English:

English is my native language as I am from the United States. I have five years of English language-teaching experience in Russia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, and Germany. I have taught business, technical, medical, social, and legal English. I also have a TESOL certificate from a university Master's degree program from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. This was a two-year program in Monterey. The courses included Principles & Practices of Teaching, Research Methods for Educators, Structure of Language, Language Analysis, Second Language Acquisition, Advanced Linguistics Research, Sociolinguistics, Language Assessment, and Curriculum Design. These courses gave me basic knowledge on the language-learning process that are related to using the language in all four communication skills.

French:

I studied French intensively for two months before departing to Geneva, Switzerland for a two-year voluntary service mission for a Christian organization. I used French daily while in France and Switzerland during those two years. My language experience focused on speaking but reading and writing opportunities were also prevalent. After these two years, I was able to test out of the first two years of university French. In addition, when I was in the U.S. army, I took the French Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) and received the highest score possible.

Arabic:

I studied Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) intensively at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California when I was in the U.S. army. I had five hours of Arabic language classes five days a week from native Arabic instructors. I also studied Egyptian dialect at DLI for six months. Speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills were used daily. I also studied advanced MSA for one year at the university level. My two courses included Advanced Arabic Grammar and Newspaper Arabic. Daily translation work was completed. In addition, I lived in the Middle East for over four years: two years in Syria; two years in Kuwait; two months in Saudi Arabia; and one month in Dubai.

Russian:

I studied Russian for 2.5 years at the university level. Speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills were emphasized. Also, I lived in Russia for 3.5 years, in Ukraine for 16 months, in Latvia for 1 year, and Azerbaijan for 4 months. I also studied Russian at the Berlitz language center in Riga, Latvia where I received the top score of 5 in speaking.

German:

I studied German in high school for two years. I studied German for one year at the university level. I lived in Biel, Switzerland for five months and used German there. I also lived in Augsburg, German for 2.5 years when I was in the U.S. army. I recently taught English in Kassel, Germany.