Right now, my plans are quite simple. I want to finish school in a couple of years and get my Ph.D. so I can leave Indiana and go to either Europe or Canada. While I am finishing my Ph.D., I would like to keep teaching different classes to get as much experience as possible. Next fall, for example, I will be teaching a "Retention class," which is a composition class for students who are interested in learning Spanish (in my case, but such classes exist for pharmacy or agriculture students, for example, or students who are interested in international issues) and who will be taking several classes together. Indeed, taking more than one class together will allow the students to build friendships and feel more comfortable with one another, which, in turn, will make their life as freshmen a little easier and prevent them (hopefully) from dropping out of school. Other classes that I wish to teach before I leave Purdue are English 227, the Intro to Linguistics class, English 002, Composition for international graduate students, as well as English 505, the mentoring class for new composition teachers.

My primary area of research is ESL, but I am also very interested in educational administration. Right now, I am taking several classes in administration (economics of education, human resources, etc.) and hope to work in a language school one day, either as a teacher or as an administrator, or both. I love to teach and would not like to give that up, but I also know that I probably wouldn't find the energy to do it forever. As far as the place where I would like to go, Canada seems to be a good place for me since I speak both French and English, but Europe also needs good English teachers and going back closer to my family after about 10 years in the US sounds like a nice plan.

So in five years, this is where I see myself: working in Geneva, Switzerland, in an international school, teaching advanced English classes and also being responsible for mentoring new teachers or working in student services, for example. If I feel successful enough in my studies and professional development, I might be working for a college or university, managing their ESL program, for example, or teaching English to future English teachers. Those are the things I enjoy doing and hope to do in the future. Of course, I am open to any other suggestion, and I trust that life will take me wherever I will be the most useful and satisfied.