I believe that my family’s history in teaching has led me here; my grandmother, aunts, and uncles all taught in the hills of Eastern Kentucky and Southern Ohio.  My father’s family was from Ontario and other parts of Canada, and they were teachers, too. When I was six, my family moved to Washington, D.C.  I studied a major unrelated to education and linguistics, and then, ignoring what I learned, and with a yearning to see the world, went to visit and live in India, Nepal, Malaysia, and Thailand.  Afterwards, I came back to the USA to try and learn more about how to teach.  I got my RSA Certificate and then went back to teach English full-time for five years in Japan.  While there, I studied online for my M.S. in TESOL at Anaheim University.   Unfortunately, at that time, I developed Type 1 diabetes and hypo-thyroidism, which short-circuited my plans.  Since then, I have taught at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland in the Continuing Education (Pre-academic) ESL program.  I have been very interested in pragmatics and pronunciation. Personally, when not teaching ESL full-time (with part-time pay!), I ride my bike, hike, and relax with a good book (history, politics, linguistics, etc.).