher with extensive experience supporting adult learning in professional and community settings. Combining deep meditation practice with expert facilitation skills, she creates welcoming, reflective classes that help students build awareness, confidence and everyday resilience

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Brendan Vivian Smith (MFA, Dip Arts) is an exhibiting artist showing nationally & internationally since 1986. His work is held in significant national public and private collections. He has taught at the National Art School, Raffles College of Design, City of Sydney Pine Street Creative Studios, for Reverse Garbage and the Australian Academy of Garden Design. He currently teaches at Bundanon, the former Arthur Boyd properties in the Shoalhaven.

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Sheela Sree Kumar hails from Chennai in the Southern state of Tamilnadu in India. She completed her undergrad studies in Architecture from the University of Madras. Completing her MBA and PhD in Business Management, she has actively followed an academic career and currently teaches in a University. She founded Darshan Events in 2003 and since then has conducted several cultural + Indian film + cuisine events at Govindas in Darlinghurst. She has lectured in WEA on a large variety of topics related to India such as Temple Architecture, Islamic architecture, religions of India, Indian cuisine and Indian cinema. She has organised and led several tours to India for WEA. After a short gap induced by Covid and other factors, she is excited to revive her passion – sharing the wonders of India with Australian friends – this time curating special interest tours highlighting ayurveda, yoga, spiritualism, wildlife photography and wildlife painting where you will be accompanied by experts in the fields.

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St Georges Presbyterian Church. Tutor of WEA Sydney

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Tatiana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics (with a specialisation in Portuguese and French languages and literature) and a Diploma of Teaching Russian as a Foreign Language from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Over the last 9 years, Tatiana has been delivering Portuguese, Russian and literature lessons to groups and individual students of different ages and levels. Previously, Tatiana created and conducted tours in Portuguese for tourists from Portugal and Brazil. As a project coordinator at a library for foreign literature, Tatiana organised events promoting the culture and languages of Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries. Her experience working in the field of culture and tourism inspires her to create engaging Portuguese lessons full of joy and discoveries to her students. Her teaching approach is focused on speaking, careful and patient study of grammar, cultural immersion and considering specific needs and interests of students.

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After completing an undergraduate degree majoring in history, Bill undertook law studies and now holds a Masters in Law and a Master of Public Administration, as well as the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.  Having worked in the fields of employment services, workplace safety and industrial relations, he is now a senior lawyer managing a team specialising in organisations and their compliance.  Bill has taught and assessed courses at university, TAFE and other registered training organisations, and has presented to various conferences including on the issue of whistleblowing. He currently serves on the boards of Shelter NSW and WEA Sydney, and is an accredited mediator. He is also interested in sharing the lessons that sporting history can give us.

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Jenny Strachan is an award winning author, corporate trainer and conference presenter who has presented across Australia and in eight Asian countries. She was closely involved in training the highly successful volunteer force for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games as MC for forty four Orientation Training sessions.

She is the co-author of the McGraw-Hill publication The Business of Communicating 3rd Edition (1995) which won the prestigious Australian Award for Excellence in Educational Publishing and published her second book, Having Tea with Demons: Overcoming fears that hold you back in life and work in 2002 and then the Kindle Version in 2015.