Prologue: From the ESL Classroom
I have always loved travel and languages.
So, after I completed a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago with a focus on creative nonfiction, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, earned a CELTA, and taught for two years. At that time, I wanted to focus more on writing, so I began working as a freelance writer and taking private ESL students.
Over the next four years, I had many opportunities to work with students from various backgrounds, mostly online, and complete many different writing gigs. I worked, for example, as a judge in a fiction contest for a publishing house in Texas, and produced study guides for Study.com.
The Central Chapter: Cultivating the Craft
I knew, however, that I wanted to expand my career horizons, so I returned to the classroom with a year of teaching in Moscow, Russia. This eventually led me complete a Master of Arts program at a small university in Louisiana. Although my M.A. is in English, my coursework focused on teaching speakers of other languages. I studied Second Language Acquisition and writing pedagogies, and earned a graduate certificate in TESOL.
After graduation, I began working for a products review website as a writer. I produced long- and short-form content and worked in SEO, but I continued to take ESL students online. When the website I worked for closed in December 2020, I shifted to full-time online teaching. This offered me many opportunities to work with students on academic writing, as well as to boost my skills in lesson and materials design.
When I was ready to return to the classroom in 2023, I began working as an ESL Instructor with a nonprofit organization in Chicago. I became an ESL Specialist with ICCB and began presenting my work on comprehensible input and AI. I have presented in the U.S., both in person and virtually, and overseas in Korea, Japan, and more.
The Unfolding Narrative: AI & The New Frontier
In 2025, I became a US Department of State English Language Fellow. I am currently based out of Dire Dawa University, in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, and work on programs for the university and the U.S. Embassy. I look forward to returning to school in the future to earn a Ph.D. in applied linguistics.
This site documents my polyglot practice and explores where language, writing, and AI meet. I share tools, ideas, and resources for multilingual learning, as well as my personal experiences as an evolving example of a polyglot and polyliteracy journey.