Mohammad Abderrazzaq is a Ph.D. candidate in Islamic Studies at Boston University. He has served as a Lecturer in Arabic at Boston University and Northeastern University, and he has taught courses on Islam, Modern Standard Arabic, and Spoken Levantine Arabic. He has authored several articles and has most recently contributed to the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic Word (2009) with articles on Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Abu Bakr al-Baqalani, Abu Hanifa, Imam Muslim, Imam Abu Dawud, and Ihsan.
Ricardo Binetti, Italian
Riccardo Binetti received his High School diploma in Torino. After moving to Boston, he obtained his BS and his Master in Education from the University of Massachusetts.
Riccardo has taught the Italian language in numerous places such as Wachusetts Mountain, Mount Snow ski school, Berlitz Language schools, Boston Language school, McKinley High School, Brookline High School, C.A.S.IT. Boston, Burlington Public Middle School, Gloucester Public Middle School, Gloucester High School, Cape Ann Public Television, North Shore Community College, Boston University, Simmons College and Northeastern University.
Alma Bournazian, American Sign Language
Alma is the oldest child of a fourth generation Deaf family. She has nine brothers and sisters, half of whom are Deaf. After graduating from the American School for the Deaf, Alma attended Gallaudet College. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology. Alma went to Western Maryland College and graduated with her masters in Teaching American Sign Language.
Alma began teaching at Northeastern University as adjunct faculty in 1984 and became a permanent addition to the ASL program in 1992. Alma teaches a wide variety of A.S.L., and Deaf Community related classes. It was through her teaching at Northeastern that Alma received the nickname "ASL Cop". In addition to teaching, Alma is a freelance Deaf interpreter. She has Certified Deaf Interpreter-Provisional (CDI-P) certification through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). She passed the Deaf-Blind screening evaluation in 1987. Alma also completed the Deaf Interpreter program held at Northeastern through the Interpreter Education Project. She has been a leader in the Deaf-Blind Community for over 20 years, and an S.S.P. Coordinating Supervisor for many of their events as well as a lecturer for ASLTA.
For Northeastern, Alma is the head evaluator for the evaluation screening which is given to transfer students or freshman students with sign experience. She has also lectured extensively on a wide variety of Deaf culture, Deaf community and American Sign Language related topics. She is a member of Mass RID, National-RID, AADB, Mass-ASLTA, DBCC, National-ASLTA, Mass-ASD Treasurer, Committee member for the Annual George W. Veditz A.S.L. Festival, and member of the NUDAW committee for Northeastern. She is the first Deaf person in the State of Massachusetts to hold Professional Certification through national ASLTA.
Aliza Brosh, Hebrew
Aliza Brosh is presently a Lecturer in Hebrew at Northeastern University. Aliza taught at Brandeis University from 2002 to 2009. This is her tenth year in Boston. She also teaches Ulpan at the Hebrew College. She graduated at Haifa University in 1976, with a degree in Literature and Sociology and obtained there as well a teaching diploma.
From 1981 to 2000, Aliza held a teaching position in one of the leading high schools in Rishon Le'Zion, where she taught a variety of Hebrew related subjects. She has also run special education programs for high school students from the former USSR. Aliza has taught the Hebrew language to adults in the N.Y. Ulpan Center during the years 1978-1980. She is currently working on her Master's degree in Jewish studies at the Hebrew College.
Qinghong (Ann) Cai, Chinese
Qinghong possesses a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, a M.S. in Educational Communication and Technology, and a Harvard University certificate of Distinction Teaching Award. She has extensive experience teaching Mandarin at Northeastern University, Harvard’s Chinese Language Program and at the University of Kansas. In addition to teaching Mandarin, she has considerable experience in integrating technology into the classroom.
Yanet Canavan, Spanish
Yanet Monica Canavan is a teacher of Spanish from Lima, Peru. She earned her Master’s Degree in Spanish Language and Literature from The National University of Education in her native country. She also received her Master’s Degree in Teaching a Second Language from Salem State College. She has a vast experience teaching in her native country. Her experience there includes teaching at public and private high schools, as well as, teaching Spanish and Literature for the Peruvian Air Force. She has also taught Spanish Literature to undergraduate and graduate students at the private university, “Inca Garcilazo de La Vega” in Lima, Peru.
