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Welcome to my page!  You found me and I am so glad you are here. I would love to meet you in person. To find me on campus, I am in room 105. My door is open and welcomes everyone.  If I'm not there, you can also check next door at 103 or across campus at 505. I'm usually hanging out with Mr. Phinizy or Ms. Munoz-Alzina. 

 

 

I was born in Vietnam and wished I could remember Vietnam more; however, having moved to the United States a few weeks shy of my fourth birthday,  any memories that I do have are fragmented at best: flashes of monolithic buildings, rushes of bliss or agony, blinks of my life there.

I grew up in North Long Beach in the late 1900s, where there were no other Vietnamese people outside of my family. At school I learned only English, read only English stories, listened only to English speakers, but at home, I watched Vietnamese movies, laughed at Vietnamese jokes, enjoyed Vietnamese fairytales. Vietnamese is my official first language, but English has become the language of my consciousness. Like many immigrant children in the late 1900s, I acted as my parents' translator, their voice to cable companies and for doctors visits, their understanding for governmental forms and various questionnaires, and their connection to American culture. Many of you reading this now might have to have done the same for your own families. 

I am multi-lingual-ish. I can speak, read, and write in English, speak Vietnamese (but I have low reading and writing proficiencies), and speak Spanish (sort of), which is why I use the suffix "ish."  I am still learning to read and write in Vietnamese as well as read, write, and speak Spanish. My desire to teach English is not because I was an avid reader or lover of literature, but because I have a deep love for English's linguistics, actually...for all languages' power to connect us in a shared ability. 

To my students, I will push for you to understand the "rules" of English, so that you can have fun breaking them.

You are safe here!