While completing my Masters International degree at Georgia State University, I was able take a variety of classes on EFL/ESL teaching pedagogy and language learning/acquisition theory. These academic courses equipped me with an understanding on the current research and theoretical practices of teaching English as a second language. By applying this understanding of language teaching and language acquisition to my own teaching methodology and philosophy while observing and assessing learning needs in a variety of target learners, I have been able to improvise my teaching in the classroom to meet the needs of students and help them acquire basic literacy skills.

       My own experiences learning a second and third language in my adolescence and during my Peace Corps service has also influenced my own teaching philosophy. These language learning experiences has shown me effective ways to combine grammar instruction and vocabulary instruction with other basic literacy skills like listening, speaking, reading and writing. Furthermore, my experiences as a language learner and a language teacher has also helped me develop activity and game designs for classroom instruction, which help learners inductively acquire target information and skills. These experiences have also taught me the importance of real life application and the practical uses of task-based instruction and learner centered instruction for second language learning. 

      Throughout my time at Georgia State University and in the Peace Corps, I have been fortunate to attend many different professional development seminars and sessions by senior language teachers that have helped supply insights into my teaching (commonly made teaching mistakes and inventive ways to modify my methods). Other professional development experiences I have had have brought clarity to my personal experiences with cross-cultural communication, teaching phonics / phonetics, and second langauge acquisition. In addition to these seminars and sessions, I have three years of teaching experience both in and outside of the USA. My classroom based experiences have allowed me to apply the theoretical understanding I have gained about teaching from my courses at GSU within classrooms of EFL/ESL learners in light of their learning needs. Though my graduate program and the Peace Corps have both been incredibly challenging, I feel fortunate to have had such experiences, since they have shaped me to become confident and comfortable in my teaching practices while teaching in a variety of different contexts and settings.