She has taught English to the Peruvian British Cultural Association, BRITANICO. She worked as the Academic Director of a language center in Boston. Her duties were to design curriculums and to hire and train teachers to teach Spanish in a communicative way. She has designed and taught Medical Spanish at different levels for the staff of Massachussetts General Hospital. She has developed and taught Spanish courses for lawyers at MCLE (Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education). At Harvard University, she has taught Spanish to graduate students. She has taught Spanish to professionals at different companies, such as: International Data Group, SHIRE a biopharmaceutical company, Capital Paternon and State Street. She has even taught private Spanish classes to Boston Red Sox Manager, Terry Francona.
Monica has a passion for teaching. She makes sure that students have fun while learning the Spanish language and the Latino Culture. Monica knows that students learn in different ways. Some are visual learners, some are auditory learners, while most learn best through a combination of both styles. Monica learns her students’ needs and uses the teaching style that best fits their learning style.
Michèle Cao Danh, French
Michèle is a native of France, and received her Ph.D. in French Literature and Language from Boston University. Her period of specialization is the long eighteenth-century, particularly the literary-philosophical trajectory stretching from the 17th-century moralists to the 18th-century philosophes. Michèle’s book La Philosophie cognitive et morale d’Anne-Thérèse de Lambert (1647-1733). La Volonté d’être (Peter Lang, 2002) examines the cognitive and moral philosophy of salonnière, writer and philosopher, Anne-Thérèse de Lambert.
Michèle teaches language and cinema courses. In “Images of French Youth,” her class studies political and social issues French youth have faced since the late 1980s. In “French Women Filmmakers. Gender: Perception and Reality,” her class examines how women’s and men’s lives and relationships are shaped by cultural, economic, social and political contexts.
Her research interests focus on how women’s writings reflect and inflect intellectual constructions of the 17th and 18th centuries, on women’s representation in French film, as well as on the contemporary French and Francophone novel. Whenever possible, Michèle combines her research and teaching interests.
Romina Crociani, Italian
Carlos Cruz, Spanish
Carlos was born in Arroyo in Southern Puerto Rico ashore the Caribbean Sea. Puerto Rico being part of the Commonwealth of the United States, Carlos is a US citizen as well. His education was completed through the public system in his hometown and then at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and the Fundación Ortega y Gassett in Spain where he earned a degree in Business Administration Managerial Economics. Carlos loves travelling around the world and has visited many countries in Europe and Latin America.
He came to Boston in 1997 after working several years for the Government at the Puerto Rico Planning Board. In Boston, Carlos had several professional experiences in the Financial and Investment fields for companies such as Mellon and Bank of America. His teaching experience began in 1997 at Berlitz and 2000 he was nominated Teacher of the Year in the New England District. From there, he started to teach Spanish at Simmons College as well as Spanish for Business and Social Services Professionals at the Harvard Business School.
Carlos also taught Spanish at Hablespaña, the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and the Boston Center for Adult Education. In recent years he has participated in different language programs and as taught at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Genzyme Pharmaceutical and Arnold Worldwide to name a few. He started teaching Spanish at the World Languages Center in the spring of 2009.
Hua Dong, Chinese
Hua Dong is an Academic Specialist in the World Languages Center. She is currently the coordinator of the Chinese program there. Hua teaches courses on Chinese language and culture, and has also developed and led Chinese Language “Dialogue of Civilizations” in China.
Prior to coming to Northeastern University, Hua was an associate producer and producer of several films about modern and contemporary Chinese history and culture. The award-winning films were shown on the PBS, numerous film festivals, and on exhibit in museums.
Hua holds an M.A. from Emerson College in addition to a M.A. from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute. She was also involved with many Sino-American co-production television projects, including the documentaries: The Gate of Heavenly Peace , Morning Sun and Yin Yu Tan at the Peabody Essex Museum. Hua also worked on several other projects with the Children’s Television Workshop.
Catherine Dunand, French
Born and raised in Annecy, France, Catherine Dunand completed her French education and secured her baccalauréat in French literature. Upon her arrival in the United States she worked in marketing design. She then migrated to another career and was appointed Deputy Consul to the Belgium Consulate in Boston. Beginning with her experience as an instructor at the Alliance Française of Boston, she started her Professional development in languages instructions at the University of Massachusetts.
She also earned a Massachusetts teaching certification for Middle and High school. Awarded a full scholarship with a teaching fellowship, she earned a Master’s degree in French studies at Boston University. In 1998, she joined Northeastern University where she presently teaches the French language at many levels.
