Experience Summary
I graduated from Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland and Pushkin’s Institute of Foreign Languages, Moscow, Russia with MA in the field of Linguistics. Later, I had an opportunity to attend Kean University, from which I obtained four teaching certificates in the following areas: ESL, Bilingual/Bicultural Education, Elementary Education, and Foreign Language.
I taught ESL, ESL - Math Strategies, ESL - Communication Strategies, Bil; School #2 and Linden High School since 1991 till June 2020. I am a founder and an advisor of the Polish Club and SLAVA - the Russian National Honor Society.
I initiated a variety of extracurricular academic activities, such as:
An annual participation in the NJ Contest of Spoken Russian since 1996 - present (as a lead teacher and a judge).
An annual participation in the National Russian Essay Contest.
I also worked in a capacity of a co-chairperson and a judge of the National Russian Essay Contest (2005-present).
I spent the summer of 2008 working as a Resident Director of the Golden Ring Program in Vladimir, Russia.
During the summer of 2012 I participated in the STARTALK/Critical Languages Program in Glastonbury, CT.
I am an active member of several professional organizations: FLENJ, NJTESOL-BE, ACTR. I am fluent in English, Polish, and Russian. I also studied classical languages (Latin and Greek). My special interests and areas of expertise include word etymology, comparative and historical linguistics, and foreign language acquisition.