Gemma Gabor

Gemma G. Gabor was born and raised in the Philippines. Aspiring to be a doctor, she took double-major bachelor degrees in BS Psychology and AB Guidance and Counseling. After college, she took up medicine to pursue her long time dream of becoming a psychiatrist. She did not expect to become a teacher nor even teach English at all to deaf students; however, her involvement with the deaf in her church led her to what she thought would be a short term stint in teaching psychology to college deaf students at the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) in DLS – College of Saint Benilde, Manila. Little did she know that, due to an immediate need for English teachers, she ended up teaching English courses. At SDEAS, aside from teaching, she also had various roles such as Coordinator in Academics, in-class interpreter, and later on served as the English Language Area Coordinator while designated as coordinator for PEN-International, Philippines (formerly known as Post-Education Networking in collaboration with NTID and funded by Nippon Foundation) at the same time. Seeing the need and heeding the call to teach, she pursued two graduate degrees: MA in Christian Education (MACE) and MA in English Language Education (MAELED). She was actively involved with the deaf community in the Philippines for 10 years working closely with the Friends of the Deaf Ministry in her church, with NGOs such as the Philippine Federation of the Deaf (PFD) and the Philippine Deaf Resource Center (PDRC); and, she had taught for eight (8) years, prior to joining the English Language Institute (ELI) team in 2010.  She has traveled extensively in different parts of the USA, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe, either for personal or business trips.