Profile

Asli, originally from Somalia, East Africa, speaks Somali, Italian, English and some Arabic. She acquired Italian (her second language) as a child and English as a young adult.  She has a Bachelor's degree in English with a minor in History from Marshall University and a Master's degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from University of Findlay.  She has over fifteen years of experience teaching English as a Second Language in the United States and in Saudi Arabia.  In the U.S., Asli has been working as an ESL Instructor at Marshall University since 1994.  She also has seven years of experience as a consultant and ESL Specialist for Cabell County, West Virginia in the K-12 ESL program.

Her work includes coordination of the Marshall University Summer School for K-12 Limited English Proficient students and parents (1997-99), a program that provided language and content instruction to the students and parents as well as teacher training opportunities for mainstream teachers.  Asli currently serves as the Vice-president of West Virginia, TESOL, and the Co-Chair of the Refugee Concerns Interest Section of TESOL International.

As a Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) doctoral scholar, Asli will research ways to improve the literacy level of language minority students (K-12 to adults).  In addition, she would like to study the use of a variety of delivery methods that will complement traditional ESOL curricula, such as Web-based methods which can be used in various instructional settings – classrooms, distance-learning sites, and self-study situations.

Asli is currently teaching a TESOL course by distance and plans to develop a graduate TESOL program which can be delivered by distance.

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News

The LLC program was well-represented at the 40th Annual TESOL Convention in Tampa March 15th to 18th. Faida Abu-Ghazelah (cohort 5) presented on “An Anthropological Perspective on Palestinian Identity in Diaspora;” George M. Chinnery (cohort 8) on “Internet Technologies for the Listening and Speaking Class” and “Integrated Skills Development Using Instant Messenger;” Asli Hassan (cohort 6) on “Helping the Refugee Family in Small-City America;” and Steve Shin (graduate of cohort 3) on “Korean Adolescents' Ethnic Identity and Language Practices.”

Others participated in collaborative presentations. Silvio Avendaño (graduate of cohort 2) co-presented on “Collaboration in a Web-based course for EFL Program Administrators;” Joan Kang Shin (cohort 6) on “Building Learning Communities for TEYL Professionals,” Silvio, Joan, Bev Bickel (graduate of cohort 3), and Jodi Crandall on “Teacher Educators as New Comers in the Online Educational Environment” and “Creating Spaces for Collaboration through the Internet;” and Jodi on “Promising Practices in Community College Adult ESL” and “Raising the Status of the ESL Profession.”

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