Welcome! Bienvenido!
A little bit about me:
My name is Ashley Bayles (Ms. Bayles to my students in Canada, Miss Ashley to my students in Colombia). I am currently an MYP teacher at an IB World School in Bogotá, Colombia. I have a Bachelor of Education with a specialization in Secondary English teaching and am certified by the British Columbia College of Teachers. I have recently started my Masters degree in Educational Technology through the University of British Columbia.
In 2006, I received my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. During my time at UBC, I designed and coordinated a fourth year English Majors Seminar on popular culture and music interaction. One of the guest speakers I arranged was the well-known Canadian actor and television personality, Terry David Mulligan. Articles on my course appeared in the Arts Beat, the UBC Reports (Vol. 52, No. 8), and I was featured on the homepage of the UBC website. CBC Radio also interviewed me about the course for one of their programs.
After graduation from UBC, I spent a year living in Bogotá, Colombia where I taught Grade Six at a private bilingual school in Chía (just north of Bogotá). I had the opportunity to explore so much of Colombia during that year including: Cartagena; Armenia, Salento and the surrounding coffee-growing region; Villa de Leyva and surrounding towns; Santa Marta; Medellín, the island of San Andres (off the coast of Nicaragua); and the Amazon region in Colombia, Brazil and Peru. While living in Colombia I improved my Spanish so I now speak it at an intermediate level.
I also have a strong interest in the entertainment industry and have and Honours Diploma in Entertainment Business Management from Vancouver Film School. I have worked as a Music Supervisor on independent films with local director Chad Costen on his feature-length film, The Coming, and his short film, Death Wish, which is available for download on iTunes. I also worked for two years as the Marketing Communications Manager at Backbone Technology, a web development company with offices in Vancouver, Medellin, and Athens.
I feel so lucky to be living in Colombia again and doing what I love: teaching! Please explore my site and leave comments on articles you enjoy or have questions about!