With the inception of the Business International Program Ms Dunand teaches a variety of courses in French culture and business in order to prepare students for their Co-op experience in France. Also, she conducts several seminar ranging from cultural, cooking and cinema studies within the School of Education at NEU and has recently joined the College of Professional Studies where she instructs Beginner and Intermediate French.
Nada El-Gahlban, Arabic
Simone Elias, Portuguese
Simone Elias has a BS in Business Administration, with concentration in International Business and Entrepreneurship. Simone also earned a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology and is an experienced translator and interpreter as well as a technology and language Instructor. In addition to her teaching career, she is an active consultant, testing voice recognition & speech software, with a focus on the Portuguese language. Simone, graduating with high honors in her field, has also a vast knowledge of the Brazilian system and the Portuguese language.
Her knowledge and teaching of Portuguese goes beyond the text books, and her teaching method is an effective combination of Project-Based and Constructivism, leading to hands on projects and real- life experiences, in which students not only learn Portuguese but also important cultural aspects of the language. Simone’s classes are highly hands-on and 21st century-based. Her teaching approach and use of technology in the classroom were noted and recognized by local newspapers. She has also lead students who have won essay contests.
Students can tackle a wide array of subjects with Prof. Elias as she has travelled extensively and has intensive international experience. An active instructor, Simone has taught all levels from kindergarten to graduate students, and from classroom instruction to virtual instruction. She has worked in several industries from biotechnology to hospitality, in both public and private sectors, until she finally found her passion – teaching.
Diana Erinna, German
Diana was born and raised in the German Democratic Republic. Before the wall came down in 1989, she escaped her country and fled to West Germany in order to fulfill her dream to see more of the world than what was offered to her by her native country.
She fulfilled her dream and lived in Great Britain and Turkey before she begun her studies of German as a Foreign Language, Psychology and Turkish at the University of Bamberg/Germany in 1994. She holds an equivalent of a M.A. in German as a Foreign Language.
Since 1995 she has been teaching German as a foreign language. Before joining Northeastern University, she taught at private language institutes in Germany and Turkey as well as at Macquarie University in Sydney/Australia and Harvard University.
Marcial Flores, Spanish
Marcial Flores is a native of Honduras. He attended Boston College where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Arts completing a double major in English Literature and Spanish American Literature. He was accepted to the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures graduate program and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship granting him the opportunity to pursue and complete his Master’s of Art degree in Spanish American Literature and Culture.
As a Teaching Fellow Marcial taught introductory, intermediate and advanced Spanish courses. In 2003 he began to work at Northeastern University as a Spanish Lecturer in Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. He continues teaching introductory, intermediate, advanced and business Spanish courses at the World Languages Center. He was nominated for the 2006-2007 Excellence in Teaching Award and in March 22, 2007 at the Outstanding Professor Reception the Sigma Delta Tau fraternity made him a recipient of a Certificate of Excellence for exceptional academic aptitude among Northeastern University’s Faculty.
Presently, Marcial is the Spanish Program Coordinator, and conducts the department’s Spanish proficiency/placement interviews. His interests are in literature and cultural studies with a special interest in Spanish American literature and particularly novels, short stories and testimonial literature.
Shannon Gavin, Arabic
Shannon Gavin graduated from Brown University with a degree in Middle East Studies and Latin American Studies. With Arabic skills acquired in college and through study abroad, she has interviewed micro-loan recipients in Jordan, created educational media to promote deeper understanding of the Middle East, and taught Modern Standard Arabic at Boston University.
Shannon's introduction to the teaching field came through her work with ESOL programs for adult immigrants in the US. She also taught English to Syrian high school students while living in Damascus. Shannon is currently a graduate student in International Education Policy program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. In the future, she hopes to work on issues of literacy and adult education in the Arab World.
Maria Haralabatos, Modern Greek
Rei Okamoto Inouye, Japanese
Rei Okamoto Inouye was born in Tokyo and raised in Saitama, Japan. After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo (B.A. in English and American Literature), Rei worked as a Book Editor in the fields of Psychology, Psychiatry, Religion, and Social Work. She came to the United States to pursue her graduate degree and received a Master’s degree in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Mass Media and Communication from Temple University. While at the graduate school, she began teaching Japanese language and popular culture courses at Temple and Rutgers Universities. As a Ph.D. candidate, she also taught full-time at Oberlin College for one year.
