Getting back to Linguistics 101

I'm going to be dating myself here. Fifteen years ago, I graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures (with a teaching certificate). My biggest ambition was to teach English overseas (maybe in Asia?), travel, and see places that I'd only read about.

Fifteen years, several unexpected turns, and painful lessons later, I'm nowhere close to that dream. But that doesn't mean I still can't work towards it. I've kept up my languages with reading, interacting with others on the Internet, and finding materials in teaching stores and used bookstores. I still watch Univision occasionally, and keep up with goings-on within International House in Charlotte. It's difficult, but it's doable.

My husband used to tell me, "You just have to wait for the right opportunity." (Insert snooty attitude here). He hasn't said that since I pointed out how elitist he sounded. If I just sat around and waited for "the right opportunity", I'd be waiting more than fifteen years.

So I've dug out my old textbooks and scoured the Internet for updated information. Yes, the teacher must become the student again...back to the basics. I must unlearn what I've learned (that having a family--and two autistic children and a toddler--should preclude your dreams) and learn what I've forgotten, namely what a locative-content transformation is, how to solve a substitution cipher, and what Chomsky's Theory of Universal Language is.

Allons-y! Wish me luck!

All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010