Current Students

My name is Katherine Andersen and I graduated from Rutgers University with a BA degree in Political Science. I've worked with language learners in a variety of contexts- nationally and internationally in Peru, Spain, and New Jersey. I am also an intermediate Spanish speaker. I look forward to refining my teaching skills to support student needs and sharpening my own language skills. My teaching philosophy is based on compassion, intention, and celebrating our humanity. 

Sema Betul Demirezen is an MA student pursuing the Applied Linguistics track in the Applied Linguistics and TESOL Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a Fulbright scholar, she brings an international perspective to her academic journey. Her work employs multimodal conversation analysis to study discourse and naturally occurring interaction in pedagogical settings, with a focus on English-medium instruction and cross-cultural communication. She is particularly interested in how classroom interactions can be examined from a multimodal perspective to provide new insights into teaching and learning practices. She values being part of a diverse academic community and looks forward to contributing her perspective while learning from peers and faculty. As a researcher and a teacher, she hopes to connect linguistic research with applications that enrich multilingual classrooms. Outside of her studies, she enjoys birdwatching, hiking, and playing tennis, which allow her to recharge and bring creativity into her daily routine.

Anthony Dimitrion is an M.A. student in the TESOL program at Teachers College. Prior to attending TC he received a Masters of Social Work degree from Syracuse University and practiced professionally as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, providing psychotherapy services to adolescents, college students, and adults. Anthony is interested in trauma-informed education practices and ELL college and career readiness.  

Xinning Gao is an M.A. student in the TESOL program at Teachers College, specializing in the PK-12 initial certification track. Prior to attending TC, she graduated from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) with a B.A. degree in Education Sciences. After diving deep into the field of education during her undergraduate years, she aims to leverage her unique perspective as an international student and bilingual speaker to support English language learners in diverse, worldwide educational settings. Thus, she chose to pursue a master’s degree at TC, which would lead her to a teaching profession. To date, she has already observed in three different schools and is currently working as a student teacher in a New York City public school. She looks forward to supporting diverse language learners with her passion and professional expertise after graduation.

Makenzie George graduated from the University of Dayton in 2020 with a bachelor’s in finance. She started her career working in Investment Banking for Morgan Stanley then Credit Suisse. She now works for a language agency, LTC Language Solutions while in school part-time.

Ning began her academic journey at Teachers College in Fall 2024, pursuing a second master’s degree in applied linguistics after earning her Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) in Chinese. She teaches Mandarin Chinese at Fordham University in New York and Montclair State University in New Jersey. With years of experience teaching Chinese and English as foreign languages, her research interests include second language acquisition, assessment, language use, and integrating language and culture in teaching. Ning focuses on content-based and task-based teaching methods for non-native speakers and heritage learners of Chinese. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes incorporating rich cultural elements, such as Calligraphy Art, to enhance students' learning experiences. She introduces her students to the origins of Chinese characters, including oracle bone scripts, to help them understand the structure of these characters.

Yijing Jiang is an M.A. student enrolled in the TESOL K-12 Initial Certification program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Shanghai International Studies University, where she double-majored in English and Japanese—laying a strong foundation for her work in language education.

Her passion for cross-cultural English teaching has grown from hands-on experience: during undergrad, she joined volunteer teaching initiatives and served as a TOEFL/IELTS teaching assistant; now, she interns in an ENL classroom at a New York public school, deepening her interest in comparing U.S. and Chinese English education models. As a bilingual speaker (with English as a non-native language), she brings unique perspectives to supporting multilingual learners. Additionally, regular observations of her doctor mother’s patient consultations have sparked her curiosity about clinical pragmatics. Outside of studies, she recharges through quiet walks, restful sleep, and exploring New York’s diverse food scene.

Siting Lyu is an M.A. student in the TESOL PK-12 Initial Certificate Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English Literature in China, where she developed an interest in both literary criticism and applied linguistics. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted an empirical study on gender socialization in a local kindergarten, which inspired her to pursue a career that connects theoretical insights with practical teaching.

Her academic interests lie at the intersection of linguistics, education, and literature, with a particular focus on second language acquisition (SLA) and language socialization. She is passionate about exploring how language learning environments can foster meaningful participation and learner engagement.

Siting has teaching and assisting experience in both China and the United States. She has served as a teaching assistant in after-school English programs, working with learners ranging from elementary to graduate levels. In New York City, she has assisted and taught in public schools, collaborating with professional teachers and learning from their classroom practices. Through these experiences, she is dedicated to bridging research and practice in TESOL.