Having completed her Ph.D., Rei came to Northeastern in 1998 and has taught Japanese language courses at all levels, Introduction to Japanese Pop Culture, and Japanese Film. Her research interest is in Japanese mass media and popular culture, particularly wartime manga and anime. Her dissertation focused on pictorial propaganda in Japanese comic art during World War II; she has published book chapters and journal articles on wartime manga. Her latest essay, “Theorizing Manga: Nationalism and Discourse on the Role of Wartime Manga,” came out in Mechademia 4: War/Time in Fall 2009.
Paul LaPlante, Spanish
Paul Laplante was born and brought up in a bilingual (French and English) home in Rhode Island, where he did his undergraduate (Providence College - B.A.magna cum laude - 1966) and graduate studies (Brown University - M.A. in German - 1969 ). At Brown, his fields of specialization were Medieval German Studies and Slavic Linguistics. He also studied for two years (1968-1969) at the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel, Germany, where he specialized in German, as well as Norwegian Language and Literature.
Paul has been at Northeastern since 1971, where he has over the years taught language courses in German, Spanish, French, Russian and Italian. For thirty years he has found the collegiality of the Modern Language Department and the enthusiasm of his students both very enriching and rewarding. He is a constant student of languages himself. He is fluent in Welsh, and has studied over a dozen other languages. He has also been employed since 1987 at Schoenhof's Foreign Books in Harvard Square, the largest foreign language bookstore in the United States, where he is a resource person, doing research for the company's massive classification project of the over 800 languages in their inventory materials.
Matsuko Levin, Japanese
Matsuko Levin has an extensive history in language teaching , having taught English to Japanese students and Japanese to non-Japanese speakers in Japan. She received her BA in Literature in Sapporo, Japan. Then while pursuing her teaching career, Matsuko worked as a free-lance writer and wrote several articles which were published in Japanese newspapers and magazines over the course of the last twenty years. When her two daughters were completing their own university studies, Matsuko began her graduate studies which culminated in two MA’s, one from Hokkaido University of Education in Japan in Comparative Language Teaching, and a second in Japanese Applied Linguistics from the University of London in the School of Oriental and African Studies(SOAS).
Since her arrival in the USA, Matsuko has been involved in several Japanese community activities besides teaching language. She has several other interests as well. She earned a WSI (swimming certification from Red-Cross) and taught swimming, harmonica and yoga, which she studied and practiced for many years in Japan. She is also a second rank Naginata* fighter (* one of the martial arts part of the Japanese Budo).
Jinqing Li, Chinese
Jinqing Li teaches Chinese at the World Languages Center at Northeastern and at the Confucius Institute of UMass-Boston. Professor Li is a writer and the focus of her research is Chinese classical poetry. She obtained a MA from Peking University, Beijing China in 1996, majoringin Chinese Languageand literature. Her Master's thesis, titled "The Outstanding Poet Feng Yansi of the Southern Tang Dynasty" was evaluated as one of the most outstanding thesesamong all the Doctor's and Master's papers published in the P.R. China for the year 1996. In it, she detailed many original opinions and creative viewpoints regarding the lyric poetry of Southern Tang Dynasty poets.
Professor Li also played a key role in editing the "Research Abstract of The20thCentury Works of Literature ", which is an information-oriented reference book for professionals, covering research work in all kinds of Chinese literately scholarship of the 20th century (1900-1992).She authored "Poems of All Dynasties" (The People's Literature Press, Nov. 2004, 1028pp.) in cooperation with her mentor. This broad-ranging book includes more than 800 poems from 300 poets, with in-depth analysis about each poet and poem. This book provides inspirational value to literature researchers and readers.
Jim Lipsky, American Sign Language
Jim has been an ASL instructor at Northeastern University and Tufts University since 1992. He was one of the first graduates of the Northeastern University Interpreter Preparation Program for Deaf Persons (IPPDP) in 1996. He is a Certified Deaf Interpreter-Provisional (CDI-P). He is also a State Screened in Massachusetts as a Deaf-Blind Interpreter by Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MDCHH).
