Learn about Maestro Sersea

Hello everyone, Maestro Sersea is a nick-name given by my Spanish-speaking English Learner students.

My real name is Ioan Elvis Sersea. I’m an English as a Second Language instructor at a community college in Orange County, California, USA. I’m also a Literacy Teacher for a charter high school in Wilmington, California, USA. In my spare time, I’m a serial entrepreneur, juggling between 3 fledgling businesses I’ve started years ago but never had enough time to develop fully, including: E-Learning USA, Sersea Blockchain Mining and Distributed Computing, and California International Online School.

I’ve been in the educational business for over 30 years, as an elementary school tutor, a middle school and high school teacher, as well as a college and university adjunct instructor. I’ve taught thousands of students from all walks of life and learned a lot from my interactions with them. It’s an honor and a privilege to teach others and I consider myself lucky to be a teacher and to work with students who are amazing human beings.

I’ve spent quite some time on increasing my knowledge and education in the United States of America. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University at Long Beach California. I’ve completed numerous credits in secondary education, English, and special education via California State University, Northridge, California University, Los Angeles, and University of California Los Angeles Extension. A large part of my education was held online at National University, from where I earned my secondary teaching credential, my Masters in Teaching and Learning, and my Masters in English.

Although I’m an English teacher, English was my 3rd Language, after Romanian and French. I was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania during the tough Socialist-Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. In Romania I spoke fluent Romanian and French. I studied music at a prestigious music school for a few years where I sang and played clarinet and piano. When I moved to the United States in 1983 with my family, I began learning English as a beginning English Learner. I was fortunate to have positive and welcoming English as a Second Language teachers who inspired me to become an English Teacher. Since then, I learned conversational Spanish from my colleagues and students. I also learned minimal Turkish in the mid 1990s, when I worked as Secretary to the Consul General of Turkey in Los Angeles for about two and a half years.

I currently live in South Orange County, Southern California, United States of America. I have a small family including my wife, who was also born and raised in Romania, and my 17-year-old son, who was born in California, finished high school early, and is now attending Western Governors University and studying Computer Networking. I also have a 7-year old poodle, JoJo, who keeps the whole family entertained and on task.

Life has not been easy nor comfortable for me, but the difficulties faced have made me the person I am today. I’ve lost both parents to disease at an early age, lived through poverty and financial insecurity for years after moving to the USA, and had to work hard both professionally and academically to survive and get ahead. I value hard work, respect, and determination and try to instill as much of it as I can by motivating all of my students.