I was born in Patna, the capital of Bihar, India, and earned an MA in English at Patna University with emphasis on descriptive linguistics, historical linguistics, and language teaching. I immigrated to the United States of America in 1988 and pursued an MA in linguistics at California State University in Northridge (CSUN). After receiving my master's degree in linguistics from CSUN, I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at the same university for a couple of years. The desire to understand the complicated process of second language acquisition prompted me to move to Boston, the hub of America's educational research, in 1994. I joined the doctoral program in applied linguistics at Boston University, and successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation in May of 2001. I have taught in all of these locations, as well as at Salem State, Fisher, and Newbury Colleges; in the Framingham State College's overseas programs in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana; and, since summer 1998, in the Institute for English Language Programs (IEL) at Harvard University where I currently teach Integrated Skills and Academic Discussion. For more information, please peruse my resume.
Here I am in my cozy office at Harvard University. What I like best about my job is the opportunity to work with students who come from diversified linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and to brainstorm innovative teaching ideas with my wonderful colleagues, especially Karl Reynolds and Maria Zlateva. I miss collaborating with Cheryl Ernst, Jennifer Robinson, and Kimberly McGrath, and wish them much success in their future endeavors. |
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Favorites Here's a list of some of my favorite movies:
Godfather, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Lion of the Desert, Gandhi, Malcolm X, Gorillas in the Mist
Here's a list of some of my favorite music:
Sting, Ravi Shankar, Peter Gabriel, Philip Glass, Zakir Hussain, The Beatles, John Mclaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Govi, Ottmar Liebert, Eric Clapton, Al Di Meola
Here's a list of some of my favorite books:
Knowledge of Language, How Languages are Learned, Rediscovering Interlanguage, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, Teaching Pronunciation, Talkin' American, Language and Thought, Think, Being Good, The Tao of Health, Sex, and Longevity, The Macrobiotic Way, PointCounterpoint, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, The Story of English, The Living Planet, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language |
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