Jim has been a freelance relay interpreter for about five years and a Deaf-Blind community interpreter for fifteen. He also has completed a legal interpreter training program by Advancement Seminars, Inc. in 1997. In 1997, he was awarded the Garth Pittman Award for teaching Excellence in the Liberal Arts Program at the University College of Northeastern University. He also gave some various workshops about Deaf-Blind Interpreting/Communication; Deaf Interpreting; and Team Interpreting to New England area.
Angelica Llavata-Gascon, Spanish
A native of Valencia, Spain, Angelica is an instructor at Northeastern University. Before coming to the United States, she was working as a journalist on radio talk shows, news casts and newspapers. She taught Spanish at the high school level in Valencia and she collaborated in a regional TV program in Spain.
Luigia Gina Maiellaro, Italian
Luigia Maiellaro was born in Salerno, Italy. In 1995 she graduated from the University of Salerno, specializing in comparative literatures (18th century Russian, French and English theaters). Focusing on comparative philo, in 1998 she received a PhD from the Russian State University of the Humanities (Moscow), writing her dissertation on the influence of Italian on Russian in the 18th century.
She taught Italian language and culture at Moscow State University and at the Italian School in Moscow sponsored by the Italian embassy. From 1999 to 2000 she worked as a researcher in Russian at the University of Salerno and taught courses in Russian language and its history. In 2001 she moved to the United States where she joined Northeastern University as a lecturer of Italian language.
Gina’s primary interests are focused on the history of Russian and Italian languages, the mechanisms of their development, their reciprocal influence in specific historical and literary contexts, and their theorization with special attention given to the problems of innovation and continuity in linguistic evolution of the Russian written language, poetics, and the problems of translation, as well as materials from Russian archives. She is currently working on poetic genres of the first half of the 18th century and the Bible. Her philologic experience has been of great importance in planning her courses in modern languages, and developing special materials in language learning for Italian-American students with a dialect background.
Zimin Meng, Chinese
Loïza Miles, French
Loïza,a native of Martinique in the French West Indies, grew up in France and lived abroad extensively. A citizen of France and the United States, she received both her graduate and undergraduate degrees (in French, Latin, Greek, linguistics and classics) from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. After training for the Agrégation, she earned a CAPES in literature and linguistics from the Ministry of Education- Sorbonne and subsequently an Educator’s License for Foreign Language from the Commonwealth of Massachussetts Department of Education. Her translations into French include De la Politique à la Martinique: Paradoxe au Paradis (Paris, l’Harmattan, 1992). An instructor of French at Northeastern since 1985, Loïza Miles has also occasionally taught Spanish, Latin, and Hebrew in various institutions. She has lived in Senegal, Niger, French Guiana, Israel, Mauritius, and Vanuatu, but is most proud of the six months she worked as a private tutor aboard a transatlantic sailing yacht.
Sermin Muctehitzade, German
Born in Istanbul, raised and educated in Germany, Sermin Muctehitzade joined Northeastern in 1991 with a full international academic experience. Sermin received her academic training in German Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Psychology studying at Brown University, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitaet in Frankfurt as well as the University of Massachussetts. She also holds an ABD from Ludwig-Maximilian Universitaet in Munich. Her fields of specialization are in Medieval German Literature with a focus on presentation of women characters in legends and heroic epics and the works of Minority Women Writers in Contemporary German Literature. Her Dissertation focuses on images of Women in Literature of Minority Women Writers, 1965-1995.
Since joining Northeastern, Sermin has been designing and teaching all levels of the German language as well as Literature courses, and she has been with the International Business Programs German track since its beginning, designing and teaching all level of International Business courses. She has held a Visiting professorship at the University of Freiburg teaching on Minorities Literature. At Northeastern she was nominated for Exellence in Teaching Award three times. In the near future she is hoping to design and teach film-based and content-based language classes (BSIB students) and a course on Modern German Culture and Technology. Sermin concentrates her research on language pedagogy, technology and methodology in language teaching, utilizing most recent language teaching methods and technology.
Tania Muiño-Loureiro, Spanish
Tania Muiño-Loureiro was born and raised in Galicia on the northwest coast of Spain. She grew up in a bilingual home, speaking both Galician and Spanish. Tania studied English Philology at University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and later completed a B.A. in English Studies at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom. She received her M.A. in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language from the University of Barcelona in Spain.
Tania teaches all levels of Spanish at Northeastern, from Elementary 1 to Advanced 2 as well as Spanish Culture courses. Every year, during summer, she leads a Dialogue of Civilizations program to Spain.