Margaret Marino is a proud alumna of Rutgers University–Newark, where she earned her B.A. in Spanish language with minors in Latin American Studies and Latina(o) Studies. She has a lifelong passion for Latin American culture, history, anthropology, and literature, and has special interest in investigating the American constructions and imaginations of race; how Latin American cultural and ethnic identity shifts and adapts through life-altering events such as displacement, school interruption, and immigration, and how one's racial and ethnic identity in their home country and host country shapes their self-perception. 

Margaret is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in TESOL with K-12 initial certification. Her goal is to continuously engage with and deepen her understanding of the political, social, and institutional realities that affect the Latin American diaspora and other historically marginalized groups in the public education system. Through leadership in student cultural organizations, opportunities to nurture a trusting and supportive relationship with multilingual language learners in New York City, and mobilizing with other students to advocate for immigrant justice and reform through direct service, she is excited to become an educator focused on equity, inclusion, and culturally uplifting curricula. She aspires to help nurture a generation of individuals who reject assimilation, embrace the complexity of their multicultural identities, and object to all forms of oppression they encounter within their own lives to build cross-cultural solidarity and become leaders in the global movements for human rights and social justice. 

In her free time, Margaret is a live and studio drummer. She has been playing professionally for over 8 years and has 14 years of experience. She has released several compilations of original music with her band, regularly plays live shows in the New York City area, and has toured North America twice.

Chiaki Oda graduated from Keio University in Tokyo with a degree in American Literature. She was a competitive figure skater until she retired at the age of 22. She has worked as an English teacher in Japan for the past seven years where she grew her passion for teaching English to middle school and high school students. She also confronted with the many problems and issues that English education in Japan provides. Her eventual goal is to return to Japan and not only continue teaching middle school and high school students but to train teachers to be able to conduct effective English classes entirely in English. She also hopes to work with Ministry of Education to change and better the core parts of Japanese English education.

I’m Ailyn, I’m from the Bronx, NY and am currently a second-year student in the M.A. TESOL K-12 Initial Certification program. This year, in addition to my coursework, I get to complete my student teaching experience in a dual-language program at P.S. 75 Emily Dickinson School with English and Spanish as the target languages! As a native Spanish speaker, I consider it a privilege to be able to foster a bilingual and biliteracy classroom environment, a skill I hope to bring into my work as a future ESOL teacher. At TC, I have been able to hone in on my academic interests in promoting literacy development among newcomer multilingual learners and students with interrupted formal education via culturally responsive teaching methods in addition to other research-based pedagogical approaches. Before coming to TC, I majored in Psychology and double-minored in Education and Italian at Dartmouth College, which is where my love for language learning and language teaching began. Now, I’m excited to continue growing as an educator in the city I call home and contribute to multilingual communities that have shaped me!

Yulin Pan graduated from the Northeastern University in China with a B.A. in English in 2018. During her undergraduate program, Yulin and her peers started an International Communication Club for the benefit of improving local students' English level and also helping international students to fit in. As an undergraduate student, Yulin took several opportunities in studying in the U.S. She visited University of California, San Diego in 2016 and 2018 for its ESL program and TEFL Certificate program. In 2017, Yulin attended University of Wisconsin, Madison, where, as a visiting international student, she took several TESOL/AL related courses and found out her passion in pragmatics research. Moreover, Yulin also taught English in a local community after-school program and presented culture associated lectures in a neighborhood primary school after-school program during that period.

Back in her home country China, Yulin had several internships in domestic and international EFL training institutions. She was a TA in Education First (EF) for its 2018 summer course, teaching young learners natural spelling. She also interned as an online instructor for Huijiang, providing English proficiency assessment.

Ultimately, Yulin is passionate about pragmatics problems in English learning and teaching; thus, she is hoping to get more insight on these issues throughout the MA in TESOL program in Teachers College, Columbia University.

Angie Papageorgiou graduated from Binghamton University in 2017 where she earned a Bachelors degree in History and Spanish and a minor in education. Angie has done service abroad in Peru with two nonprofit organizations. Most recently, she has interned with a Bystander Intervention and Sexual Assault Prevention Program in Binghamton. She hopes to use her passion for culture and compassion to teach students language one day.

