My name is Cathryn J. I am a Masters of Applied Linguistics student with an emphasis on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). I have studied, to varying degrees, about 8 other languages than my native American English. In chronological order, these are German, Spanish, French, German, Latin, Italian, Russian, German, Czech and American Sign Language (ASL).
As you can see by the list, I have an affinity for German and have studied it independently in grade school, intensively in high school and again non-degree seeking after completing my BA. My first introduction to German came at the family dinner table in casual phrases tossed into conversations and the names of traditional food favorites. In addition to an ancestral link to German food and culture, my family lived in Germany for about 5 or 6 years before my birth and most of my siblings and both parents have varying degrees of proficiency in the language.
Russian was an attempt to get as close as I could to a foundation in Slavic Languages on my path to living and working in another ancestral homeland, the Czech Republic. Towards that end, I enrolled in an intensive 4 week certificate program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Prague, Czech Republic. Immediately following completion of the program, I sought work in Prague. I eventually ended up working for 3 different schools and agencies. My six months of teaching taught me several lessons about myself, the expectations of my teaching clients, teaching support from the agencies and ultimately how much more I would have to learn to make future international English education endeavors a success.
The issues of second language writing that interest me are how to best interpret the needs of your students and mold your lesson plans to build on existing skills and develop better English writing techniques.
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