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Faculty

Serafima Gettys

Language: Russian

Dr. Serafima Gettys, Assistant Professor, the Director of the Foreign Language Program, joined Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå University in June 2004. She earned her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition from St. Petersburg State University of Education, Russia. Prior to teaching at Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå University, she taught in a variety of institutions of higher education, including UC Berkley and Stanford University. At Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå University she established an innovative Foreign Language Program, which currently offers courses in ten world languages. Dr. Gettys teaches Russian language courses and a course in Linguistics. Her current research interest is Cognitive Approaches in SLA and is a regular presenter at ACTFL, NCOLCTL, and AATSEEL conferences, as well as a number of international conferences and workshops. She is currently working on the 2nd edition of Russian for Dummies and serves as a member of the Graduate Council.

Lifeng Hu

Language: Chinese

Li Feng Hu, Assistant professor & Assistant director of foreign language program, earned her Master’s in Teaching English as an International Language from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an emphasis on Communicative Language Teaching and Second Language Acquisition.  She started teaching at Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå as an instructor in 2008. She was hired as Assistant Director for the Foreign Language Program in 2009.  She teaches all four levels of Chinese language courses and is responsible for conducting workshops and trainings for foreign language instructors.  She has also helped organized various extra-curricular activities to promote foreign language learning and global awareness in Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå.   She is currently working on program and course assessment based on evidence of student learning outcome using guidelines and protocol for Oral Proficiency Interview from American Council on The Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Irina Gorbunova-Ford

Language: Russian

In 1999, Irina Gorbunova-Ford started working at the Far Eastern Academy of Public Service in Russia as an instructor in the History department. She taught many different courses, such as World History, History of Social Work, Russian History and Archeology.

Gorbunova-Ford holds two master’s degrees -- in Public Administration and in History – and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in History from the Khabarovsk State Pedagogical University in Khabarovsk, Russia. Her doctoral dissertation was in reference to the History of Social Work in Russia. She also wrote a monograph called “Social Work and Charity in the Russian Far East in 1884-1917.”

At Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå University, Gorbunova-Ford teaches first year Russian language courses. “Teaching is sharing knowledge. I love to share and learn from my students at the same time,” she said. “I understand how important it is to build a working relationship with students and embolden them to learn a subject. When students feel professors enjoy their jobs and put all their energy and heart into the teaching process, they respond with same qualities and interest.

Iwona Lech

Language(s): German and Polish

Iwona, an adjunct professor of Polish and German and a graduate student of Educational Psychology at NIU, joined Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå in January 2010. She earned her masters degree in German Literature and Language from Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Poland. She is currently teaching all levels of German and Polish at Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå including Polish for Heritage Speakers. She also teaches German at McHenry County College and German and Humanities courses at College of DuPage. Iwona’s interests lie in cognitive perspective on second language acquisition and she is currently working on a German textbook using the Usage-Based Instruction approach with Dr. Gettys. She is also involved in several research projects focused on SLA, as well as bilingualism/ESL. She is an ACTFL OPI certified tester in Polish, a published author, and a frequent presenter at major conferences (ACTFL, NCOLCTL, AATSEEL, CSCTFL, Georgetown University Round Table and others), national and abroad. 

Liliane Manious

Language: Arabic

Liliane Manious, Adjunct, joined the foreign language department in the fall of 2009.  Received Bachelor of Arts Degree from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.  Received certification to teach foreign language from Northern Illinois University. 

At Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå, she taught French in the beginning, and later French and Arabic. She is now concentrating on teaching the Arabic language with its rich culture. She also taught StarTalk summer language institute at Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå in the summer for several semesters and is working on to receive her certification to teach bilingual and ESL from Illinois Resources center.

Miki Motoyama

Language: Japanese

Miki Motoyama, adjunct Japanese instructor. She was born and grew up in Japan. She came to the U.S in March 1997. She started working as an adjunct Japanese instructor at Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå University in 2004. She established and developed the Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå Japanese program. She teaches all four levels of Japanese.

Rocío Rodriguez

Language: Spanish

Rocío Rodriguez first came to the United States in 2008 as an exchange student from her native country of Bolivia, where she completed Bachelor's degrees in both Business Administration and Languages (German and English). She returned to the U.S. shortly after this exchange program in order to pursue graduate studies in Elementary Education, and received her Master's Degree from the University of St. Francis in Joliet. Since her early days teaching English as a Second Language, and Spanish to tourists and other visitors in Bolivia, she has had a passion for languages. She has taught beginning, intermediated and advance levels of Spanish at several institutions both in Bolivia and the U.S. She is currently working with colleagues at Â鶹´«Ã½¸ßÇå University and other schools on research regarding Usage Based Instruction. Rocío has taught different populations in languages, ranging from children to adults, and is broadening her love of language by learning Chinese in her spare time.

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