The teacher is a steward of a classroom community, in charge of fostering a supportive and welcoming learning environment. Just as I hope the literature in my courses impart, I strive to lead with empathy and an appreciation for the beauty of the unexpected.
I always try to remember that teaching is a dialogic process, that “there is, in fact, no teaching without learning.” I learn from my students every day. I relish the opportunity to get to know them as unique human beings as they grow and evolve over the course of a term or through the years. My pedagogical approach is deeply informed by the wealth of knowledge, diverse educational and personal backgrounds, and unique insights into the course material and the world that my students bring into the classroom. Not only must my teaching adapt to individual learning styles and interests, but I also want students to know that their life experiences and skills can bring so much value to the classroom.
Whether I am teaching a language or literature course, my ultimate goal is for students to learn more about themselves and their place in the world. I hope that students leave my classroom feeling empowered to navigate the world and approach its challenges with confidence, curiosity, and compassion.
Courses in Development
Chemical Agents, Secret Agents, Agency: Toxic Afterlives and Arts of Resistance
Imperial (Im)mobilities: Spatial Realities and Imaginaries of Asian Diasporas
Literature in/of Displacement
War and Re-membering in the 20th/21st Centuries
From (Post)colonial to (Post)refugee
Eating the Other (Manger l’autre)
Courses Taught
University of California, Berkeley
As Instructor of Record:
Francophone Diasporas of Southeast Asia (Fall 2024)
This was an advanced (upper-division) Francophone literature survey course that I had the unique opportunity to design and teach as an Acting Instructor-Graduate Student.
This course gives an overview of francophone authors and filmmakers of Southeast Asian descent, particularly of the Vietnamese diaspora. Students learn about the histories of imperialism, colonialism, war, and migration in (and out of) the region formerly known as l’Indochine française, as they come to understand not only how “Indochina,” “Southeast Asia” and “Vietnam” exist in collective memory across national and diasporic contexts, but also how these different spatial imaginaries impact the way in which diasporic authors represent and reckon with contested identities and fractured memories in their works. Discussions uncover expressions of diasporic agency behind textual and visual strategies of representation, resistance, and negotiation as well as practices of resilience and survival in the face of war, catastrophe, and rupture, as we study works by Phạm Văn Ký, Lý Thu Hồ, Marcelino Truong, Rithy Panh, Jean-Baptiste Phou, Doan Bui, Kim Thúy, and Linda Lê.
Intensive Elementary French I (Summer 2022)
Whereas language courses during the academic year maintain a standard curricular program across sections, summer session instructors design their own syllabus, evaluations, and assignments to accommodate the accelerated format. This course condenses a full semester of introductory French into an 8-week intensive program. My approach to a course like this is to expose students to the diversity of Francophone cultures while offering material that appeals to a variety of interests in order to encourage students to continue their study beyond the summer. Students learn how to navigate simple interactions in a French-speaking environment; engage in informal conversation on familiar topics; to express thoughts simply and clearly in the present, past, and near future; and to read and understand authentic texts, from menus to poems.
As Lead Instructor:
Advanced Intermediate French IV (Spring 2023
Intermediate French III (Spring 2022, Fall 2022)
Elementary French II (Fall 2021)
Elementary French I (Fall 2020) [taught remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic]
Hamilton College
As Teaching Assistant
Intermediate French II (Spring 2018)
Written & Oral Argumentation in French Through Contemporary Texts (Fall 2017)
