Philosophy

Throughout my teaching career, I have had the honor of working as a high school teacher, a private tutor for children with and without learning difficulties, an online English instructor for in Korea, a professor of ESL at a community college, and a lecturer and teaching assistant at a university. At the college level, I have taught courses in Applied Linguistics, TESL, academic writing, Linguistics and ESL, which have exposed me to a range of students with vastly different world views. I learned the value of spending time with individual students with different experiences, perspectives and learning styles. By connecting with students on a personal level, I strive to establish mutual trust in order to co-create a more ideal and responsive learning space. Failure for me is when a student’s voice is lost, and the student leaves the class without feeling understood. Rather, I strive for every student to derive meaningful skills and memorable experiences that will serve them long after the class ends. I am honored to incorporate teaching as a cornerstone of my career, and I am thrilled to continue learning how to be successful with each day and each student.

I seek to embolden students by prioritizing critical thought and creating an active learning environment. In doing so, students develop both a capacity and a comfort for challenging themselves. Educators must engage students directly to maximize active student involvement through provocative questions that lead to fair and open discussions, presentations and peer-to-peer interaction. Many of the classes I teach satisfy general education requirements; however, I have not done my job as an educator to engage my students if they simply use the course as a check mark for a requirement without gaining valuable experience. When, in addition to mastering the course material, students strive to harness both critical and abstract thinking skills, they leave the course better prepared for meeting challenges at the university and into the professional realm.

I thrive in connecting with students on both personal and group levels, and this connection is essential for building a healthy learning environment and strong relationships with and among students. Through speaking to students not only as a teacher, but also as a fellow person, students feel respected and trusted. Trust is solidified when teachers demonstrate their ability and willingness to adapt to individual students and classes. Moreover, personal connections also cultivate a comfortable learning environment to minimize student anxiety. By incorporating fun and humor into the learning environment, students associate a positive attitude with the learning process.

The opportunity to connect with students is a central incentive to my career. Whether I am organizing a field trip to the LA courthouse a Translation/Interpreting course, reviewing the multi-modality of political interactions for an Applied Linguistics course, or teaching baseball-related idioms at a baseball stadium with an ESL class, my foremost goal as an educator is to impart my passion through fun and creative forms of engagement using evidence-based methods. Passion from an instructor imparts sustained motivation to the class, which I believe positions students for the retention of long-term learning and critical thinking skills.

English as a Second Language

• ESL 28: English Through Language, Culture, and Society
• ESL 32/ESL 20: Academic Interaction
• ESL 33C/ESL 25: Academic Writing
• ESL 34/ESL 22: Public Speaking
• ESL 38B/ESL 21: Pronunciation
• International Orientation, UCLA Anderson School of Business: Speaking/Listening for Business English