The Future of Education
Gabriela-Alexandra Banica
Institution: Founder and owner GB’s English, Arts and Fun
Country: Romania
Gabriela-Alexandra started her journey into fun, innovative teaching in 2008 as part of the FasTracKids team in Bucharest, Romania. The American enrichment educational programme is centred on teaching children how to think, not what to think. Also it blends the best educational methods from Socrates to Montessori with their proprietary approach called educational zig-zagging.
A year later she graduated from the University of Bucharest, Japanese and English Language and Literature and got her translator certification. She has completed three M.A. programmes over the years: Educational Management in the Security Culture, National Intelligence Academy, Bucharest, 2014; Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development, National School of Public Administration, Bucharest, 2022; Political Studies and International Affairs, SOAS, University of London, 2023.
Gabriela-Alexandra is an ESL expert, using STEAM and environmental education as tools to foster language acquisition. Her classes benefit from her academic endeavours. Having a dissertation dedicated to ‘The Environmentalization’ of pre-university education in Romania’, 2022, and being co-author of ‘Involvement in Climate Action- Strategy and Action Plan’, 2022, alongside with attending trainings related to ‘Natural and built heritage in non-formal education through STEAM methods’, Cluj, 2024, and ‘Cultural Events (more) accessible and inclusive’, Bucharest, 2024, just to name a few in the past 2 years, her classes are always up to date and connected to the outside (the classroom) world. Her translation work is often connected to matters of interest to the educational field: ‘The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights’ by Daniel Goleman, translated into Romanian: ‘Creierul și Inteligența Emoțională Noi Perspective’, Curtea Veche Publishing House (2017).
Gabriela-Alexandra has attended over 20 conferences on three continents over the last 10 years. Her past conference in the past three years shows her commitment to doing research about comics and the arts: Better Living Through Comics The 2023 Joint Conference of the International Graphic Novel & Comics and the International Bande Dessinée Society, “Morgenstadt 2050: Stories from Today & Tomorrow- Comics for a sustainable future”, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the U.K., 2023; The 20th European Association of Taiwan Studies Annual Conference, “Staging and Restaging Taiwan at the Centre Pompidou-Taiwanese Art on Display 2020 to Present”, SOAS University, London, the U.K., 2023,https://taiwaninsight.org/2023/07/07/staging-and-restaging-taiwan-at-the-centre-pompidou-taiwanese-art-on-display-2020-to-present/?fbclid=IwAR1Z1x2A9_gm3FaMqa3brAbHpoAo4o6IJALWOm-WU59dpMWCHsiTd22RzzA; Design History Society Student Forum: Hear Your Peers, ”Re-staging a Biennial ‘You and I Don't Live on the Same Planet 12th Taipei Biennial at Centre Pompidou-Metz”, Izmir, Turkey, 2022; https://www.designhistorysociety.org/events/view/dhs-student-forum-2022-hear-your-peers; Introducing Taiwanese Comics to English-Speaking Audiences "Books from Taiwan Issue 3 Winter 2015: Comics" Case Studies, Joint Conference of the International Graphic Novel & Comics and the International Bande Dessinee Society, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, the U.K., 2021. These two ‘ingredients’ are indispensable from her lesson plans.
Areas of expertise: ESL, STEAM, environmental education, education in nature, curriculum design, school education, YLE EXAMS adult education, translations, vocational training, e-learning, language learning, languages for specific purposes.
A year later she graduated from the University of Bucharest, Japanese and English Language and Literature and got her translator certification. She has completed three M.A. programmes over the years: Educational Management in the Security Culture, National Intelligence Academy, Bucharest, 2014; Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development, National School of Public Administration, Bucharest, 2022; Political Studies and International Affairs, SOAS, University of London, 2023.
Gabriela-Alexandra is an ESL expert, using STEAM and environmental education as tools to foster language acquisition. Her classes benefit from her academic endeavours. Having a dissertation dedicated to ‘The Environmentalization’ of pre-university education in Romania’, 2022, and being co-author of ‘Involvement in Climate Action- Strategy and Action Plan’, 2022, alongside with attending trainings related to ‘Natural and built heritage in non-formal education through STEAM methods’, Cluj, 2024, and ‘Cultural Events (more) accessible and inclusive’, Bucharest, 2024, just to name a few in the past 2 years, her classes are always up to date and connected to the outside (the classroom) world. Her translation work is often connected to matters of interest to the educational field: ‘The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights’ by Daniel Goleman, translated into Romanian: ‘Creierul și Inteligența Emoțională Noi Perspective’, Curtea Veche Publishing House (2017).
Gabriela-Alexandra has attended over 20 conferences on three continents over the last 10 years. Her past conference in the past three years shows her commitment to doing research about comics and the arts: Better Living Through Comics The 2023 Joint Conference of the International Graphic Novel & Comics and the International Bande Dessinée Society, “Morgenstadt 2050: Stories from Today & Tomorrow- Comics for a sustainable future”, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the U.K., 2023; The 20th European Association of Taiwan Studies Annual Conference, “Staging and Restaging Taiwan at the Centre Pompidou-Taiwanese Art on Display 2020 to Present”, SOAS University, London, the U.K., 2023,https://taiwaninsight.org/2023/07/07/staging-and-restaging-taiwan-at-the-centre-pompidou-taiwanese-art-on-display-2020-to-present/?fbclid=IwAR1Z1x2A9_gm3FaMqa3brAbHpoAo4o6IJALWOm-WU59dpMWCHsiTd22RzzA; Design History Society Student Forum: Hear Your Peers, ”Re-staging a Biennial ‘You and I Don't Live on the Same Planet 12th Taipei Biennial at Centre Pompidou-Metz”, Izmir, Turkey, 2022; https://www.designhistorysociety.org/events/view/dhs-student-forum-2022-hear-your-peers; Introducing Taiwanese Comics to English-Speaking Audiences "Books from Taiwan Issue 3 Winter 2015: Comics" Case Studies, Joint Conference of the International Graphic Novel & Comics and the International Bande Dessinee Society, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, the U.K., 2021. These two ‘ingredients’ are indispensable from her lesson plans.
Areas of expertise: ESL, STEAM, environmental education, education in nature, curriculum design, school education, YLE EXAMS adult education, translations, vocational training, e-learning, language learning, languages for specific purposes.
