siuc linguistics

Report from New Orleans

2011-04-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

The Saluki Reunion was held in Mulate's Restaurant near the Louisiana Convention Center, home of TESOL 2011 in New Orleans, March 18 of this year. There are still lots of distinguished alumni out there and most are willing to come and cheer the Salukis even when our team does not make it to any of the playoffs. We filled up several tables much to the consternation of the waitress who had to keep track of various tickets and people who were coming and going due to busy schedules.

One of our most notable and famous alums is Mark Algren, president of TESOL (finishing his term); he has mentioned SIUC at TESOL functions, always in a good light, and sends us our support from his present post in Kansas. As a world traveler, he sometimes encounters Salukis abroad; this happened with Professor Fuad Abdul Hamied, from Indonesia University of Education, who not only came to the reunion, but also expressed a desire to have our universities better tied together, at least in spirit. Indonesia University of Education is in Bandung, Indonesia; Dr. Hamied attended SIUC perhaps in Dr. Algren's era.

The reunion was also attended by a number of other distinguished alumni and former Salukis. Dr. Kim Wilhelm, who runs a program at the University of Macao; and Robert Engel, who has written an ESL/EFL textbook and is at the DLI in San Antonio, attended; Liz Janssen attended from University of Texas/Arlington. Keith Kennetz came all the way from UAE to attend the reunion, and You Jin Cho came from Northern Arizona. Some people from Carbondale attended to round out the crowd and let everyone know how much (?) the town has changed. Marilyn Rivers, Keith Wheeler, Rhonda Brandman, Kathryn Mutchnick, Paty Krejcik, Stacie Lawley, Susan McFalls, Daniel Norris, Stacy Sudaholc, Holly Coleman, and Rob Cody and I were among these. Finally, Cheryl Ernst not only came, but brought members of her family, who enjoyed New Orleans delicacies and seafood; everyone told stories of the old times, as it seemed almost every era was well represented.

in Boston

2010-05-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

Report from Boston

2010-04-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

It was a big year for SIUC, since the President of TESOL, Mark Algren, former Saluki and proud Saluki, extolled the virtues of SIUC in all his speeches; he handed over the reigns to a new president, but not without letting everyone know how proud he was to be a loyal Saluki alum.

The reunion was well-attended; it included Chip Bozek (from Japan), Margi Wald (from Berkeley CA), and Gary Linebaugh, Miho Hamamoto, Paul Angelis, Marilyn Rivers, Cheryl Ernst, Miranda Ma, and yours truly, all from SIUC. A good lunch and visit was had by all.

At TESOL but unable to attend the reunion, were Mark Algren (Univ. of Kansas), Kim Wilhelm (Macao), and Ditlev Larsen (Winona State Univ., MN); Colleen Brice was there, I heard, but I never saw her. All these people said: Please say hello to everyone! Loyal Salukis who miss us all!

Some people wrote with their regrets, but said hello anyway. These included Julie Bird (UAE), Lynne Davis (Carbondale), Keith Kennetz (UAE) and Nellie Corbit-Smith (Tennessee).

Two other letters deserve notice since they included reports. One was from Inju Moon, who is teaching freshman English in Jinju, Korea, and is coming to NYC and Raleigh, NC in June and July; she'd be interested in contacting anyone from her years at SIUC (2003-4), possibly through Facebook. Another was from Connie Wieck, who works with the Amity Foundation and is now posted in a rural village in China, about an hour from the Vietnam border. Her blog is here, and she'd love to stay in touch with everyone!

Next year in New Orleans!

Please come to Boston!

2010-03-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

SIUC Reunion at TESOL 2010
Sauciety Dining Room, Westin Hotel
Friday, March 26, 2010
12:00 Noon

Hope to see you there!

This year we hope two famous Salukis will join
us: Mark Algren, President of TESOL (he came last
year but I missed it), and Paul Angelis, retired
but still active. Hope you can make it!

SIUC reunion, Denver, March 2009

2009-04-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

The SIUC reunion was a success; it has been getting bigger as more and more people find out about it. This year we had a special treat: Mark Algren, President of TESOL, found out about it and came.