Tania has been living in the US since 2004 and teaching at Northeastern since 2005. Prior to this, she taught Spanish Language and Culture courses in the United Kingdom and later in Japan where she lived before moving to Boston.
Shakir Mustafa, Arabic
Shakir Mustafa is a Visiting Associate Professor of Arabic at Northeastern University. Shakir grew up in Iraq and taught at Mosul University in Northern Iraq for eleven years. He then taught at Indiana University and Boston University from1999 to 2008. His most recent book is Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology (Syracuse, 2008). His other publications are in the areas of Literary Translation, Irish Drama, and Jewish American Fiction. He gave dozens of lectures as well as radio and television interviews (NPR, NECN, FOX News among others) on Arab and Muslim cultures and politics.
Shakir was awarded a Boston University Humanities Foundation Fellowship for the Spring Semester of 2007. He was also awarded by Indiana University a Graduate Research Scholarship in the Spring 1991 and a Graduate study scholarships, 1991-1999. His book Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology has beenrecognized as “one of the most important books in 2008” by The Bloomsbury Review. Shakir’s biography (2001-present) has been selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in America, 2001-, and Who’s Who in American Higher Education, 2003-, 2004 as well as in the 32nd ed. of the Dictionary of International Biography, the 21st Century Award for Achievement, and The Cambridge Blue Book.
Rachel Naamad, Hebrew
A native of Haifa, Israel, Rachel Naamad came to the U.S. in 1990 and has been teaching Hebrew for the past nine years to a wide array of students. The 2009-2010 school year marks her third year teaching Hebrew at Northeastern University and her first year teaching Hebrew at Wellesley College. For the past eight years, Rachel also taught at Hebrew College, in both the Prozdor School and the ULPAN program. Prior to moving to the U.S. and becoming a Hebrew Instructor, she had a career as a social worker in Israel. There, she earned a BA in Social Work from Haifa University in 1976.
Her continuing education in the field of Hebrew Language Instruction includes intensive coursework at Hebrew College’s program for senior-level Hebrew teachers. Through the program, Rachel continues to refine her curriculum development skills by working with Hila Kobliner, a leader in worldwide Hebrew instruction programs who has authored many textbooks on the subject. Always seeking innovative ways to engage students, Rachel developed multimedia computer lab exercises that enabled students to learn new vocabulary in a dynamic and interactive way.
Maria Olmsted, Russian
Charlene Palladino, Italian
Charlene Palladino received her BA in Liberal Arts at Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Newton, Mass. She also received her MA in Sociology from Tuft’s University in Medford Mass. While attending Tuft’s University she served as an interpreter and translator for the “Tuft’s in Italy” program in Naples, Italy. Charlene received her second MA in Italian from the University of Florence in Italy, and her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
Charlene’s employment history includes the teaching of Italian at the Elementary, High School, and College levels. She also was an Italian Instructor in various Adult Community Education programs in Lynnfield, Wakefield, North Reading, and Danvers, Mass. Charlene has served as an Interpreter in various medical settings in the Boston area, and as an ESL Instructor at the North End Union in Boston, Mass.
Kelly Polychroniou, Modern Greek
Yuki Sakurai, Japanese
Yuki Sakurai started teaching Japanese at University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, while pursing her MA in English Education. With a MA in Japanese Pedagogy from The Ohio State University, Yuki has taught Japanese from introductory to advanced levels at Williams College, Vassar College, Brown University, Cornell University and MIT. She has also taught summer intensive courses at SPEAC (The Ohio State University) and the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo as well as at FALCON (Cornell University) and Middlebury College Summer Language Schools.
Her goal as a teacher is to make students feel comfortable in “using” Japanese. Yuki also emphasizes on guiding students to become independent learners and be able to monitor their own learning. Her research interests include: reading process in Japanese as foreign language, learning styles, and conversation analysis.
Paul Schreyer, American Sign Language
Paul Schreyer had been an educator for 21 years, specializing in American Sign Language, Deaf History, and Culture. He has taught and consulted with the interpreter community and ASL instructors for over 15 years. He has been on the Northeastern University teaching staff since January 2004. He teaches workshops on a variety of subjects related to ASL and interpreting. Paul was born and raised in rural Northeastern Colorado and Western Nebraska. He received his Bachelors degree from Roanoke Bible College and Masters Degree from Western Maryland College in Deaf Education. He has served on the boards of many professional organizations, among them the Conference of Interpreter Trainers and North Carolina American Sign Language Teacher Association (NCASLTA). Recently, he received presitige award, T. J. O' Rourke Trailblazing Award from NCASLTA in May 2004.
