Transitioning from my own educational journey into becoming an instructor and now a professor of English was both terrifying and exciting for me. All four of my college degrees focus upon traditional English and writing disciplines, teaching and so on. Navigating the landscape of higher learning is incredibly competitive, so beginning my teaching career as an adjunct, like so many others, was challenging. Adjuncts are contracted, part-time faculty, without health insurance or benefits of any type. I had to get as many courses assigned to me as possible to gain experience for classroom instruction, course design, and curriculum development.

I have spent the last six years teaching in higher education for courses like English literature, creative writing, writing composition, and even computer technology. Later, I was asked to begin teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students, which would become some of the most challenging and rewarding work I had ever done. Oh, and did I mention I am not fluent in any other languages except for English? That reality is what makes my experience in teaching so unique. I logically assumed the reality of me not speaking any other languages fluently would seriously hinder me in the knowledge and ability to teach ESL students. But this forged my path into becoming even more qualified to teach.

It still took quite a long time for ESL students to not only trust my effectiveness in teaching them, but even more importantly for me to understand and integrate their cultural practices into what I was doing as well.

Over time, I consistently asked myself these two questions:

“Who was I to walk into their lives and think I could offer them trustworthy education they were not already receiving from the other seasoned ESL faculty?”

“Would my traditional education and modalities of teaching effectively serve these students?”

In the beginning, I relied very heavily upon what the other ESL faculty members could teach me, and modeling what they were already doing. This was in-person learning using printed textbook curriculum materials which focused upon the basic principles for mechanics and writing practices. But while all these things were great, everything became incredibly outdated and ineffective in teaching these foundational skills. However, my zeal for change and the integration of technology into my teaching curriculum was not always mirrored by my teaching colleagues due to the potential moral and ethical implications for how technology was being used by students.

Eventually I learned the course curriculum and materials the other ESL teachers were using did not really change much between the skill levels ranging from introductory and intermediate to the advanced students which was my designated area of instruction. This led to many of my advanced ESL students growing bored, and uninterested in completing these courses since they felt the program was repetitive. Students would drop off and stop communicating with me, leading me toward frustration and confusion for how to balance what they both needed and wanted to learn.

This journey of mine in working with ESL students required a significant shift in refocusing my work in addressing the reasons and challenges in how to teach them, especially when language and communication were also becoming subjective constructs based upon American culture connecting with the opinions and preferences of the individual. These realities eventually led me to ask universally relevant questions like: