In July, SLaLS will bid a fond farewell to long-time Assistant Professor, Dr. Trudy O’Brien.
Please drop by 201 Paterson Hall on Thursday, April 11th (12:00 – 2:00 p.m.) to congratulate Trudy on her achievements at Carleton and to wish her well in retirement.
When did you start at Carleton? Where were you coming from and why did you choose Carleton?
After graduating with my MA (Spanish) and CTESL at the same time in 1976 I took the summer to get married, honeymoon and apply for jobs, including here at Carleton. I began teaching at Carleton in October 1976 as an ESL instructor in a new international project (“Ayacucha Project”) with the Venezuelan government to train future doctors and engineers here but only after they had received English language training. This early ESL/EAP program in Linguistics developed into the Centre for Applied Language Studies (CALS) and soon included other modern languages not typically taught at the university like American Sign Language Mandarin, Bahasa Malay, Korean, Japanese, and so on.
What are some of your most memorable moments?
There were a large number of memorable moments, including becoming ESL intensive and credit EAP Coordinator and especially Assistant Director for Modern Languages for 10 years, including when all other language teaching departments at Carleton were re-housed into SLALS. While there were challenges in this new re-organization, there were far more joys as new colleagues worked together to develop programs that would help students learn not only languages but technical writing and other aspects of language in all its forms. Other moments include being on stage at convocation to celebrate our graduates some of whom still maintain contact and make me proud of their accomplishments as they continue their work in areas related to what they learned here.
What are some projects you were involved in about which you feel particularly proud?
The intensive ESL/EAP courses in the Ayacucha Project also included a year-long Canadian History and English special purposes course with Lynne Young, the first ESL Coordinator. I also taught in the early CTESL program, and gave numerous workshops to international teachers, TAs and others in Carleton, many times focusing on cross-cultural communication as well as language pedagogy. This included being a consultant and interviewer for many years for the Japanese Embassy for their JET program. I also created specialized courses in English for ESL Engineering students (evolving into the focus of my PhD on acculturation of L2 Engineering writers). Later I developed ALDS courses in cross-cultural communication (CCC) starting with an FYSM seminar in Arts One and then a 3rd year and also a graduate course on CCC. I also created a seminar in L2/foreign language pedagogy which allowed students to intern in any of the languages taught in SLALS (as well as French). Each of these projects and courses encouraged me to grow as a teacher but more importantly gave me the pleasure of learning from my colleagues, teaching assistants and students.
What comes next?
My husband Doug and I look forward to spending time traveling (this year to Slovenia, Banff and Japan) and then probably I will volunteer in some area of ESL/EAP or L2 pedagogy.
Anything to add?
I will miss my years at Carleton since it was a major part of my academic and personal life. I have thoroughly enjoyed the colleagues, friends and students I have met over these many years and I hope to maintain contact with them in future. I have learned so much from them all and wish to thank them for all I have become and remember of my time at Carleton.