La Rambla Tambla

We talk about personal websites as a necessity, but hey- do we really need them?

As a hopefully new academic, or as a veteran academic looking for other opportunities beyond what I currently have, this has been a stumbling block. I’ve been in this game for quite some time, since around about 2009 or so, though it has been in different capacities. I started out as an EFL/ESL teacher for an intensive university preparation program, and I have to say this- it was perfect. I loved it. This was what I was trained for, voluntarily, and I felt lucky to be doing it. I spent my undergrad years studying languages and linguistics and working as a tutor and serving as a teaching assistant for ESL/EFL classes, and I graduated in 2004 (reversed it there for good measure), and I wanted nothing more than to continue doing the same.

That was exactly what got me over to Korea, actually. Every prof I had in language teaching had the same advice- you will not ever understand what it is like to learn English as a foreign language or a second language until you have been in a context where you are the odd one out. You need to be there to see how English fits into the context, not just how other need to fit into your context here in the US. That was damned good advice.

I went over to Korea hoping to learn what it was like to be somewhere else doing (supposedly) the same work as I had done back home. But I soon learned that while techniques were the same and some content was the same, the purposes and the context were completely different. I had to reexamine all my assumptions of why someone would want, need, or be forced to learn English, and what my role was in all of it. In truth, my dissertation topic came right out of this first year of teaching in Korea, and it was directly taken from what happened when I was dealing with a case of plagiarism in what I thought was an appropriate manner.

That led me to keep going. I went to Canada for my master’s degree, and I have to say this- I learned more at the University of Alberta than danged near anywhere else. I can’t imagine a better learning environment than the one I found myself in there, with a diverse group of both classmates and teachers. Most of my theoretical background comes from my time there, and I am thankful for it. I had hoped to complete my degree there and then go back to Korea for more work experience before coming back to the US.

But that was not the case- I found I had to get back to the US as soon as I was done with my degree. So I did. And fortunately, I was able to get a job doing exactly what I wanted to do- working with international students, teaching them English, and helping them learn how to achieve their goals in the US, whether they had to do with employment, education, or simply personal enrichment.

I have to say that I loved my work. I loved my students, and I loved what I did, and I loved the outcomes that I could see from my work. But I was quickly able to see that while I loved my work, it was going to come to an end whether I liked it or not. David Graddol (2006) had already noted that the era of ESL/EFL teaching by so-called “native speakers” was coming to an end, and that it would not be coming back. I was lucky to see this as I was teaching, and I made sure to consider it as I was moving forward.

Right about the time that I was dealing with personal tragedy, I took a contract working for the Gyeonggi-do Office of Education as a teacher trainer. I headed back over to Korea again, and I worked hard with teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the province to make sure that we were using appropriate teaching techniques and standards throughout EFL classes. The work I did there was instrumental in my understanding of both teaching and the systems that govern teaching, and I have taken these lessons to heart in my subsequent work.

Returning from this, I decided to pursue further education, which I completed at the University of Maryland. I began my Ph.D. in International Education Policy in 2016. I completed my studies here, and while doing so, I also worked as an office manager and an academic advisor, ensuring that the University Honors program continued and that the undergraduate programs in Architecture were able to function without delay. I also created and maintained the English portion of the uTERP program for incoming students deemed at risk based on their entrance exam scores, devising and adapting a curriculum for their particular needs and ensuring it was well-documented for future purposes.

During this time, I have also taught numerous courses for both undergraduate and graduate students, including the basic introductory course required of all UMD students (UNIV 100), my own courses (EDHI 788), and a course as a teaching assistant (EDHI 605). I have also taught at George Washington University (EDHI 6602), with a focus on development in East Asia, and also at Johns Hopkins University, focused on Global Trends in Education.

So here I find myself- I’m looking for academic positions, but I have to provide context and background for every position I apply for. In every case, I find myself having to explain my background, but without enough information for it to make sense.

So again-here we are. I am told that I need a personal website to present all I have done and all I hope to do, but I also see that it is quite difficult to do so. This is particularly true regarding my more recent research and teaching efforts. As such, I have created this website in order to elaborate on what I am trying to work on now. This entry should serve as an introduction to what I present afterwards, though not as a complete primer. We have several things to consider- academic integrity, language policy, global education policy, effective evaluation of policy, and what it means to teach ESL. I look forward to talking about all of these moving forward here, and I hope you engage with these topics as well.