Denver had a huge blizzard the day of the reunion, and it snowed hard all day. Conventioneers were stuck downtown improperly dressed, but the real problem was not the snow or even the cold, but that you couldn't see. It was amazing that people ventured outside and found the place, but they did. And there were more who sent their regrets but were in Denver nonetheless. Being at TESOL and having SIU-Carbondale on your badge is a kind of reunion by itself, because lots of people bring up the subject with you. Here are some more people who came to the reunion:

Lou Coyne, living and teaching in Tokyo
Leah Miller, from National Louis University, Chicago, classmate with Mark Algren;
Kim Hughes Wilhelm and her husband, Tom from Macau, where, they say, they see Keith and Becky Pharis occasionally;
Jessica Montgomerie, our hostess, now teaching at Denver University, being from Denver and all, now, says Denver is great, she loves it, and she and her husband have bought a house and are fixing it up.
Rachael Crowley, living and teaching ESL in Colorado Springs
Cheryl Ernst, Julie Bird, Tamara Poss, Gary Linebaugh, and myself, all at SIUC now, so you don't need to know yet what became of us; and Mark Algren, president of TESOL.

To get on the e-mail list, so that you know where the next SIUC reunion is (at TESOL 2010 in Boston), write.

SIUC Reunion in Denver!

2009-03-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

4:00 Thursday March 26th
Appaloosa Grill
535 16th St. on the pedestrian mall, between Walton and Glenarm
a couple blocks from the Convention Center

NEW FACEBOOK PAGE

Also, want to find us on Facebook?
(after joining Facebook)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=73431184761
Tell us where you've been!

Hironobu Kakinuma

2008-12-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hironobu Kakinuma says hello and sends his regards to Linguistics CESL faculty and especially Mr. Olive, who just retired. He is teaching at a private junior and high school in Tokyo, and says that Japanese kids wear him out, but make him feel "good tiredness"...

Keith Kennetz

2008-05-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

Keith writes:

I'm in Abu Dhabi...Defended my PhD and should graduate this May....saw John O'Neil (see post below) at a BBQ last week - many hours of wheat beer and carbondale stories - hopefully I'll be swingin' through town this summer....

(Emirates College of Advanced Education Foundations English Program P.O. Box 126662 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

empty quarter, Dubai (John O'Neil)

2008-05-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

John O'Neil sends these photos from UAE:

Saluki reunion, New York City

2008-04-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Reunion was held in the lobby of the Hilton, in midtown Manhattan. We did not have the pleasure of watching the Salukis play in the NCAA tournament this year, but spirit was high just the same. We saw and got updates from:

Robert Engel- graduated around 1994, and has been working for the Defense Language Institute in San Antonio. Also wrote a book: From College to Careers: Listening in the Real World, by Thomson Heinle. It's linked here.

Mary Ellen Durfee- graduated in around 1997; living and teaching in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Has fond memories of Saluki friends and the good old days around Carbondale.

Richie Brown- living and working in Crown Point, Brooklyn, was on his own home turf. He and his wife are looking forward to visiting southern Illinois, and running the River to River race.

Ania Hreczuch- living and working in Champaign, but sick of it. Is considering moving either to Turkey, or to the remote South Pacific. That will get her out of the midwest, won't it?

There are more; I tell them to spread the word. If you'd like to be on the e-mail list, write me. If you'd like to post here and tell us what you're up to, please do (follow directions to the side). See you in Denver!

Sandy Isaak-Miura

2008-04-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sandy says she's teaching at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan- this is a university, by the way, that sends CESL some of its best students. She can't make it to TESOL- but she's sure to catch up to us eventually!

Sandy Izaak-Miura

Nelly Corbit-Smith

2008-04-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Nelly reports that she can't come to TESOL because Samuel was just born, but she will share pictures with anyone who is interested!

TESOL in New York City

2008-04-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

SIUC had a reunion- at the Hilton, Friday evening, April 4th. Various reports will appear above.

Carol J. Compton, MAESL 1968

2008-04-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Dr. Compton stopped by at SIUC the other day, on her way to a conference of the Association for Asian Studies in Atlanta. She is the editor of The Journal of Southeast Asian Language Teaching, which is entirely online, she said, and though retired, she'd had a good career as a linguist, editor and language teacher, with many fond memories of SIUC in the old days of the barracks (now gone) and a degree that sounds funny to anyone who has been here less than thirty years.