Chinnachart Poola-or was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand and graduated with first class honors in English. After having graduated, he enrolled in a graduate degree in Linguistics at Chulalongkorn University where he discovered that he was more into the use of language rather than the theoretical perspectives of language. During which time, he also worked as an English tutor, helping his students preparing for IELTS and TOEFL test as well as working as a research assistant for the Director of Linguistics Department, Chulalongkorn University. His academic interest regarding linguistics are Pragmatics, (Critical) Discourse Analysis, Cognitive Linguistics and language use in general. He is also interested in Cognitive Psychology. He is particularly interested in how language could reflect our ways of thinking and how our ways of thinking can be seen from our choice of language use. He is also interested in how different people with different backgrounds process and interpret the meaning of language differently. He is hoping to conduct a research study and use a collaborative approach by combining theoretical perspectives in linguistics, applications of linguistics, and a state of the art in cognitive psychology in the future of his academic career.

Becca Pred-Sosa is a 2011 graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa with a B.A. in Spanish and a concentration in Linguistics. After graduating, she spent a year in Miacatlan, Mexico as a caregiver and English teacher with Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. She lived and worked in Washington, DC for 5 years, most recently at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) where she was a Research Assistant on the Test Development team. Her work at CAL included developing rubrics and rater training materials for English writing assessments, and writing test items for reading and speaking English proficiency tests.

Veronica Salas comes to the AL/TESOL program after teaching 5-6 grade English Language Arts in Phoenix for three years. She entered the classroom in 2014 as a Teach for America Corp Member and holds a standard Arizona elementary teaching certificate. Before her time in the classroom, Veronica earned a B.A. in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College. As an undergraduate, she studied comparative education in South America and worked as a tutor at the Center for Writing & Public Discourse, where she coordinated outreach at Pomona High School. Her most recent community activities include facilitating ESL classes for aspiring citizens and advocating for district policies that better protect immigrant families.

Kate Sanford is from Houston, Texas and graduated with a degree in English from Davidson College in 2015. Following graduation, she worked as an impact fellow for a leather goods company in Trujillo, Peru and then as an editorial assistant at a publishing house in New York. In New York, she began volunteering with the Petey Greene Program as a tutor at Rikers Island, eventually working exclusively with English language learners there. Kate is now pursuing a Master of Arts in TESOL with teacher certification.

Zoé Schroeder earned her B.A. in Spanish and Geography from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2012. Upon graduating, she joined the Peace Corps where she taught ESL in Lesotho for over 2 years. It was there that she committed herself to a career in language education. She has experience in a variety of teaching roles, and prior to joining the TC community, worked as a teaching assistant in a Montessori school. Her goal is to work with young non-native English speakers in a bilingual or multilingual school.

Maria Tierney studied Linguistics at New York University, where she wrote her honors thesis on the syntax of negation and quantification in Latin. In addition to her extensive cross-linguistic research in theoretical syntax, she has also pursued coursework and research in cognitive science and language acquisition. She enjoys studying languages from both a theoretical and pedagogical perspective, and has spent a lot of time working with Latin, Korean, and Mandarin. She previously tutored high school and college students in both English and Latin, and has tutored ESL students in academic writing and standardized test preparation. She also enjoys creative writing, hosting English conversation groups, and experiencing new cultures and cuisines.

Maria is now pursuing graduate study in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she plans to focus on language acquisition and in particular the acquisition of syntax. Although most of her time is spent on research and teaching, she also likes to get involved in student organizations and currently enjoys working for the student senate. Her other interests include writing/performing stand-up comedy, taking improv classes, listening to all sorts of podcasts and early 2000s music, watching Korean dramas, and visiting tea and coffee shops around NYC.

Joe Tropeano is a graduate candidate in the MA TESOL PK-12 program. An aspiring high school educator, he is a teaching resident in the TR@TC2 program and is also a teacher coordinator for the ESOL program at Community Impact, Columbia University. Prior to studying at TC, Joe taught English in Chile with Beyond English and worked in Nashville at Social Enterprise Alliance. He received his BS in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University in 2015.

Chander Kuo-Yi Tseng graduated from National Taiwan University with a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures. He also completed the Educational Program for Secondary School Teachers. During his undergraduate studies, he worked closely as a teaching assistant and a research assistant with his professors of linguistics and education. After he graduated, he taught EFL as a student teacher in a local public high school in Taipei. Now he holds an official certificate issued by Ministry of Education of Taiwan as a secondary school teacher of English. Most recently, he started teaching in more diverse settings. He worked as an ESL instructor for adults at Elite language institute. Before attending Teachers College, he enjoyed teaching adults ESL in an interactive setting online at AMC Tutor4U. This experience not only enhanced his proficiency in communicative language teaching and English speaking assessment, but also accumulated his first-hand observations of linguistic discourse. He’s looking forward to the new journey ahead at Teachers College in New York City, where he aspires to pursue his passion for applied linguistics at the graduate education level.

