We are fortunate to have a number of British Columbia Certified On-Set Teachers available as set teachers / set tutors in British Columbia; as well as elsewhere across Canada and around the world. Meet Anne Webster, Taryn Roo Yoneda, Anthony Small, Erica Hargreave, Jennifer Rose Garcia, Pamela Pascal, Erika Hurth, Shauna Chandler, and Lori Yearwood.
Anne Webster
Anne has enjoyed being a set teacher on film productions since retiring from her career as a teacher in BC schools. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree from UBC, as well as a Piano Performer’s Degree from the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. She has
taught in a wide variety of settings, from elementary school classrooms and music
studios, to private tutoring of students up to Grade 12 in both academics and piano
lessons. Having had such a variety of teaching experiences, Anne considers herself very adaptable and able to accommodate the needs of students, parents, and productions on film sets. She loves helping young actors with their academic schoolwork, mixing in other creative activities, taking advantage of those teachable moments, and sharing some laughs along the way.
When not teaching, Anne enjoys pickleball, bike rides, walks, playing the piano, going on cruises and writing travel blogs. Over the years, her travels have taken her to Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico,
South America, Iceland, Greenland, the Middle East, and all across Canada and the USA.
Anthony Small
French Teacher
Anthony Small is a passionate educator with over a decade of experience in teaching middle school French. With a degree in Education from the University of British Columbia and a Master’s of Educational Leadership from the University of Saskatchewan, Anthony is dedicated to fostering a love for speaking and writing French in his students. His teaching philosophy centers on creating an inclusive and dynamic classroom environment where every student feels valued and inspired to reach their full potential. Outside of the classroom, Anthony enjoys reading, exploring the wilderness of British Columbia, and recording music. His commitment to education and lifelong learning drives him to continuously seek new ways to engage and motivate his students.
Erica Hargreave
Ahimsa Kids’ Principal
Erica Hargreave has worked in the film and television industry as a set teacher, child coordinator, youth welfare liason, creative producer, writer, actor, documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and digital media strategist and storyteller. She is a passionate educator with specialties in Science, Biology, Writing, Technology and the Dramatic Arts. Erica has worked with preschoolers to adults on a wide variety of subjects from interactive storytelling and emerging media to science and history. Early on in her teaching career, Erica was integral in the development of a new school in which she held the position of Head Teacher. She has also been a Program Director for numerous organizations.
Since 2011, Erica has taught digital storytelling in the Broadcast and Media Communication Program at BCIT. She also completed her Master of Educational Technology from BCIT in 2024 with a focus on exploring sustainable funding pathway for creatives and on disability and accessibility. She has spoken on both, as well as digital strategy and storytelling around the world.
Aside from her work and study, Erica enjoys many outdoor pursuits from hiking to paddle boarding, and converting Eddie, her EV van, into a camper / media studio / classroom on wheels.
Jennifer Rose Garcia
Ahimsa Kids’ Head Teacher
Jennifer Garcia is a teacher, actress and director known for her commitment, energy and unique style of engagement both on screen and in the classroom. After graduating from the University of Winnipeg and earning her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education, Jennifer has been utilizing her skills in her teaching career. Known for her joyful and bubbly nature, Jennifer is able to find success working with all ages of students. From toddlers to late teens, she is able to foster and develop each students’ potential and confidence, while having fun in the process. Teaching abroad and throughout Canadian provinces, Jennifer familiarized herself in working in several types of classroom environments: from Primary Music, Drama and Musical Theatre, to teaching Kindergarten, and teaching high school English and Drama. As flexible as she is in the classroom, she is as a working actress in Vancouver. Jennifer has worked in the Film / TV / Theatre Industry for the past nine years, working between New York, Winnipeg and Vancouver, actively auditioning for many shows, films and national tours based throughout North America.
Jennifer enjoys teaching on set as a part of the Ahimsa Kids team, spreading her passion for learning and her love of acting and film with her students. As Ahimsa Kids’ Head Teacher, she has also lent guidance to our newer set teachers in set etiquette, production terminology and in navigating teaching on set.
Pamela Pascal
French Teacher
As a bookworm since the tender age of two, an Ontario Certified Teacher, and a languages and croissants enthusiast, Pamela Pascal is forever daydreaming about all the little guilty pleasures of life.
Pamela has a bachelor’s degree in French Language Studies and Francophone Cultures with a minor in Classical Studies from Bishop’s University, a Secondary Studies Diploma in General Adult Education from Collège de Rosemont, and a Bachelor of Education specializing in Primary / Junior Teaching from the University of Ottawa. She tutors online and was part of the legacy of French language assistants for the Odyssey Program for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. Named “favourite tutor” during her time at SOSteacher, Pamela is also leaving her mark at School Success as a tutor and teaching assistant in French as a First Language and English as a Second Language.