She promised to send pictures- or perhaps scan them, so we can have some idea of what life was like back then. We plan to hold her to her promise...if at all possible. -TL

Mark Algren, 1982

2008-01-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Mark Algren (1982), graduated from this very program, who has now been elected as Incoming President of TESOL. Good luck, Mark!

Flickr disaster

2007-11-01T09:22:00.001-07:00

Some pictures on this weblog were lost recently when Flickr declared our account "inactive..." We're not sure how it happened, but we're working on it!

Kurt Larsen

2007-10-30T13:30:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Kurt & Sophak!

Ryan Henry Larsen was born on October 25, 2007
at 5:00 PM, 6 lbs. 11 oz., 20 inches.

"healthy...and a blessing...words are not enough to describe the feeling"

says Kurt...

Larry Crist

2007-08-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Anybody interested in working at a university in South Korea? The jobs are at the Language Institute at Woosong University in Daejon. Anyone interested can send resume & cover letter to Woosonghr@gmail.com. I just signed on for my third year here.

Please say hello to anyone there who might remember me. YoungBok also says hello. We've been following the Salukis football and basketball teams....Had really good seasons! Take care,

Larry

Kelly Maine Hagen, CESL/SIUC 1994-1996

2007-07-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Kelly writes to say: "My name is now Kelly Hagen. In August it will be 10 years that Martin and I have been married. We have 3 beautiful children (Sarah almost 8, Tobias 6 and Miriam who has just turned 3) who keep us very busy with music lessons, soccer practice, Spanish lessons, etc.) And now my life has become even busier since I've decided to go back to work. Before the kids I worked in Hamburg for 2 years at a language school and kept in contact with Kim Wilhelm. Then Martin and I moved to Bremen... I'm doing substitute teaching (13 hours a week) for a school for an English teacher who broke her leg. I been working since March. This is the hardest teaching job I've ever had! I have two 6th grade classes (34 students & 33 students) and a 5th grade class (29 students). I love it though! School is still in session (I think our last day is July 19th). Because the school is a public school and I didn't get my degree from Germany, I'm being paid out of an emergency funds account for such things. I've sent in my paperwork with all my degrees and letters of recommendation, etc. with the result that my TESOL & Spanish degrees have been accepted by the government here in Bremen, but I still need to do 2 years of student teaching with visits from supervisors, exams and a 40 page paper (maybe even for both subjects) at the end. It won't be easy. Especially with three kids. And although my German is excellent, it's not perfect. I imagine the Teacher's workshops/courses that I also have to attend in the afternoon (1x week?) will be in German. And naturally, I've forgotten over the past 15 years some of my Spanish, so I'm now attending a class 1x week in the evening. That's where I just was before I decided to look you up on the Web...I want to say thank you to you and all the wonderful teachers at CESL (Please say hello and pass on my thanks to Catherine Caldwell, Marilyn Rivers and Laura Halliday and also Dr. Angelis, if he hasn't already retired). I often think about my time at SIUC and smile. It really was a wonderful time of learning and great inspiration."

Drew Jonas

2007-06-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

says hello from Millenium Park, Chicago. He's living and working in Taiwan.

Kyoung-Sook (Lucy) Kim

2007-05-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Dr. Lakshmanan writes (Apr. 17):

Here's some good news about Lucy Kim, who completed her MA degree in Linguistics (TESOL) last fall--she also did her BA in linguistics (as well as two semesters in CESL) here as well. She just found out over the weekend that she has won a prestigious graduate merit scholarship from the University of Southern California (one of the five top programs in linguistics in North America) to do her PhD in Linguistics (beginning this fall). The graduate merit award is for five years and includes a 2 year full fellowship + a 3 year assistantship (plus full tuition). She will receive an annual stipend of more than 19,000 dollars. Lucy was invited for a campus visit (all expenses paid) and I heard that the admissions committee was extremely pleased with her research accomplishments. Lucy hopes to continue with her work in psycholinguistics at the University of Southern California. She is still in Carbondale (on practical training) and so if you see her make sure you congratulate her.