Deepika Vasudevan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2012. During her short stint in the software industry, she had the opportunity to develop lesson plans for a not-for-profit endeavor by the organization to teach their security personnel day-to-day English. This sparked an interest in her, and she went on to obtain a certificate in teaching English (CELTA) offered by Cambridge ESOL and the British Council. Deepika then became a full time teacher of English at the British Council in Chennai, India, where she taught a variety of courses to both adults and children for two years. It was here that she explored through experimentation some of the aspects of teaching; materials development, classroom strategy and level assessment. More recently, Deepika volunteered as an ESL tutor at the public library in Charlotte, NC, where she taught international students and immigrant workers general English on a one-on-one basis.

Deepika enters Teachers College with the aspiration to learn from the best and elevate her teaching techniques to create an impact in the ESL community. Eventually, she intends to work towards improving awareness in India about the importance of English and make the learning of the language more accessible to adults.

Dylan Walker graduated from The University of Alabama in 2017, where she double-majored in journalism and political science. Through working with a DC-based anti-genocide advocacy organization, a human trafficking prevention operation in NYC, and her university Honors College, Dylan found a passion for cross-cultural and international collaboration, particularly for displaced persons and diasporic communities. Upon graduation, Dylan received the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship and taught local and international students at an undergraduate college in Macau, China. She is now pursuing her Master of Arts in TESOL and teacher certification at Teachers College. She is interested in marginalized youth mentorship, cultural and language exchange, and the preservation of cultural and linguistic identity for immigrants in the United States. Her other interests include free events in NYC, french fries, Taco Bell, stand-up comedy and live music of all genres.

Qiyun Wang is an M.A. student in the TESOL K-12 Initial Certification program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently specializing in teaching English to young learners and completing her student teaching placement at schools in New York, where she works with English language learners in small-group or pull-out instruction.

Qiyun graduated from Shanghai International Studies University in 2023 with a Bachelor’s degree in Hungarian, during which she developed a strong interest in second language acquisition. After graduation, she worked as a homeroom teacher in an international school in Shanghai and also taught Chinese as an additional language. Her passion for both language learning and language teaching brought her to TC to further her development as an educator.

As a multilingual speaker and international student, Qiyun brings a cross-cultural perspective to her teaching and research. She has gained experience working with multilingual learners in diverse settings and is especially passionate about early literacy development and culturally responsive teaching practices. She looks forward to continuing her professional journey as an ESOL educator and contributing to multilingual communities in New York and beyond.

Xiaoya Wang is a second-year MA student in Applied Linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a bachelor's degree in Business English. Her research interests focus on language assessment, computational linguistics, and corpus linguistics.

Before joining Teachers College, Xiaoya was a visiting student at UC Berkeley for a year, specializing in Phonetics and Phonology. During her time there, she worked as a research assistant on projects related to Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs) in the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) under the supervision of Dr. Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite.

Yutong Xie has completed an LL.B. degree at the University of International Relations, Beijing in 2017, and received her LL.M. degree with Business Law concentration at the University of Texas at Austin in 2018. She has passed the TEM-8 in China. She is now pursuing her M.A of TESOL at Teachers College, Columbia University. She had been a part-time English teacher for more than three years in Beijing, China before she came to New York City, and has taught a number of students with various ages, regions, educational backgrounds, working experience, and study motivations over the Internet. She also created her own English channel on Tik Tok sharing her short videos for English learners and has over 500,000 followers.

Zian Xu is an M.A. student in the TESOL Initial Certification program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Zian earned a B.A. in English from Northwest A&F University in China and studied abroad at Saint Louis University in the U.S. She has taught English in high school settings, supported international students, and worked as a Chinese language instructor for undergraduates in Romania. Beyond teaching, Zian has conducted research on language, gender, and education, and launched the Leftover but Not Less campaign to promote gender equality through social media storytelling.

A curious soul who loves languages, food, and exploring ideas across cultures, Zian is excited to continue her journey as an educator and to build connections across diverse communities.