To share her passion for the French language and teaching, Pamela has been a French immersion ambassador for Teacher 5 Étoiles and is a promotion agent for the Ontario Ministry of Education. Always on the go, over the summer, she flies to San Francisco to make French fun with EFBA, Éducation Française Bay Area.
As a Disney Adult and author at heart, Pamela published her first book, a French children’s fairytale titled “Il était une fois“, while taking part in the University of Ottawa’s Primary/Junior Teacher Training Program.
Erika Hurth
Raised on the flat plains of Wisconsin, USA, Erika Hurth grew up under the impression that in order to have fun, you’d have to get creative. Writing stories, stapling together homemade books of bad jokes, leaving notes on rocks for backyard animals to read… these are just a few ways that Erika spent her childhood and became the writer, teacher, naturalist and hobby-artist that she is today. Growing up in the early 2000s meant that she was exposed to a wide array of digital technology in a rapid and enthusiastic way. Like many-a-late millennial, Erika is a native of two worlds: one before the internet and one after. This puts her in a unique position to write well for a wide range of audiences and purposes, inspiring her student’s in storytelling with both older and newer mediums.
Erika graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon where she studied literature and wrote her thesis on the effect that Zen Buddhism had on mid-century poets. When she’s not busy herding children around school yards or parks, she enjoys chatting about philosophy, tea, walking in the woods, and gardening.
Shauna Chandler
While based in British Columbia, Shauna Chandler holds an Ontario teaching certificate, in addition to her British Columbia teaching certificate. Her teaching experiences range from canoes to classrooms, and from Japan to Brazil. She has taught carpentry, gardening, math, science, language arts, social studies, and art. Her love of traveling and exploring have led Shauna to live in France, Japan, South Korea and on both coasts of Canada. Through these travels she has become adept at both French and Japanese. She aims to inspire and foster creativity in learning through the integration of the arts across the curriculum. Shauna loves to explore British Columbia’s beautiful forests and beaches, and can often be found riding her bicycle around the city. Being able to make good use of the outdoors has come in handy throughout Shauna’s on-set tutoring in Vancouver!
Should you be filming on Bowen Island, Shauna now resides there with her young family.
Lori Yearwood
Ahimsa Media’s Head of Education / Studio Teacher
Lori first discovered her love of teaching in high school as a dance instructor, teaching students as young as 4 ranging all the way to adults at recreational and competitive levels. This is where she developed her “Enthusiasm is Contagious” motto that she still applies to her teaching today. Lori believes that if a teacher is excited about what she is teaching, the students will be excited to learn. She went on to study education at the Institute of Child Study affiliated with OISE/University of Toronto. This is a research based program that equipped her with a thorough understanding of the learning process. Upon graduating, Lori wanted to explore a variety of teaching opportunities. She began by teaching students on location during film and television shoots in Toronto with Laurelwood Productions. Lori then became the Director of Education for Sylvan Learning Centre where she applied her skills and witnessed education from the perspective of the student, parent and fellow teachers. Putting her knowledge to the ultimate test, Lori created a family and had two children of her own, her are both now wonderful and conscientious adults! This has proven to be her greatest adventure yet.
Throughout the years, Lori has maintained her interest in theatrical arts and has acted as creative consultant for various productions, both live and media related. Her family relocated to Los Angeles and lived there for 5 years. She pushed her own studies forward by obtaining a California Studio Teacher’s license. A return to working with school-age actors has been the perfect fit for Lori. She views her position from many angles:
- Having had a husband and children who acted in film and television, she understands the needs of the students she works with and knows the concerns of the parents.
- Having experience on the production side, she also relates to the intricacies involved in completing a project.
- As an exceptional teacher and mom, who fought to ensure her kids got a quality education in both Canada and the United States.
When Lori brought her family back to Canada to reside in Vancouver, she found a great support system with Ahimsa Kids and enjoyed working with students from Canada as well as the United States. That relationship grew into Lori becoming Head of Education for Ahimsa Media and Lori being a Founding Board Member of our Non-Profit, the StoryToGo Society, which she co-created with Erica.
If you see Lori on set you are likely to realize she is meeting her goals of fostering a fun, nurturing environment for both students and fellow crew, creating an atmosphere that is safe for self-expression and growth, while promoting confidence in learners of all abilities.