Claudia Sokol, Spanish
A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Sokol completed her BA and MA in Gastroenterology at the University of Buenos Aires. In Argentina, she spent many years dealing with patient care in hospitals and private practice. When she moved to the United States, she decided to devote her career to teaching and training medical residents and health care professionals at the most prestigious institutions in Boston. Institutions that have been fortunate enough to know her expertise in the classroom include Boston University Medical Center, Harvard affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital and currently Northeastern University.
She has been teaching at Northeastern since 1988. She taught all levels of Spanish and in 1998 started a three-year program in the Bouve College of Health Sciences teaching Spanish for the Health Care Professionals. She has also taught in the School of Business. These are some of the comments that Dr. Sokol's students have said about her: "I would highly recommend this class to anyone who is interested in Spanish." "The professor's passion for the language and culture enhances the student's motivation to excel in the class." "Overall, I would say that this class is among the most effective Spanish classes that I have ever taken in the past six years of foreign language education in Spanish".
Dr. Sokol is fluent in both Spanish and French and brings to the classroom an enthusiasm and a passion that are inspiring. Dr. Sokol has always involved herself with the students outside the classroom- taking them on visits to the Museum of Fine Arts, to local restaurants and to shows that broaden their foreign language and culture experience.
Hui Song, Chinese
John Spiegel, Russian
John Spiegel was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Russian. After resettling in the United States, he continued his studies at Columbia University where he received his Ph.D. in Slavic studies.
During his tenure at Northeastern, Spiegel has taught a number of Russian language and literature courses and, on occasion, a few German courses as well. He is the author of the monograph, Dimensions of Laughter in Crime and Punishment, a specialized study dealing with one of Dostoevsky's artistic devices.
Alessio Tognetti, Italian
Alessio Tognetti is a native of Mantova , Italy. After completing his study at Mantova's Liceo Classico, he moved to the United States to pursue further studies.
After receiving his BA in Human Ecology (Interdisciplinary degree ) with concentration in Philosophy, he moved to to Oregon. For two years, he taught Italian at the University Of Oregon where he also received his Master in Italian Literature.
Alessio interests are as varied as they are numerous and include Philosophy, Psychology, History, History of art, Physics, Computers, Astronomy and Archeology. Since young age he has intensively traveled, spending at least one month in full-immersion in each of the following foreign countries: Spain , Portugal , France , Greece , Turkey , Syria , Jordan , Canada and counting.
Richard Wamai, Swahili
Richard Wamai holds a Ph.D. in International Health and Development from the University of Helsinki. Richard is a full time Faculty at Northeastern University and is also affiliated with Harvard School of Public Health. Although he teaches Swahili both at Northeastern and at Harvard, Richard’s main area of specialization is Global Health and International Development in which he teaches at Northeastern both undergraduate and graduate courses.
Richard conducts research in the areas of HIV/AIDS and health systems and policy, and have published widely in leading journals such as Science, Future HIV Therapy, BMC Health, and the Japan Medical Association Journal. He has had prior working experience with Oxford University, the London School of Economics, Johns Hopkins University as well as the University of Nairobi and the World Bank, to name a few.
Sali Ziane, French
Sali Ziane received a master degree in Linguistics 1994. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics, Science of Language in 1999 in Paris, France. Her thesis was focused in the study of the Medical Terminology. Sali received many certificates in France and England in both Linguistics and Didactics. Her book “Dictionnaire de vulgarisation en gynécologie-obstétrique” is about the vulgarization of the medical terminology in Obstetrics and Gynecology targeting a public with no knowledge in the medical field.
Before joining the World Language Center at Northeastern University, she was teaching the Intermediate and Advanced levels at the French Department of Modern Languages of Tufts University. She has an extensive experience in teaching French at all levels as well as the translated technical English to French, in medicine and computer science. She taught in France, North Africa, England and the United States.
Sali’s teaching philosophy is to ensure that the French Language is communicated via conversations, multi-media tools and dialogues in order to make her students more comfortable with its assimilation, develop their self-learning ability and prepare them for advanced levels of French.