Hilary Yarger (she/her/hers) is a student in the TESOL M.A. with PK-12 Initial 
Certification program. Hilary currently works as a Digital Campus Associate in Teachers College’s Digital Campus Infrastructure Team, assisting with TC’s website maintenance and client support. Recently, she served as the Engagement and Outreach Coordinator at Cornell University’s Language Resource Center, where she managed events/communications and supported students in learning world languages. There, she also volunteered as a facilitator in the English Language Speaking Groups Program, mentoring a group of international graduate students by helping them with English speaking practice. Hilary earned an M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago and B.A. in Electronic Media and the Arts and Asian Studies from Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Her M.A. thesis, an original visual album incorporating electronic music, video, photography, and digital design, provides viewers with a peaceful sensory experience that can relieve anxiety and sensory overload. Hilary is a Chinese language learner and advocate for neurodiversity acceptance and inclusion. Please feel free to visit her personal website, www.hilaryyarger.com, to learn more about her background.

Yumeng (Sophie) graduated with a B.S. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Although majoring in Material Chemistry, she gradually discovered her passion for literature and language teaching. She took Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages as a second major. Being a volunteer of Confucius Institute in The University of Adelaide in Australia and having chances to tutoring Chinese learning during her exchange semester, her interests in getting into the field of language teaching was significantly strengthened. Later, she went to Baoshan, Yunan Province in China to do voluntary teaching of Chinese literature. Through these experiences, she realized her desire to learn teaching approaches systematically. Thus, she applied for both TESOL and TCSOL program of Teachers College.

After coming to New York, she obtained some experience of teaching ESL classes for adults in Community Language Program, Teachers College. She also taught SAT Essay for high school students back in China. Besides, she received the Certificate of Completion from the TCSOL program. Currently, she is working as a TA at the Chinese Language Program, Columbia University while studying for her M.A. degree. She is enthusiastic about experimenting with different teaching techniques and styles in both English and Chinese. She would like to become a bridge of different cultures for her students except for a language teacher after graduation.

Eunice Chung received her B.A. in English Education from Korea University, Seoul, Korea and M.A. in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, K-12) from Teachers College, Columbia University, NY in 2011. She has taught English as a second/foreign language in the K-12 setting and has been teaching Korean since 2010. Eunice is currently an Ed.M. student in Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition Track at Teachers College, Columbia University and a full-time lecturer in Korean at Columbia University in the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department. Prior to joining Columbia faculty in 2015, she has taught Korean at Boston University and at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include second language acquisition, language pedagogy, and interactive approaches in teaching.

Alexii Lazaridis is a current Ed.M in Applied Linguistics candidate. She is a 2018 graduate with her MA in TESOL as well as a 2013 graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill (Go Heels!) where she majored in Political Science and International Studies. During her time at UNC and post-graduation, she blogged for several different freelance publications (Let’s Go! Student Travel, Huffington Post) with tips ranging from traveling on a college budget to healthy living tips for twenty-somethings. She continued these projects via her own personal platform and published her first book, 21 & Counting. While writing on this platform, she found herself in a small village in Himachal-Pradesh, India in 2013. While there, she volunteered as an EFL teacher and returned home only to find herself looking for TESOL programs! She is especially passionate about the K-12 track that TC offers as the program highlights the importance of both the research and pedagogy in the K-12 context. Her MA project allowed her to focus on this balance as she researched the role of intrinsic motivation in the high school realm with specifically Latino, immigrant youth. She is extremely passionate about this demographic and is currently a full-time ENL teacher at a high school in the Bronx.

Hong Gao is an EdM student in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) track. She holds a bachelor degree in English from Jilin University, China. She continued to pursue a master degree in English Language and Literature from the alma mater where upon graduation, she has worked for eight years as a college English teacher for non-English major freshmen and sophomores. Prior to attending TC in Fall 2017 as an MA student, she completed a two-year in-service English teacher training on Linguistics in Peking University, China. She has been the rater of the composition section of China's College Entrance Examination (Chinese Gaokao), College English Test Band 4 and Band 6(CET 4 & 6), and Public English Test System (PETS) since she embarked on a college English teaching career at Jilin University in 2007. She tutored students in FLTRP Cup "National English Speaking, Reading and Writing Contest" and National English Competition for College Students (NECCS) in China in 2015 and 2016. Her passions for language teaching and research led to her participation in the book of Professor Xiyan Liu of Jilin University, The Art of Fast Reading in English (2013) of which she collected psycholinguistic materials and helped edit four chapters. She attended the 7th International Symposium on EFL Writing Research & Teaching in 2010 and 40th International Systemic Functional Congress (ISFC 40) in 2013.