About me

My name is María Irene Albers de Urriola. I’m the fifth of six children my parents had. My dad was from Hamburg, Germany and my mom from Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. My father came, between the two World Wars, to work with a company as a salesman, he married and lived the rest of his life in this country. My mom was born in a really big family, she had two brothers and plenty of sisters.

I went to Colegio Santa Cruz for Elementary and Primary School, then I did the first year of High School at Colegio de Lourdes and finished this part of my studies at Colegio Santa María (all of them strongly oriented towards Catholic education). When I finished High School, I was disoriented as most Venezuelan students are at this important moment in life. Finally, I registered in a course for becoming a secretary.

After finishing the course, I worked in a very important animal feeding company, by that time the biggest in the country. I met whom today is my husband. We have four kids, two girls and two boys. They are happily married, and the girls made us grandparents of three girls and a boy.

I went to the Univesity of Carabobo (UC) to study in the School of Education and graduated as a teacher of English. When I was about to graduate, I started working in a school only for boys. A few years later, I also worked in an only girls school. I can say that I acquired an excellent experience in managing both groups, and that boys put an end to their fights faster than girls.

One of my former professors at the UC, whom I consider my Master, asked me to teach at my alma mater. This offer had to wait for several years due to my occupations as mother and wife. When my kids were older, I applied for a position in the School of Human Relations, I also started teaching at the School of Education where now I coordinate the Computer Lab in the Modern Languages Department.

I did my Master at the Universidad Simon Bolivar, in Applied Linguistics, I graduated in 1996, and in 2003 I finished a specialization in Computer Technology Applied to Education. Currently, I’m doing my PhD at the Universidad de Sevilla, in Spain. An on-line English course for updating in service teachers will be the base for the dissertation.