Keith Kennetz

2007-04-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Keith is just getting a PhD from Univ. of Georgia this spring, and was at the SIUC reunion at TESOL when the Salukis lost their heartbreaking sweet-16 game.

from Norb Huether

2007-04-04T12:54:00.000-07:00

Norb is working at the Pittsburg State University Intensive English Program in Pittsburg, Kansas, was pulling for the Salukis and is thinking of running in the Chicago Marathon.

news from Al-Ain

2007-03-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

John O'Neil sends a photo album and says that Rene Paulin, who also works in Al-Ain but in another school, reports that Mike Trepiak was found dead in Vientiane in early March; cause of death unknown.

from Denise (Zutter) Cevela

2007-03-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Denise writes to say that she has two beautiful boys, Joshua (5) and Caleb (3), with another child on the way, due at the end of May. She has been teaching with WriteGuide.com, from home, and homeschooling Joshua. It's an adventure!

This picture is from the old files. Denise is now in Darlington, Indiana.

from Nelly Corbit-Smith

2007-03-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the invitation. I'm not going to make it to TESOL this year. I'm teaching in Memphis City Schools. Rest assured, my loyalty goes with the Salukis in the Sweet 16. Please send my regards to everyone.

Nelly Corbit-Smith

from Malinee Prapinwong

2007-03-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's too bad that I can't go to TESOL conference this year. Hope you all have a great time in Seattle. I'm currently doing my Ph.D. at Indiana U. Bloomington (my last year already). I left SIUC in 2001, and always miss it.

Malinee

Selim Ben Said

2007-03-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody, this is Selim!

I am now in Penn State where I started a PhD in Applied Linguistics, things are very nice down here, but nothing like good old C'dale! Hope to hear from you soon

Selim

2007-03-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Liz Janssen writes:

"So I just returned this morning from my trip to Nepal. It was quite an interesting adventure, and I have to say that I HIGHLY urge you all visit Nepal sometime in your life...It will blow you away! Anyway, I am back home in Korea (ha, you never thought you would hear me say that, did ya?) ... I have most of the pictures up on my site: elizabeth.keepandshare.com for your viewing pleasure.... If you want to see me climbing on an elephant click on "Gaida Wildlife Camp" If you want to see me playing with some snakes, click on "fun with snakes." If you want to see some mountains and my tour guide click on "Pokara"..You guys get the picture...they are all labeled "Nepal 2007"...So look at them and get inspired to visit for yourself! Take care all! ~Liz

please forward this message to all siuc linguistics alumni!

2007-03-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

Going to Seattle for TESOL 2007?

SIUC alumni will meet here:

Dragonfish Asian Cafe
in the
Paramount Hotel
722 Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98101-1843
+1 206 467 7777

at 5:00 on TH, Mar. 23

to talk about old times, keep up with the department, and
raise a west-coast glass to the Salukis....join us!

Gabe Greenspan

2006-10-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

Gabe (May 2006) says hello from Taiwan, where he's started a new and interesting weblog. Take a look!

Hello from Taiwan!

2006-10-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

These photos are from Drew Jonas, who has been working for Hungkuang University in Taiwan.

Gabe Greenspan

2006-08-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

Gabe Greenspan writes to say that he has a job at Southern Taiwan University of Technology in Tainan. Good luck, Gabe!

Richie Brown

2006-07-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Richie and his wife are moving to New York City....will keep in touch!

time out at SIUC

2006-04-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

entering the brave new world of cyberspace the students of SIU linguistics department and the TESOL program welcome all for comments and suggestions

Hello

2006-04-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is Gabe. I will be graduating soon and going abroad, but I still don't know where.
I'll post when I get to my new destination, and then you can come visit me!

WEBLOGS ARE FUN!

2006-04-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

It seems creating weblogs is fun and a very practical resource for teachers. One of my instructors at Curriculum and Instruction used a weblog where the students posted their points of view about the articles we read for the class.

Hi all!

2006-04-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Join us! There are a lot of interesting things going on in SIU now! You've got to check it out!

Looking orward to meeting all of you on the pages of this blog!

Current student

Rabbit

2006-04-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hello/Salam/ Nihao^^

Elf Rabbit

Welcome SIUC MA Linguistics graduates!

2006-04-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

Tell us what you're doing!

SIUC linguistics almuni in Japan

2006-04-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hello, SIUC linguistic alumni in Japan. I'm graduating and going to Japan to teach English this July. Let me know if you would like to get together. April